Susan Johnson

CES 2012 Show Reports

CES 2012 is a wrap! Another very successful year for the International CES. The SECRETS CES Team included Robert Kozel, Piero Gabucci, Chris Heinonen and Stephen Hornbrook....along with the Editor in Chief, John Johnson and Managing Editor Cynthia Johnson.

Everyone has commented on the huge crowds and long lines. Senior Editor, Robert Kozel, summarized the show: Display Technology dominated the audio/visual arena with 4k, OLED, 3D (not so much). Personal Audio was very prevalent in the Audio world with lots of earphones, headphones, etc. Finally connectivity was prevalent throughout.....See John's Final Notes from CES and read all of the final reports.

Check out individual reports from Robert Kozel, Chris Heinonen, Stephen Hornbrook and Piero Gabucci, and Nick St. Denis or just read the full coverage HERE

SECRETS Best of 2011 Awards

The SECRETS Editorial Team is pleased to announce the Best of 2011 Awards. This year we have added a new Media Category for 3D Movies, in addition to Blu-ray, CD and Vinyl Recordings. And this year we have two products winning the "BAD ASS" Award, and one Media "BAD ASS" for Audio. This year the Editorial Team is highlighting two technology areas for particular attention in 2012, so be sure to check out the  "Technologies on the Rise Awards".

Congratulations to all of our 2011 WINNERS!!

CEDIA 2011 EXPO Show Report

The CEDIA 2011 Expo is back in Indianapolis this year.  The SECRETS Team arrived earlier this week and have already seen some impressive new gear.  The first reports are in.....Check back frequently for reports from the team:  Cynthia Johnson, Chris Heinonen, Robert Kozel, Sumit Chawla, Piero Gabucci and Nick St Denis.  David Rich is with the team as well, focusing on some of the technologies with in-depth interviews with the manufacturers.

NEW.....David Rich has added a post show report in the CAVE.

Head for the CAVE.  Or for Individual Team Reports, go to Read More for the link.

The California Audio Show July 2011

The second California Audio Show, produced by Constantine Soo of Dagogo.com, took place July 15-17 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Burlingame. If neither attendance nor room layout was exactly what dealers and manufacturers had hoped for, the combination of several fine sounding rooms, live performances, and information-packed seminars left many audiophiles smiling.

Read and enjoy Jason's multi-part report on the California Audio Show....in the CAVE

T.H.E. Show Newport – Show Report

T.H.E. Show: Newport took place last Friday, June 3, through Sunday, June 5, in the Newport Hilton, adjacent to Orange County's John Wayne International Airport.   T.H.E. Show: Newport was initiated and organized by Bob Levi, President of the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society, and Richard Beers, President of T.H.E. Show.  And a very successful and exciting show it was, covering many rooms and six floors of the Hilton.  Niko Coromelas and Michael Galvin covered T.H.E. Show for SECRETS of Home Theater....and Niko sums up his first day after covering two floors......" a bit of oversaturation"....completely understandable, just look at the photos from Niko and Michael.....available now in the CAVE.  Check back as more photos are added over the next few days.

T.H.E. Show:  Newport Show Reports from Niko and Michael

CES 2011 Show Report – Summary

Do check out the CES 2011 Show Coverage Reports by the SECRETS Team: Robert Kozel, Jim Milton, Adrian Wittenberg, Stephen Hornbrook and John Johnson. Robert's summary of CES 2011 reflects the team's......

"What struck me the most about CES was the sheer magnitude of it all. I have been to Las Vegas many times for conventions in the past, but nothing compared to CES 2011. The enormous international crowds combined with thousands of exhibitors and locations spread throughout the city made it an event I will not soon forget. From the perspective of products, CES is overwhelming with its diversity. There were exhibitors covering home electronics, phones, appliances, automotive, computer hardware, networking, etc. The list was endless and it would be impossible for anyone to take all of it in. The crowd at CES was not just spending time looking at new products. There were countless people with "Buyer" tags on their show badges talking to exhibitors and discussing business. If the crowds were any indication, this should be a good year for the economy. Time will tell if all those conversations ultimately turn into real orders.

Final CES 2011 Impressions and more images just added by Stephen Hornbrook. Check it out!

A Home Theater Build Project – Part II

In this installment I am discussing my upgrade paths and the decisions that went into each change: Video, Audio and Other cconsiderations, including power conditioners. I've presented the changes that I decided on in a chronological manner, as I think that many of us approach our decisions in this way...

Secrets Best of 2010 Awards

The SECRETS Editorial Team is pleased to announce the Best of 2010 Awards. This year we have added some new categories for Media, so look for our awards in the Blu-ray, CD and Vinyl Recordings. And we have established a new award (it is so "Bad", you will have to go to the second page to see it). The Editorial Team also wants to highlight the technologies that we will be paying attention to in 2011, so look for the "Technologies on the Rise Awards".

Congratulations to all of our 2010 WINNERS!!

CEDIA 2010 Show Coverage from Atlanta

CEDIA 2010 is underway in Atlanta.......The SECRETS Team has arrived and is reporting......with continuous coverage from the floor over the next few days.  The Secrets Team.....Piero Gabucci, Chris Eberle, Jim Milton, Chris Heinonen, Jim Clements and Mark Vignola....... will be attending numerous press conferences and booth tours over the next few days. Check out the reports, pictures and videos from the team and check back often for updates.  John and Cynthia are attending as well....check out John's CEDIA summary early next week!!  Reports are live from Jim Milton, Jim Clements, Chris Heinonen and Chris Eberle!  Piero, is that an iPad??

DIY Handcrafted Speakers – Winner of CAVE Contest OPPO BDP-83-NuForce Edition Universal Blu-ray Player

Congratulations to the winner of the OPPO BDP-83/NuForce Edition Universal Blu-ray Player, Niko Coromelas.  Niko's story about his experience building these beautiful speakers was posted in the CAVE and we are featuring them here.  What a great project and Congratulations Niko!!

Well I don't know how many of you have tried your hand at making your own speakers but recently I set out on a project for a 3-way system and thought I would share it with everyone. My goal was to build a system that would be pleasing for both listening to Music as well as watching Movies with my projector. In the end, I was looking for a respectable set--namely better than what I could buy at a typical store. I didn't want it to cost me a fortune or never finish the project, I had that experience once before. Anyone who has gotten into a project knows what I'm talking about. You start, it seems fun with all the neat stuff, so you keep going, finding new things to add, then rebuilding half way through thus repeating the cycle till you never seem to finish. Well...this wasn't a trap I wanted to fall into!

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Sony ES Product Announcements and 3D Studio Tour

Senior Editors Adrian Wittenberg and Chris Heinonen were invited to represent SECRETS at  Sony's unveiling of their new receivers and Blu-ray products in the flagship ES line. The press event took place at the prestigous SLS hotel in Beverly Hills and finished up at Sony Pictures where everyone got a glimpse of a few of the production facilities used in movie picture creation and 3d movie picture creation.The Sony 2010 ES lineup includes three receivers and one Blu-ray player. The most significant change that Sony will be making this year is that Sony ES products will no longer be available for purchase from mass retailers or online retailers and will only be available through AV specialty and installation dealers.

Onkyo DV-BD507 Blu-ray Player

It wasn't but about 18 months ago that Blu-ray players were still considered high end devices, selling mostly to enthusiasts, videophiles, and the like. Recently, the market for these players has really taken off, mostly due to the big box retailers dropping prices to DVD player levels. The fact that one can walk into a Wal-Mart and purchase a Blu-ray player for under $150 makes it somewhat of a commodity item at this point. Why not own one? Blu-ray discs are indeed more expensive (sometimes prohibitively so), but on the rental front, you can get them from Blockbuster or Netflix on the cheap, and enjoy your films in much higher quality.