Susan Johnson

Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2009 Show Report

By many accounts this year's show was busier than last. Some exhibitors saw their visitors increase three-fold. Curiously, in my opinion the entry level of value components moved up a notch despite the economy. There were still plenty of sub $3K components to be had, but for the most part, components weren't bundled by price, with a few exceptions. There were plenty of $3K electronic components paired with $10K speakers, and vice versa. The rooms displaying $100K amps were getting plenty of action. Secrets' Coverage from Ed Becker...Ed will be adding pics and comment throughout this week....

CEDIA 2009 Show Report

The SECRETS CEDIA 2009 Team is reporting in the CAVE.....do join us for all the latest news and pictures from the floor....We have a large team covering CEDIA 2009....Joining me are John, Editor in Chief, and Piero Gabucci, Adrian Wittenberg, Chris Eberle, Chris Heinonen, Jim Clements and Jim Milton.......This is our first photo upon arriving at CEDIA 2009.....and it does seem that there are fewer attendees this year than in previous years.

Jim Clements reports.....I really enjoyed the scale and spectacle of my first day at the 2009 CEDIA Expo. The Georgia World Congress Center is an excellent venue for this type of event. My mission is to track down and report on gear that might be assembled into affordable systems. This includes source components, receivers, satellite speakers, subwoofers and accesories.

Join us in the CAVE

OPPO BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

There has been a lot of anticipation for OPPO Digital's brand new BDP-83 Blu-ray player. This is in part because OPPO has had an excellent track record for producing top notch affordable DVD players, such as the DV-983H (one of the only players in Secrets's history to score a perfect 100 on Secret's rigorous DVD Benchmark) and in part because the BDP-83 is the first Blu-ray player to hit the market offering the features to make it a truly all-in-one solution media solution for high definition playback. These include the ability to handle SACDs as a bitstream or PCM, and the ability to play DVD-Audio discs. The BDP-83 also decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio internally, giving you the option of using the 7.1 analog pre-outs on the rear panel if you have an older receiver, or use the HDMI output to deliver these high resolution movie soundtracks to your receiver in digital form.

Canton GLE 490 Floor-standing Speakers, GLE 455 Center Channel, GLE 430 Bookshelf Speakers, and AS 105 SC Subwoofer

Amidst the many dividing lines in the world of audio and video is the line between those that believe speakers must be single purpose, and those that believe speakers can be multi-purpose. The purposes in question are often music and home theater (alternatively music or home theater depending on what side of the line you are on.) A more pertinent question for this review might be: "How well Canton goes from Pure Music to surround sound in one package?"

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No harm in Hz?

Remember the days when TV only meant one thing? After the advent of color, there really wasn't much else to distinguish TV. We were blissfully unaware of anythi...

Energy CF-70 Floor-standing Speakers

I first encountered the Energy line of speakers in the late 90's when I helped a friend setup her new Take 5 system paired with a Denon receiver. My recollection of the event is of some skepticism as to the sound quality given the small size of the speakers but I ended up being grudgingly impressed with them. They certainly blew away any HTiB solution! It was perfect for her condo.

Pioneer BDP-09FD Elite Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

Many people have been waiting for Blu-ray players to hit the magic price point of $200, where people think mass adoption will start to take place and it will slowly overtake DVD as the dominant home video format. However, there's also another range of players that are starting to come out now, those of reference quality designs with virtually no expense spared. The BDP-09FD from Pioneer is their entry into that arena.

(Check out the video tour of the player's features at the bottom of Page 2.)

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HD Voodoo?

  More and more these days, movies and other media are being served to us for purchase or rental via online streaming or downloading.  This recently got some f...

Denon DVD-1800BD Blu-ray Player – Benchmark

The Denon DVD-1800BD is Denon's newest and least expensive Blu-ray player. For the $599 MSRP you get a Bonus View (profile 1.1) compliant player with HDMI 1.3a and component video outputs, bit-streaming (not decoding) of all the latest lossless surround formats, a front panel SD card memory slot for the playback of MP3 and JPG files, and full Divx and Windows Mediaâ„¢ Audio playback support.

Bel Canto S500 Stereo Power Amplifier

Let me first state "I like this amp, I really do." What does "Class A, A/B, D, ICEpower" mean to the average audiophile? Will there be an audible benefit by upgrading to the newer technology? If I am making an initial purchase will this technology satisfy me? Does the amp du jour really make a difference in the listening experience for the average listener?