CATEGORIES

AURAL EXCELLENCE

THE NEW Dymension DM70 Tower speaker is an evolution of a design that's signature Definitive Technology.

Affordable Amplification

AUDIO AMPLIFIERS have but one task: take an electrical signal and make it more powerful without changing its character.

Hidden Bass

RENOWNED FOR their expertise in crafting high-performance subwoofers, SVS has carved a niche for itself within the home theater and music system communities.

Headphone Heaven

THEY SAY money can't buy happiness. Without a doubt, it can buy the $999 Mark Levinson No. 5909 headphones, and without a doubt, these make me happy.

Visual Brilliance

IT IS amazing how rapidly TVs have grown in capability while their prices have dropped, defying inflation. I am very familiar with TCL's 6-Series and remember its first U.S. market iteration.

Sofabaton X1 Remote - Out of Control

When Logitech stopped making Harmony remotes in 2021, few options remained. The Sofabaton X1, with its vast database of codes for TVs and other devices, sounded promising. If you want a single remote and are willing to invest time to set it up, you may get what you need but it's not a substitute for what it's intended to replace.

Ultra Short Throw Projectors

Ultra Short Throw (UST) projectors have steadily increased in performance while also massively decreasing in price. My first UST experience was a Sony model at CES several years ago selling for $20,000. Today you can get a UST projector with 4K HDR resolution and a laser-light engine rated for a 20,000-hour lifespan that is capable of producing 2500+ lumens for under $2500!

Netflix By Mail Ends Its 25-Year Run

Once as ubiquitous as a Blockbuster plastic bag, the Netflix envelope defined the era between video cassettes and streaming. Subscribers to the disc-by-mail service were informed in April that the company will ship its last disc on September 29, 2023. The announcement, coming 25 years after Netflix gave new life to First Class Mail, was seismic but not surprising.

New World Mix

Producer/engineer Richard Chycki shares the spatially motivated secrets behind his Dolby Atmos mix of Rush's sonically transitional 1982 album, Signals.

Thank You, Douglas Mandel

Recently, I described how a certain airline has devised a fiendish way to torment its passengers. That is, a type of torment beyond the usual runof-the-mill torture of flying on any airplane. In a letter to the editor, alert reader Douglas Mandel commiserated with me but pointed out that I was overlooking another kind of torture that is much, much worse.

Juke Audio Multiroom Streaming Amplifier

A Simple Streaming Solution

Elton John – Farewell Yellow Brick Road

How do you close a 50+ year career in America, one that has brought music and magic to millions of fans and celebrate with them? Well, if you're Elton John, you return to the city where it all started-Los Angeles-and to one of the locations that symbolizes his incredible success: Dodger Stadium, where he famously played in 1975.

4K Laser for Less

Long Live Home Theater! That's the first thought that came to mind after I set up Sony's latest and most affordable native 4K projector.

Affordable Audio Bliss

AS A recording engineer, I've often pondered how soundbars could have become so popular, even though they typically sacrifice the sound quality and true stereo imaging attained by fullrange speakers.

Studio Quality Sound at Home

JBL 4349 LOUDSPEAKERS

Checks All the Boxes

ARENDAL 1723 S SPEAKERS & SUBWOOFER 2S

Bass on a Budget

POLK MONITOR XT10 SUBWOOFER

Vintage Vibes, Modern Guts

NAD C 3050 LE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

CES 2023 What's the future of custom?

By rough count, this past CES marked my twentieth attendance, which may seem like a lot to some, but is merely a drop in the bucket compared to some of the veteran A/V journalists out there. Nevertheless, it’s enough to provide some valuable perspective on attending the show.

Lords of Atmos

Joe Satriani explores the spatially motivated philosophy behind the mixing of his groundbreaking October 1987 album Surfing With the Alien in Atmos.

Would You Volunteer?

Like many of us, you are getting on in years. Whether through disease or simple wear and tear, the delicate mechanisms of your inner ears aren't quite what they used to be. You might be hearing spurious tones, or just not hearing some things at all. If only you could get back your younger ears. Well, could I interest you in a neuroprosthesis?

A Victrola for Your Sonos

If you've wandered by Victrola turntables on the shelves in Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, or Crate & Barrel, you wouldn't set high expectations for the sound quality of those suitcase record players.

JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP SCARECROW SUPER DELUXE EDITION BOX SET

John Mellencamp was making waves. Saddled with the stage name \"John Cougar\" when he came onto the scene in the late1970s, once he began climbing the singles and sales charts, he asserted his artistic identity much more forcefully by crediting his hit October 1983 LP Uh-Huh to John Cougar Mellencamp.

Maximum Musical Pleasure

AS LONGTIME readers of Sound & Vision know, I have a passion for bass. Some might say I need to seek professional help in this regard-well, at least that's what my wife tells me! I've reviewed products for nearly 20 years and had dozens of subwoofers in and out of my theater during that time, and I am generally easy to please.

Luxurious Listening

BOWERS & WILKINS PX8 WIRELESS ANC HEADPHONES

Working with a custom installer

After encountering the same issues repeatedly when working with customers at my CI firm, I thought a series of columns on working with an installer might help. While this is written through the lens of working on A/V projects, many tips are applicable when hiring any trade to work in your home. And I can guarantee that following these suggestions will make the project-and your relationship with the installation team-go smoother for everyone.

The Full Moon Atmos Breakdown

Ryan Ulyate discusses mixing Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' November 1993 Greatest Hits album in Atmos, and why sourcing the original stems made everything feel much more immersive.

Dig that Japanese Vinyl, Baby!

As Marshall McLuhan famously noted, \"The medium is the message.\" I don't know if Mr. McLuhan was an audio/video enthusiast, but that pronouncement, I think, perfectly describes a peculiar affliction that is all too common among us enthusiasts. Perhaps, just maybe, he was talking about you.

Samsung QN100B 4K Neo QLED TV

Bigger & Brighter is Better

Masterly Multichannel

WITH THE advent of features such as room correction, object-oriented surround, and networked/wireless streaming (to name but three), AV receivers have become more elaborate than ever.