Thomas J. Norton

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AV Receiver SetupSpeaker Setup
Configuring Your Speakers
Thomas J. Norton  |  Feb 01, 2010  |  1 comments
Optimizing your sound, one step at a time.

Getting all the pieces for that new system into your room is just the first step to home theater bliss. You’ll need to set up the A/V receiver’s inputs, position the speakers, and configure the AVR’s speaker adjustments for balanced sound before you get to movie time. I’ll frequently refer to your AVR, but the steps will be identical for a separates system with a surround processor and power amp.

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Tower Speaker Reviews
B&W CM9 Speaker System
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 11, 2010  |  0 comments
Price: $7,250 At A Glance: Clean highs, neutral mids • Mid- and upper-bass prominent • Small but potent subwoofer

Well Centered

These days, most major speaker manufacturers know how to produce a good speaker. But only a few manage to hit all the marks simultaneously: great engineering, great sound, and fair pricing. British speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins has long been a leader in that hunt.

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A/V Veteran
The BD Player Test Part 2 - Overview
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 04, 2010  |  3 comments

I could argue that the opening salvo of this report was delayed because I wanted the entire piece, which will appear in periodic postings over the next few weeks, to appear in 2010. Or that I figured no one would be watching during the holidays, tied up as they were with festooning the house with LEDs, pondering whether to send real cards or new e-cards (when you care enough to e-mail the very best), or spending hours lined up for <I>Avatar</I>.

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TV Reviews
Panasonic VIERA TC-P58V10 Plasma HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 07, 2009  |  0 comments
Price: $2,700 At A Glance: Best blacks yet from Panasonic • THX certified • Excellent value • Superb off-axis performance

Plasma Brings the Juice

For many reasons, not the least of which is the sheer brightness that grabs eyeballs on the showroom floor, LCD HDTVs now outsell plasmas by a significant margin.

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LCD TV Reviews
Samsung UN55B8500 LCD HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 30, 2009  |  0 comments
Price: $4,500 At A Glance: Deep blacks • Excellent resolution • Full range of color adjustments • Local-dimming LED technology

Back to the LED Future

Samsung, it appears, is going LED in a big way. Thirteen of its LCD sets in the 6, 7, and 8 Series use LEDs for back-lighting instead of CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent lights), which until recently have been nearly universal in flat-panel LCD HDTVs.

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A/V Veteran
World War II in HD
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 27, 2009  |  0 comments

Last week the History HD channel broadcast the multi-part documentary </I>World War II in HD<I>. Most of the footage was in color, dredged in an exhaustive two-year search from private collections or the back shelves of dusty museum storerooms. (Rumors to the contrary, it was not found in an Area 51 warehouse next to a crate with an ark in it.)

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A/V Veteran
The BD Player Test Part 1: The Why
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 18, 2009  |  7 comments

It all started when I wondered what kind of audio I'd hear from the Blu-ray players I had on hand if I used them from their analog outputs. Most Blu-ray player reviews treat audio playback as a given. But is it?

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TV Reviews
LG 60PS80 Plasma HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 02, 2009  |  0 comments
Price: $2,900 At A Glance: Unique 20-step calibration option • Crisp image with vivid color • Mediocre black level • THX certified

Calibration Sensation

The drop in the prices of flat-panel HDTVs during the past few years has been dizzying. While the news about this may be noisiest on the LCD side, the footsteps you hear are plasma racing back to stake its claim to the booty.

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Projector Reviews
Samsung SP-A900B DLP Projector
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 26, 2009  |  0 comments
Price: $12,999 At A Glance: Fast calibration, accurate color • Superb detail • Video processing under par

Dynamic and Detailed

In these days of increasingly improved LCD and LCOS projectors, new DLP models seem to be few and far between. Some manufacturers have cut back on their premium DLP projector offerings (Sharp), and some have eliminated them altogether (Yamaha).

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A/V Veteran
RMAF IX: Big Wonking Speakers, Itty Bitty Room
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 14, 2009  |  1 comments

If I had to give a prize for the best sound at the show, it would be a toss-up between the Wilson Sasha W/Ps tied to Ayre electronics, discussed earlier, and the PMC MB2XBDi speakers (shown here) driven by Bryston electronics. Apart from room bass mode issues that all manufacturers had to deal with, the PMCs were superb. They were far too big for the space, designed as they are for professional applications. But the top modules of the towers are available separately (known as the MB2i), offering a more domesticated appearance for $21,000/pair. I didn't catch the price of the add-on bottom subwoofer modules, but am reasonably certain that for home use a duet (or, for home theater, a quintet) of MB2is will be a better fit&#151;supplemented by a more conventional and inconspicuous subwoofer or two positioned where they minimize room interactions (co-locating the subwoofers with the main speakers almost never gives the best results).

So went RMAF 2009. The show also offered a wide selection of interesting and informative seminars, with presenters from the two major high-end, mainly two-channel audio print publications, <I>Stereophile</I> and <I>The Absolute Sound</I>, and others as well. If you missed the show this year, a 2010 edition is currently planned for next fall.

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