Fred Manteghian

AV Receiver Reviews
Anthem MRX 700 A/V Receiver
Fred Manteghian  |  Feb 23, 2011  |  3 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $2,000 At A Glance: Light on bells and whistles, heavy on high-end sound • Anthem Room Correction worth the additional effort • High value from a true high-end brand

Anthem Lite and Right

When I hear “Anthem,” I also usually hear “ka-ching!” Anthem’s Statement D2v surround processor sells for a cool $8,500, which is enough cash to keep a Colorado hippie blazing in medical marijuana for years. The MRX 700 is the company’s welcome foray into the world of down-to-earth-priced AVRs, punctuated by the inclusion of the same Anthem Room Correction (ARC) system the company uses in its costlier separates. Anthem’s proprietary room correction alone might be enough to swing some consumers’ decision. Those who’ve used ARC with Anthem’s separates (including some people employed by this fine publication) hold it in high regard. An AVR at the MRX 700’s $2,000 price point is going to be up against a lot of stiff competition. Will Anthem pull it off, or is its first attempt at a killer AVR for the masses about to go up in smoke?

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Headphone Amp/DAC Reviews
Micromega AirStream WM-10 Wireless DAC
Fred Manteghian  |  Dec 06, 2010  |  0 comments
Price: $1,595 At A Glance: CD quality, or better, in an easy-to-use iTunes wrapper • iPhone or iPod touch remote control not included

From Air to iTunity

I used to say, “Disk is cheap,” even back in the ’80s when, let’s be honest, it really wasn’t. A 40-megabyte disk drive—go ask your dad what a megabyte is—went for $400 and was about enough to store a 4-minute CD track. Today, I have a pair of 250-gigabyte external drives that ran me half that amount even a few years ago. Together with my laptop, I’ve got a system that easily fulfills my every iTunes fantasy—except one. I still have to rely on an iPod and iPod docking station to get music from the computer rig to my main system across the room. If that’s been bugging you too, check out the Micromega AirStream WM-10. It’s an 802.11n wireless router that your iTunes library can connect to, all for a price that—well, there’s the rub. This thing ain’t cheap.

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AV Receiver Reviews
Onkyo TX-NR5008 A/V Receiver
Fred Manteghian  |  Nov 29, 2010  |  3 comments
Price: $2,699 At A Glance: Gobs of clean power • Super ergonomics and my favorite onscreen display • Super-detailed audio

A Bigger Boat

So the red-felt-topped pool table with the Bud Light (get it?) lamp suspended above it in your man cave doesn’t illicit “oohs” and “aahs” from visitors like it once did? Maybe it’s time to re-create that 1980s Crazy Eddie’s look by installing a showroom’s worth of speakers and driving them with the Onkyo TX-NR5008 AVR.

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Power Amplifier ReviewsSurround Processor Reviews
Classé CT-SSP Surround Processor and CT-5300 Amplifier
Fred Manteghian  |  Sep 21, 2010  |  1 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price: $18,000 At A Glance: Audio is smooth yet highly detailed • Amp has power to drive cattle • Great ergonomics • Spartan video

HT editor Shane Buettner laughed at me when I told him I spent two months strength training before the Revel Salon2 speakers arrived at my home last year.

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AV Receiver Reviews
Pioneer Elite SC-27 A/V Receiver
Fred Manteghian  |  Feb 16, 2010  |  0 comments
Price: $2,200 At A Glance: MCACC room EQ makes it all good • ICEpower amplification is sweet, powerful, and dynamic • PQLS isn’t a gimmick; it really works

What? No 8-Track?

I’m convinced that at a subatomic level, my DNA has begun mutating me into homo gadgetus. My dad was an electrical engineer, so naturally, hooking up a two-channel stereo was instinctual, hereditary, and manifest from the moment my little fingers could grasp an RCA connector. But setting up a multichannel, HDMI-equipped, Internet-connected AVR was a challenge until recently. I don’t think manufacturers have gotten that much better at their hardware and software design. I just think that as a subspecies (male), we’ve become more adept at new forms of hunting and gathering.

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Ultrasone Pro 900 Headphones - Review
Fred Manteghian  |  Nov 11, 2009  |  2 comments

Germany's Autobahn has no speed limits and the Pro 900 headphones from Germany's Ultrasone have no sound limits either! And like anything good (and German), you're going to pay. They were about $550 on Amazon last I checked (MSRP is $599). I've had a pair since early spring, but didn't crack them open until I went on vacation in July. Sure, I listen to a lot of music every day with earphones, but not much with headphones. But all that's changed since the Ultrasone Pro 900's entered my life!

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eWoo eFizz
Fred Manteghian  |  Sep 23, 2009  |  0 comments

Don't say "Gesundheit!" That wasn't a sneeze, but it is a mouthful. The company, eWoo, and their amazing not-so-little iPod doc, <a href=" http://www.ewoo.com/products/efizz.html" target="new">the eFizz</a>, all twenty pounds of it, has been holding down my credenza at work for almost six months. Things got off to a grinding halt with this review as the remote control for the first unit became utterly crippled when I tried to up load the latest firmware version as recommended by eWoo's PR firm. Another victim of the Microsoft Vista system I think.

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I, Me, Myine
Fred Manteghian  |  Jul 20, 2009  |  1 comments

It’s quite an amazing little device, when it works, and when it doesn’t work, it’s not its fault! That’s the best way to size up the wonderful little Ira Wi-Fi Internet radio from <a href="http://www.myine.com/ira.php">Myine</a>. Setup is easy. You just need a wireless router somewhere within range. If your router has security enabled, you can enter your password via the remote by selecting all your letters, numbers and special characters in the large, easy to read LCD screen of the Ira.

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Fred Manteghian Blog
Polk I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 Review
Fred Manteghian  |  Jun 07, 2009  |  3 comments

I'm hardly the first reviewer to get my mitts on this do-everything Polk iPod docking station, and yeah the official name is a mouthful, so "I-Sonic ES2" will do just as well here on in. The ES2 is a direct outgrowth of the original ES which lacked an iPod dock. We all remember those pre-Apple-monopoly days with fondness, but the truth is, if you don't iPod dock, you don't rock. And one the thing I want you to come away with from this review is that the Polk I-Sonic ES2 <i>really</i> rocks!

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Fred Manteghian Blog
So Maybe Local Eggs are Good Eggs After All?
Fred Manteghian  |  Jun 07, 2009  |  0 comments

Okay, it's been 3.5 weeks since WUHR became WMRQ and I'm going to take the unprecedented step of both eating crow and taking partial credit for what's happened since then which is, ugh, not much really. Yes, there's still a DJ named Fish who was so horribly obnoxious on D-day, but unanswered emails from me and doubtless countless others got new management to hose him down. As for Wednesday being biker day, that's still true, but it just means Fish is stuck out in the boondocks on a live feed trying to corral listeners into a Harley dealership. You almost feel sorry for him. I said almost.

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