John E. Johnson, Jr.

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

OPPO BDP-83SE (Special Edition) and NuForce Edition Universal Blu-ray Players

John E. Johnson, Jr.

OPPO's BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player has been very successful, as it is one of only a few players that will ouput all codecs (CD, DVD-A, SACD, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio) in digital format through an HDMI connection. Now, with the Special Edition of this player, called the BDP-83SE, along with a tweaked version of the SE, called the BDP-83SE NuForce Edition, analog audio performance is improved significantly, and in fact, both players perform like units costing much, much more.

Blu-ray Players

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – January, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

The Hangover (Blu-ray), The Marine 2 (Blu-ray), Mamma Mia! (Blu-ray), Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Blu-ray), Extract (Blu-ray), Jennifer's Body (Blu-ray), Horton Hears a Who! (Blu-ray), Command Performance (Blu-ray), 9 (Blu-ray), A Perfect Getaway (Blu-ray), Taking Woodstock (Blu-ray), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Blu-ray), CSI: The First Season (Blu-ray), 10 Things I Hate About You (Blu-ray), Fighting (Blu-ray), Love Actually (Blu-ray), American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (Blu-ray), Funny People (Blu-ray), Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Seven Tube Monoblock Power Amplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

PrimaLuna is a Dutch-based company that released its first products, the ProLogue One and ProLogue Two integrated tube amplifiers in 2003. Then, in 2006, they released the ProLogue Three preamplifier, and ProLogue Five, Six, and Seven power amplifiers. Late in that same year, the PrimaLuna DiaLogue series hit the market, which had the DiaLogue's basic features, but with upgraded parts and additional capabilities. Here, we review the DiaLogue Seven, which is a monoblock power amplifier, capable of delivering 40 watts RMS in triode mode, and 70 watts RMS in ultra-linear mode (see review for an explanation of what this means). The bottom line is that the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Seven monoblock is more than capable of delivering a clean, detailed, and lush sound (ah, those tubes are responsible for that).

Power Amplifiers

Centronics DHCT5 Cat 5 HDMI Extender

John E. Johnson, Jr.

For those of us who need to get a high definition program that is stored or being broadcast from a satellite or cable receiver in one room to an HDTV in another room that may be at the other end of the house, simply using a long HDMI cable won't work due to signal loss. However, several manufacturers are now producing HDMI extenders that use Cat 5 (or Cat 6 if you like) cable. Some that I took a look at but chose not to review needed two Cat 5 cables, so I waited. Now, Centronics offers an extender that requires only one Cat 5 cable and will send 1080p up to 100 feet from the source to your HDTV. You plug a short HDMI cable from your satellite box into the Centronics transmitter and another short HDMI cable into the receiver and HDTV at the other end. Custom installers take note: You will want to have a couple of these in your van when you start on a project.

Switchers

Emotiva X-Series A/V Cables

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Emotiva, which started out marketing amplifiers, expanded to include preamplifiers, SSPs, speakers, and now, to complete the line, a complete series of cables. These include coaxial analog RCA, coaxial digital RCA, digital Toslink, balanced XLR, HDMI, and speaker cables. They come in two models, one being the X-Series that we review here, and the Ultra-Series, which is the entry level. I found the cables to be extremely well constructed, with gold-plated contacts, and rugged enough to be man-handled through the typical maze of wires that we all have behind our equipment racks. The sound in my reference system using the Emotiva cables was excellent. The prices are very reasonable, and are a better value than what I see in blister packs at various mass market electronic stores.

Video Accessories Misc

VIZIO VF551XVT 55″ LCD LED HDTV

John E. Johnson, Jr.

VIZIO has introduced a 55" (diagonal) LCD HDTV (1080p) that uses 960 LEDs in 80 control blocks as the backlighting. The control blocks change their brightness according to the brightness of the part of the scene that they responsible for illuminating. The result is absolute black, where there is supposed to be black. We measured a contrast ratio of nearly 300,000:1. It also has 240 Hz refresh rate (120 Hz plus backlight scanning) which allows for interpolated frames in between actual frames, and this delivers smooth motion during panning or objects moving across the screen. Best of all, it is available (street price) at $1,899 which is not an increase over last year's technology at the same screen size.

HDTV