Welcome to the Secrets December 2008 Newsletter. In reading our reviews that contain bench tests, you may have noticed in the past that we usually had a large number of graphs.
Paradigm's new version 2 of their Reference Signature S8 floor-standers, C5 center channel, ADP3 surrounds, and Servo subwoofer are spectacular looking and will satisfy the most demanding audiophile with their incredible sound.
Kung Fu Panda (Blu-ray), Mama Mia (Blu-ray), Event Horizon (Blu-ray), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) (Blu-ray), Serenity (Blu-ray), The Cheetah Girls: One World (Blu-ray), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Blu-ray), Burn After Reading (Blu-ray), The Duchess (Blu-ray), The Dark Knight (Blu-ray)
It's easy to dismiss Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos assonic wallpaper. Their presence on classical FM, internet radio, iTunes, andconcert programs around the world is virtually as ubiquitous as Vivaldi'snot-always-evergreen Four Seasons. Most recordings, however, are dismayingly routine, with modern instrument players sawing and blowing away as if executing these babies was just another gig on the calendar.
Hold on to your harpsichord, partner. If you think you know Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos inside and out, take a listen to this award-winning two-CD set.
JL Audio's new Fathom f212 subwoofer is an astonishing product. Their years of building car audio subwoofers that you can hear a block away have paid off in this subwoofer meant for audio and home theater applications. It is expensive, but notwithstanding, even just one of these subs will satisfy the most critical of home theater aficionados. The f212 is one of the finest subwoofers in the world.
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).
Sigma's new DP1 compact digital camera has the same large Foveon sensor as in the SD14 DSLR, yet it can fit in your pocket. Read Secrets exclusive, detailed bench test report to see how it compares with its larger SLR cousins.
With the TX-SR806 Onkyo further pushes the bar of what can be done within a $1100 Reciever: THX Ultra2 Plus certification, 1080 line video processor, and the full suite of audio processing. Did they give anything up? Our Brian Florian investigates.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Blu-ray), Knocked Up (Blu-ray), Dawn of the Dead (Blu-ray), Land of the Dead (Blu-ray), The Incredible Hulk (Blu-ray), The James Bond Series (Six Films) (Blu-ray) . . . more coming!
Torus Power makes as wide an array of isolation transformers as I have ever encountered. The 100 amp version (RM-100) would be a great addition for supplying isolated AC to an entire home theater in custom install situations, but a small one like the RM-10 is useful especially for digital sources and projectors, the total power of which does not exceed 10 amperes.
CEDIA 2008 is meeting in Denver, Colorado from September 3-9. Our show report will be a running commentary as Secrets staff uploads their comments and photos here.
Baby Mama (Blu-ray), Point Break (Blu-ray), The Love Guru (Blu-ray), Pirates of the Caribbean Collection (Blu-ray), Leatherheads (Blu-ray), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Blu-ray), The Godfather Trilogy (Blu-ray), Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2 (Blu-ray), Iron Man (Blu-ray), Hulk (Blu-ray), Speed Racer (Blu-ray), The Thing (Blu-ray), Casino (Blu-ray)
The Sony PMW-EX1 is a Prosumer HD video camera that is quite affordable ($7,499) when you take into account that it will record 1080p30. That's right. Remember how we have all been talking about the day when HDTV programs might begin broadcasting in 1080p instead of 1080i? Well, if it isn't actually part of program broadcasting yet, you can have it for all your home videos. Those birthday parties, daughter's wedding, trip to Europe . . . . you can record them in 1080p30 with a camera that is reasonably portable (it comes with its own small suitcase).
No, it's not one of the pocket sized HD cameras, but you can carry it around without too much difficulty. And, as you will see, the image quality is vastly superior to any consumer HD camera of the past. It's studio quality, affordable to the aficionado.
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. John E. Johnson, Jr. founded Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity in 1994, shortly after publishing a hardcopy book of the same title. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity until 2022. John has been involved in audio and video for more than 50 years, having built radio transmitters, amplifiers, turntables, and speakers from scratch. He was also one of the founders of the Northern California Audio Video Association, now The Bay Area Audio Society.
John holds four university degrees, including a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and has published numerous scientific books, along with dozens of scientific articles on biomedical research topics as well as imaging technology. He was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of two medical/scientific journals for 20 years. John holds several patents, including one on high resolution image analysis and one on a surgical instrument. He has been affiliated with NASA, The National Institutes of Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Stanford Research Institute, and The University of California at Berkeley. He is President of the consulting firm Scientific Design and Information, Inc., which is based in Redwood City, California.
John resides in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and multiple kitties! His daughter, Cynthia, who was an integral part of SECRETS for many years, resides in San Francisco.
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