Scott Wilkinson

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Speakers, Switchers, Kuro
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 04, 2009
Decisions, Decisions
I want to get a new pair of main speakers for my Pioneer Elite SC-27 A/V receiver. I can't decide between the Klipsch RF-83 and the Polk RTi A9. Is one better than the other?
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Tight Squeeze
Scott Wilkinson  |  Nov 02, 2009  |  Published: Nov 03, 2009

What do you get if you cross Japanese audio acumen with daring Italian design? The Squeezophone 360, that's what. Born out of a collaboration between <A href="http://www.kenwooddesign.com">Kenwood Design</A> and <A href="http://www.colucci-design.com">Claudio Colucci Design</A>, this concept speaker cuts a dashing figure as it pumps sound all around the room.

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A Legend Returns
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 29, 2009

Audiophiles know the name Mark Levinson well. After his eponymous first enterprise was purchased by Harman International&#151;which means he can no longer use his own name on audio products&#151;Levinson went on to found several other highly regarded audio companies, including Cello and Red Rose Music. Now, in a story exclusive to <I>UAV</I>, the audio designer, recording engineer, and professional musician is launching his latest venture from his adopted home country of Switzerland, calling it <A href="http://www.danielhertz.com">Daniel Hertz, S.A.</A>&#151;"Daniel" after his father and "Hertz" after his mother's great-uncle Heinrich Hertz, whose name is now used as the universal unit of measurement of frequency.

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PIP, Bi-Amping, Burn-In
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 27, 2009
PIP, PIP, Cheerio!
Why is it difficult to find new TVs with PIP (picture-in-picture). I'm looking for a new set to watch multiple sports channels on, so motion blur is also an issue.
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Glass Ear
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 26, 2009

The materials used to make speaker diaphragms are well established&#151;polypropylene, paper, Kevlar, aluminum, titanium, beryllium, silk, and even diamond, to name a few. So I was surprised to find a speaker system with diaphragms made of glass. Developed over nearly four years by a Japanese glass company called <A href="http://www.harioglass.com">Hario</A> (Japanese for "king of glass"), the Harion system is certainly intriguing, though the English-language website linked here has nothing about it, and the company did not supply much info, even after repeated requests.

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Spontaneous Playback
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 23, 2009

Live music is quite different from the visual arts. For example, every time a musician plays a given song, it is unique, with inevitable variations from one performance to the next. As Joni Mitchell once noted, no one ever asked Van Gogh to paint <I>The Starry Night</I> again. But many musicians are expected to play certain songs at every concert, and these songs sound different every time. On the other hand, recorded music is more like a painting&#151;once it's in the can, it sounds exactly the same every time it's played.

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Let There Be LET
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 23, 2009

Transducers&#151;devices that convert one form of energy into another&#151;are among the most mature technologies in the audio world. The most common musical transducers are microphones, which convert the mechanical energy of acoustic sound waves into electrical signals, and speakers, which do exactly the opposite. Both have been around for a century or so, and despite a few innovations and variations, they haven't changed much in all that time.

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Natural Wonders
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 22, 2009

I normally consider LP turntables to be squarely in <I>Stereophile</I>'s bailiwick, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to profile these gorgeous vinyl spinners from <A href="http://audiowood.com">Audiowood</A>. The wood foundation of each one is handcrafted and unique, though designs such as the Barky pictured above can be replicated with relative ease since it's based on a slice from a log.

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Plasma Break-In, AVR Upgrade, Frame Interpolation
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 20, 2009
Breaking In Is Hard To Do
I recently purchased a Panasonic TC-P54V10 plasma TV along with a Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player. I was thinking of getting a professional ISF calibration on the plasma, but my sales rep said that I should wait about 200 hours before having it done since the gas needs to settle (or something like that). Do you agree?
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It Costs How Much?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Oct 19, 2009

As I was looking for products to profile in this blog, I came across something astonishing&#151;a tube-based monoblock power amp that costs $350,000/pair! Hand-built by Japanese boutique maker <A href="http://www.wavac-audio.jp/">Wavac Audio Lab</A>, the SH-833 isn't new&#151;it was <A href="http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/704wavac/">reviewed in Stereophile</A> in 2004&#151;but when I saw that price tag, I knew I had to include it here.

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