Scott Wilkinson

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The Big Picture
In Praise of Plasma
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 25, 2009

I've always been a bit bummed that plasma TVs hold such a small market share compared with LCDs. And it doesn't help when companies like Vizio and Pioneer drop out of the plasma business altogether. Yet when I visit my local CostCo, I can see why—the LCDs on display are definitely brighter than the plasmas, which is why they fly off the shelves while the plasmas languish.

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Premiere Design
Rockport of Ages
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 24, 2009

In these days of outsourced manufacturing, it's refreshing to find a company that builds its own products right here in the USA. Of course, it helps if those products are high-end, high-cost items with no expectation of high-volume sales. Take, for example, <A href="http://rockporttechnologies.com">Rockport Technologies</A> in Rockport, Maine, whose speakers are hand-built for an exclusive clientele rather than the mass market in a facility that looks more like a house than a factory.

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Premiere Design
Money Seat
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 20, 2009

When you think about the components of any audio system, things like speakers, power amps, and source devices undoubtedly come to mind. You might even consider the room as a component. But what about the seat in which you sit to enjoy the music? Most chairs are not designed specifically for that particular endeavor, leaving you with a pain in the neck and/or back after extended periods, and some actually interfere with perceiving the best possible sound. To overcome the limitations of this "forgotten component," a Swedish company called <A href="http://www.klutzdesign.com">Klutz Design</A> has developed the Ballerina Sweetspot, a prototype chair that is optimized for just one thing&#151;listening.

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Ask S&V
Color Bars, Audio Switches, TV Settings
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 18, 2009
Great Idea
I have a DirecTV DVR, and I discovered that some channels display the SMPTE color bars after signing off, so I have recorded them to use when adjusting the TV's picture controls for broadcast content. The color-bar patterns I have recorded do not have 3.5 and 7.5 IRE PLUGE bars, only the 11.5 IRE bar. How do I adjust the brightness without the 3.5 and 7.5 bars?
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Premiere Design
Grand Zeppelin
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 15, 2009  |  Published: Nov 16, 2009

<A href="http://www.bowers-wilkins.com">B&W</A> makes some of the best-sounding speakers in the world, so when the company set its sights on the iPod market, something special was sure to surface. First introduced in 2007, the Zeppelin melds exquisite design and sound quality into a stunning, single-piece iPod dock/audio system that seems to define the state of the art in this burgeoning field.

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Premiere Design
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 12, 2009

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Danish speaker maker <A href="http://www.dynaudio.com">Dynaudio</A> released a special-edition model called the Sapphire in 2007. Limited to 1000 pairs worldwide, the final 30 will be wrapped in an exclusive gloss-blue piano-lacquer finish.

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Ask S&V
Video Processing, LED Backlighting, Big Plasma
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 11, 2009
Two For One
I have a Pioneer Elite PRO-111FD plasma with a Denon DVD-3800BDCI Blu-ray player, and I have two questions. First, should I set the Denon to output 1080p/24 manually or just leave it set to Auto? Second, a friend is encouraging me to get the DVDO Edge because, he says, its processing is probably better than either the Pioneer or Denon. Do you think this is true, or is my current gear sufficient?
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The Big Picture
Blu State
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 09, 2009

Now in its fourth year since the format was launched, Blu-ray remains a bit enigmatic. Of course, most early adopters and movie enthusiasts eagerly embrace it, and rightly so&#151;Blu-ray provides the best picture and sound quality you can get from a home-theater source. But its success in the mass market is less clear, at least so far. To assess this and other issues related to the state of Blu-ray, the <A href="http://www.dvdinformation.com/">Digital Entertainment Group (DEG)</A>, an industry-funded, non-profit organization that promotes various types of home entertainment, hosted a day-long conference last week at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, calling it Blu-Con 2.0.

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Premiere Design
My Mistake
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 08, 2009

Recently, I posted an <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-tech/let_there_be_let/">entry in the Ultimate Tech blog</A> about a new type of tweeter called the Leading Edge Transducer (LET). In that article, I made some statements to which reader Noah Katz, a structural engineer and, presumably, an audiophile, took exception. At first, I was going to ignore him because he refused to engage in a dialog about it. But, being me, I couldn't resist digging deeper to uncover the truth. After all, one of my guiding principles as a technical journalist is to get the facts straight, and if I don't&#151;which, as a human, is inevitable once in a while&#151;I feel compelled to correct my mistakes.

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Premiere Design
Eight is Enough
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 08, 2009

I had not heard of Swedish speaker maker <A href="http://www.perfect8.com">Perfect8 Technologies</A> until reader Joe G. posted a comment in my blog about <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/glass_ear/">Hario's glass speakers</A>. Like Hario, Perfect8 uses glass as a primary building material, but not in the driver diaphragms as Hario does. Instead, the cabinets and some support structures are made of glass, creating elegant sculptures that are said to sound as good as they look.

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