John E. Johnson, Jr.

WINNER ANNOUNCED!!…WIN A LEXICON MC-12B FULLY BALANCED SSP WITH MICROPHONE KIT AND ROOM CORRECTION UPGRADE

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Thank you to all of the CAVE Members.......we have awarded the Lexicon, as announced in the CAVE.......The winner of  the Blu-ray discs will be announced on Friday!!   The next CAVE award will be "Officially" announced in next week's Newsletter.....(HINT:  something special from our friends Downunder!!)  So if you haven't signed up for the Newsletter, please do so now.....

Sign up as a member in the Secrets CAVE and you will have a chance to win our reference Lexicon MC-12B SSP (we are changing it out for a different product because we need HDMI audio inputs). This SSP is a superb product that can be used as a two-channel preamp if you wish.

Custom Home Theaters

NextGen Twister 360 Degree HDMI Connector

John E. Johnson, Jr.

For those of us who use A/V equipment with HDMI jacks, we all have experienced issues with the cable being forced to bend at stressful angles to go to the next piece of equipment in the signal path. NextGen has solved this difficulty with the Twister, which is an HDMI jack and plug, connected together using a 3600 ball joint.

Switchers

Movie Renter’s Guide – December, 2009

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Star Trek (Blu-ray), The Taking of Pelham 123 (Blu-ray), Angels & Demons (Blu-ray), Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws (Blu-ray), A Charlie Brown Christmas (Blu-ray), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1965, Blu-ray), Wrong Turn (Blu-ray), An American Werewolf in London (Blu-ray), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000, Blu-ray), The Office: Season 5 (Blu-ray), Battlestar Galactica - The Plan (Blu-ray), District 9 (Blu-ray), The Inglourious Basterds (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

JVC GZ-HM400U High Definition Video Camera

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Up until the past year, the sensors in HD video cameras were just barely enough in pixel count (2,073,600) to get 1920 x 1080 video. That has changed now, and camera manufacturers are putting sensors in their HD video cameras that have a much higher pixel count. The main reason is so that consumers can take high resolution snapshots with their video cameras, similar to the high resolution photos they can get from dedicated digital snapshot cameras. The serendipity is that the high resolution image can be downsampled to 1920 x 1080 rather than there being only just over 2 megapixels to start with, and this gives a sharper video image. The JVC GZ-HM400U is just such a camera, with its 10.3 megapixel sensor. Have a look at our review to see how it performed.

Video Accessories Misc

Movie Renter’s Guide – November, 2009

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Lie To Me Season One (Blu-ray), Waterworld (Blu-ray), Big (Blu-ray), Army of Darkness (Blu-ray), Child's Play (Blu-ray), Role Models (Blu-Ray), Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (Blu-ray), Bruno (Blu-ray), Doom (Blu-ray), Shaun of the Dead (Blu-ray), The Scorpion King (Blu-ray), The Rundown (Blu-ray), High Crimes (Blu-ray), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Blu-ray), Monsters, Inc. (Blu-ray), Up (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Movie Renter’s Guide – October, 2009

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Blu-ray), The Proposal (Blu-ray), Qdeo HD Video Test Disc (Blu-ray), Spears & Munsil HD Video Test Disc (Blu-ray) , The Girl Next Door (Blu-ray), Misery (Blu-ray), Disaster Movie (Blu-ray), The Tale of Despereaux (Blu-ray), MASH (Blu-ray), Powder Blue (Blu-ray), Drag Me To Hell (Blu-ray), Hot Fuzz (Blu-ray), The Passion of the Christ (Blu-ray), Away We Go (Blu-ray), Field of Dreams (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Emotiva USP-1 Stereo Preamplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Emotiva's new USP-1 stereo preamplifier, at $399, sets a new standard in performance in low priced components. Besides the standard full range outputs, this preamp offers a split output where you can adjust the low-pass frequency for one (which goes to your subwoofer) and the high-pass frequency for the other (which goes to your main power amplifier). This allows you to essentially bi-amplify, and with the low frequencies removed from the high-passed output, your power amplifier will run more efficiantly, not having to waste power on low frequencies that your speakers cannot reproduce. And, they toss in a phono stage that has both MC and MM settings. This may mark the beginning of phono stages being a standard part of stereo preamplifiers, rather than having to purchase an outboard phono stage. Long live LP's! Oh, there's a headphone jack too.

Preamplifiers

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

SVS STS-01 Floor-standing Speakers, PB10-NSD Subwoofer, and AS-EQ1 Subwoofer Equalizer

John E. Johnson, Jr.

With SVS' release of the STS speaker series, they have made a concise statement that they are definitely in the speaker trade as well as subwoofers. The STS follows on the MTS series, and according to their website, a high-end speaker series is slated for late 2009. In the current article, we review a pair of STS-01 floor-standing speakers along with a pair of PB10-NSD 10" subwoofers and their new AS-EQ1 equalizer that is made specifically for subwoofers. The listening tests as well as bench tests show that SVS is a company to be reckoned with. Their products continue to perform at a very high standard, and yet, they are priced so that anyone can afford them.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems