Tom Norton

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Grand Illusions II
Tom Norton  |  Sep 07, 2007  |  0 comments

If the price doesn't faze you, here are the details on Snell's new Flagship speaker.

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Grand Illusion
Tom Norton  |  Sep 07, 2007  |  0 comments

Snell's new Illusion A7 speaker is definitely not for the iPod crowd. But at $35,000/pair, it's currently ready for its closeup in the highest-end 2-channel systems. A center channel and smaller bookshelf models are said to be in development.

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The Darker Side
Tom Norton  |  Sep 07, 2007  |  0 comments

Texas Instruments answers the challenge of new LDC and LCoS projectors with the new Dark Chip 4 1080p DLP digital micromirrror device. Claimed to produce a native contrast ratio of up to 15,000:1, it will soon appear in DLP projectors from Marantz, SIM2, BenQ, and, in 2008, likely others as well. An impressive TI demo utilized a new SIM2 DC4 1080p projector. The modified Samsung in the photo also sported a DV4 chip. I'm not sure where the 100,000:1 claim came from, though. A tad optimistic, perhaps?

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Audyssey Restores the Balance
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  0 comments

Audyssey, the company behind the room compensation system that is appearing in more and more AV receivers and pre-pros, introduced its latest technology: Audyssey Dynamic EQ. it's designed to compensate for the loss of sound quality that results as the volume level, is reduced.

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JVC Raises the Bar-Again
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  0 comments

As reported on below by Shane Buettner, JVC launched another new pair of video projectors, DLA-RS2 and the DLA-HD100. Both are essentially identical, apart from separate distribution channels: consumer for the RS2 and pro for the HD100. The RS1 and HD1 remain available.

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KEF XQ
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  0 comments

KEF had a small booth, but a lot to show. Its updated XQ speaker line was particularly interesting. Gone are the pod-like supertweeters sitting atop the cabinets. Instead the tweeter in the company's UniQ concentric drivers has been re-engineered to handle all the high frequency chores. The XQ 30 floor stander, shown, will run $3400/pair. Not shown are the matching bookshelf model, the XQ 10, at $1400/pair, and the $1200 XQ 50 center.

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Lexicon
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  3 comments

Lexicon showed a new AV receiver, the 7.1-channel RV-5 ($3999). It offers automatic system calibration and equalization, Faroudja video processing (though oddly the upconversion is limited to 1080i), and multichannel PCM audio via HDMI. But it does not directly decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio.

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Classy Classia
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  0 comments

Infinity's new Classia series speakers are not expected to ship before early next year. It will replace the Beta series. The top of the line is the floor-standing C336.
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Gold to Newcastle
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  1 comments

Sherwood Newcastle's new R-972 AV receiver looks hot. At $1799 it has HDMI 1.3a and on-board decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio, Trinnov room equalization, 100Wpc x7, and Faroudja video processing. The smaller R-872 also has HDMI 1.3a, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio decoding, and something called SNAP room EQ. There was no one available to verify shipping dates, but I'll definitely be checking back-watch this space. $1700-$1800 seems to be the new sweet spot for high-end but pocketbook friendly AV receivers.

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Pioneer Speaks
Tom Norton  |  Sep 06, 2007  |  0 comments

Pioneer also had its new S-3EX speakers on static display. A smaller, $6000/pair variation on the floorstanding S-1EX we reviewed recently, the S-3EX keeps the price down by employing a simpler cabinet, substituting carbon graphite for the tweeter diaphragm instead of the beryllium used in the S-1EX, and using a slightly smaller midrange cone (but still made of magnesium). While the S-3EX should ship soon, you'll have to wait until mid 2008 for the matching center channel and "bookshelf" models.

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