John E. Johnson, Jr.

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – July, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Shutter Island (Blu-ray), The Book of Eli (Blu-ray), The Unborn (Blu-ray), Ladybugs (Blu-ray), The Man With No Name Trilogy - A Fistful of Dollars (Blu-ray), Darkman (Blu-ray), 12 Monkeys (Blu-ray),  The Man With No Name Trilogy - For A Few Dollars More (Blu-ray), Coach (DVD) , The Seventh Seal (Blu-ray) , Dog City: The Movie (DVD), The Man With No Name Trilogy - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Blu-ray), Green Zone (Blu-ray) , The Illusionist (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Anthony Gallo Acoustics Reference Strada Speakers and TR3 Subwoofer

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Anthony Gallo Acoustics has been known for many years to make very unique, high performance loudspeakers that can deliver world-class performance at reasonable prices and in everyday rooms. I was so impressed with their Reference 3.1 speakers when I reviewed them in 2007 that I bought the review pair. In the past several months, Gallo has significantly upgraded their reference line. The Reference 3.1 has just been replaced with the much more expensive Reference 3.5, but a new speaker system has taken up a new position in the Gallo line at a price point very close to the old Reference 3.1.

Bookshelf Speakers

Mystere pa21 Stereo Tube Power Amplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Durob Audio is a company in the Netherlands that markets PrimaLuna tubed audio components, including integrated amplifiers, power amplifiers, and a CD player that has a tube-based clock. It also has a discrete output stage with triodes running in pure Class A. Conventional CD players use op-amps in the output stage. Although the tube output stage and op-amp output stage sound different, one doesn't necessarily sound "better" than the other, although tubeophiles would all opt for the "better". We reviewed the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Two integrated amplifier in December, 2009.

With the introduction of Durob Audio's Mysterè line, we now review the Mysterè pa21, which is a 55 watt per channel stereo tube power amplifier. The Mysterè line goes beyond the PrimaLuna line with larger transformers, more power supply capacitance, and an auto-bias circuit that lets the consumer choose between using KT88's or EL34's as the output tubes.

Power Amplifiers

Kordz EVO, EVS, and EVX HDMI Cables

John E. Johnson, Jr.

HDMI cables have two basic issues that are somewhat different than with audio cables, namely that they tend to be much longer, and also, the HDMI connector has turned out not to be very robust. So, if the HDMI cable that came with your new HDTV or DVD player is not doing the job for you, Kordz makes cables that will deliver the goods under any conditions. We review here their pure copper model, the EVO, as well as the EVS which has a thin coating of pure silver, and the EVX, which has a thicker coating of silver.

Audio Cables

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – June, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

The Wolfman (Blu- ray), From Paris with Love (Blu-ray), The Edge (Blu-ray), Marked For Death (Blu-ray), Armageddon (Blu-ray), Do The Right Thing (Blu-ray), Invictus (Blu-ray), Alice in Wonderland (2010) (Blu-ray), Carlito's Way (Blu-ray), Edge of Darkness (Blu-ray), Saving Private Ryan (Blu-ray), Daybreakers (Blu-ray), Robin Hood: Men In Tights (Blu-ray), Tetro (Blu-ray), High Anxiety (Blu-ray), Dirty Dancing (Blu-ray), Elektra (Blu-ray), History of the World- Part 1 (Blu-ray), Wolverine and the X-Men (DVD), Heroes: Season 3 (Blu-ray), Battlestar Galactica- Season 2.0 (Blu-ray), Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (DVD), Dune (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

JVC GZ-HM550 High Definition Video Camera

John E. Johnson, Jr.

JVC's new GZ-HM550 has full 1920 x 1080 resolution, records up to 2 hours, 57 minutes in its highest quality mode, has a built-in 32 GB SD card, and is the smallest high definition video camera we have ever tested. At $799.95 MSRP, it will not only fit in your shirt pocket, but won't strain the wallet in your hip pocket.

Video Accessories Misc

Lamm LL2.1 Stereo Tube Preamplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Lamm Industries has been a venerable brand name in high end audio for decades. They build each product when it is ordered, so you won't see a bunch of any particular model "in stock" anywhere. Their specialty is tube-based preamplifiers and power amplifiers, with their top-of-the-line power amplifier selling at well over $100,000. The current review focuses on the model LL2.1 stereo preamplifier. At $5,995, it is the most affordable preamplifier in the Lamm product line.

The LL2.1 is an updated version of a previous model. Several new features have been added along with modifications of the basic circuit.

Preamplifiers

NuVision NVU46FX5LS 46″ LED LCD HDTV

John E. Johnson, Jr.

NuVision is a company that hand-builds LCD flat panel HDTV displays. So, instead of a mass produced TV, you get one that has a lot of fingers putting things together and then having tests run on that particular unit to make sure it meets all specifications. It uses top quality parts through and through. As a result, NuVision's 46" HDTV, the NVU46FX5LS, at $4,499 MSRP, costs more than mass produced models from other brands that could be as large as 65". So, what is it you would want to know about such a TV? The performance. Read our review to see what we found.

HDTV

Earthquake Sound SWAT 2.4 Wireless Transceiver

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Earthquake Sound has introduced the SWAT 2.4 Stereo Wireless Transceiver, which consists of a small transmitter and receiver that operate wirelessly up to 100 feet, sending a stereo audio signal, via the 2.4 GHz wireless network band. It is an ideal solution for sending a stereo audio signal from your receiver's Zone 2 stereo output to a hifi system in another room of the house, and it can also be used for the rear channels of your home theater setup, such that you no longer need to run a set of speaker cables to the rear of the room.

It comes with all the connecting cables necessary, as well as two 5 volt DC wall warts for power.

Wireless

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – May, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

The African Queen (Blu-ray), The Young Victoria (Blu-ray), Traffic (Blu-ray), It's Complicated (Blu-ray), The Lovely Bones (Blu-ray), Goldfinger (Blu-ray), Leap Year (Blu-ray), Collateral (Blu-ray), The Blind Side (Blu-ray), Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Blu-ray), Children of Men (Blu-ray), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Blu-ray), Double Identity (Blu-ray), Out of Africa (Blu-ray), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Blu-ray), Sherlock Holmes (Blu-ray), The Last House On The Left (Blu-ray), The Last Starfighter (Blu-ray), Minority Report (Blu-ray), Tombstone (Blu-ray), Spy Game (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

McIntosh MCD500 SACD Player

John E. Johnson, Jr.

McIntosh has been producing dedicated SACD players for several years, and their latest edition to the line is the MCD500. This iteration has a much lower noise floor than previous models, which allows for the presentation of greater detail in soft musical passages. Our bench tests proved this to be the case, as the measured noise floor was at least 20 dB better than the MCD201 that we tested a few years ago.

SACD Players

Audio/Video Cables: The Science and the Insanity

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Over the past several years, I noticed that some A/V cable companies have expanded their lines to include interconnects and speaker cables that cost in the thousands, no make that tens of thousands, of dollars. You can actually spend about $25,000 on one pair of speaker cables about 5 meters in length. For that same amount of money, you can purchase a Blu-ray player, top notch receiver, full set of 7.1 speakers, good subwoofer, 1080p projector, a projection screen, and all the A/V cables you need to connect them - in other words, a complete home theater system.

Editor's DeskEditorial

Mixing and Matching: The Paradigm Reference Signature C5 Center Channel Cone Speaker vs. Electrostatics

John E. Johnson, Jr.

In most A/V publications, they will tell you to stick with one brand and line of speakers so that the tonality will be the same across the entire soundstage. That's true. But, if you look for neutrality in sound, you can mix and match with no problem. I have used electrostatic speakers (ESLs) in our home theater lab as a reference for years. The problem has always been the center channel. The front left and right ESL are 6 feet tall, and the center channel ESL was only 4 feet, and even then, the motorized projection screen would come down in front of it about a foot. Secondly, ESLs cannot be driven to high SPLs like cone speakers.....So, I decided to use a conventional (cone) speaker for the center channel, the new Paradigm Reference Signature C5 center channel speaker.....Was I disappointed in the results? Read our review to see.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems