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Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – August, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Brooklyn's Finest (Blu-ray), Unthinkable (Blu-ray), True Blood Season 2 (Blu-ray), Hot Tub Time Machine (Blu-ray), Jason and the Argonauts (Blu-ray), Big Trouble in Little China (Blu-ray), Jimmy Hollywood (Blu-ray), Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DVD), Black Narcissus (Blu-ray), The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (Blu-ray), Greenberg (Blu-ray), The Breakfast Club (Blu-ray), Heroes Season 4 (Blu-ray), Henson's Place (DVD), Repo Men (Blu-ray), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Blu-ray), Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 (Blu-ray), Kick-Ass (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Denon AVR-3310CI 7.1 A/V Receiver

John E. Johnson, Jr.

When shopping for a receiver, most consumers either get the bargain of the week at $499 or the macho machine at $2,499. But, what about those receivers in the middle, as in $1,499. Not cheap enough for the bargain hunter, not "impressive" enough for the high end. Maybe you should take a second look. At that middle price, you can still get the hot features, but not break the bank. Here, we review Denon's AVR-3310CI which clocks in at 120 watts x 7 and decodes everything, even that new kid on the block . . . height channels.

Receivers

Earthquake Titan Telesto Floor-standing Speakers and Supernova MKVI 10″ Subwoofer

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Earthquake Sound has just introduced the Titan Telesto floor-standing speakers. They are 50" high and have a unique horn-loaded tweeter as well as a conventional dome tweeter. Two 4" drivers handle the midrange, with a side-mounted 8" woofer dealing out the low frequencies. They are beautifully finished in black piano lacquer and are priced at $4,999 for the pair. Earthquake also sent their Supernova MKVI 10" subwoofer, because I had been so impressed with the 15" version, and I wanted to see how the smaller one performed. Well, it performed! And so did the Telestos . . . .

Floor Standing Speakers

Yamaha RX-V3900 7.1 A/V Receiver

Gabe Lowe

There has been a huge boom, over the last few years, in the number of devices for your A/V system that stream or play music. These devices include many things, from gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 to standalone boxes such as Yamaha's own MCX-2000. In the past year, we have been seeing these types of features creep into traditional consumer electronics components, such as Blu-Ray players and A/V Receivers. The Yamaha RX-V3900 is one such component.

Receivers

Denon AH-NC732 Noise Canceling Headphones

Piero Gabucci

I suppose in this iPod generation we shouldn't be surprised by the explosion of new headphone options. Breaking it down, there are 3 types of headphones really: in-ear, on-ear and over-ear. In-ear offers the best solution for portability while over-ear is typically large and cumbersome and generally provides the best reproduction and comfort, it is usually reserved for the audiophile or studio engineer. On-ear however may offer the best of both worlds, especially if they travel easily, offer comfort, clean fidelity and outside noise cancellation - hence the new AH-NC732 from Denon.

Headphone and Earphone Reviews

Denon AVP-A1HDCI Surround Sound Processor and POA-A1HDCI Power Amplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Denon's new AVP-A1HDCI sports 12 configurable XLR fully balanced output channels. It handles all the newest codecs, including DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD. Using its Denon Link, along with a DVD player that also has the Denon Link, you can play SACDs with the native DSD bitstream being sent to the processor for decoding (no conversion to PCM like most other systems do).

Processors

Sony Bravia KDL-46X3500 46″ 1920x1080p LCD HDTV

Ofer LaOr

When the local Sony dealer asked me which model I wanted to check out, I wasn't sure if I should get the smaller 40" or the larger 46" model. On the one hand, statistics say that the 40" model will be a lot more popular, but they also suggest that the 44-50" segment, particularly in the US, is growing at an amazing rate.

HDTV

JL Audio Fathom f112 Subwoofer

Colin Miller

"Seriously, thanks. I haven't had anything this refreshing from audio equipment since a long, long time. This is the kind of $#^+ that makes me want to believe again. As sincerely as a junkie can get."

Subwoofers
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Off-air Antennas Become The New Necessity

Sherman

As spending tightens in these uncertain economic times, discretionary purchasing has shifted away from other key market categories, to consumer electronics and particularly to digital TV and HD. High Definition Televisions bumped digital cameras out of the top spot for the most desired CE product for 2007. Several dynamics are affecting millions of households now relying on analog signals for reception of their broadcast TV signals, with antennas older than 2 years. They need to upgrade to the new antenna technology, along with cable and satellite customers looking for alternatives. Although cable and satellite program providers will continue to serve the great majority of homes as the primary signal source, missing HD local reception, higher costs, billing add-ons, service outages, contact difficulties, in-home service waits and no shows have left many subscribers looking to OTA antennas as alternatives and backup.

Press