Funk

Secrets
High quality tools for working with digital and analog sources to radio and TV stations, recording studios and demanding home users.
AV Directory

Yamaha A-1020 Universal Blu-ray Player

Chris Heinonen

The number of Universal Blu-ray players on the market continues to be strong, despite the much-discussed "death" of SACD and DVD-Audio formats. While no longer mainstream enough to be found at your local Best Buy or other big box retailer, SACD especially remains a thriving format in the audiophile market. The A-1020 is a Universal Blu-ray player that handles virtually all disc formats you can throw at it. In addition to its Blu-ray and audio playback abilities, is has the ubiquitous Netflix support and integrated Wi-Fi for streaming the content. It sounds like a good package from the specs, but with the universal player market being so competitive it really has a lot of good competitors to deal with.

Blu-ray Players

NHT

Secrets
NHT was founded in December 1986 and shipped its first product, the Model 1 in 1987. Since then, NHT has challenged the notion that the very best sound reproduction...
AV Directory

Blu-ray Player for Older AV Processor?

Scott Wilkinson

I have a JBL Synthesis AV2 processor with HDMI 1.1 and eight RCA analog-audio inputs. I want to buy a new Blu-ray player, but I've been told conflicting info about what outputs the player needs to send 7.1 channels of HD audio to the AVP. I have been told that HDMI 1.1 will only accept 5.1 channels from a player, and to get all 7.1 channels, I need a player with eight RCA outputs. Other sources say the AVP should be able to handle 7.1 channels via HDMI 1.1. Which true?

I am looking at the Sony BDP-S790 player, which doesn't have eight outputs, only HDMI 1.4, versus the Oppo BDP-103 and 105. Which do you like best?

- John Baldino
Orange, CT

SECRETS Home Theater Q&A

XTZ Room Analyzer II Pro Room Acoustics Analyzer Kit

Tyler Stripko & Mark Vignola

We've all heard the adage a dozen times: your room is far more important to the sound that you get out of your system than the system itself. While this statement may very well be true, the process of tackling "your room" is far more difficult than deciding what type of receiver or speaker wire you should buy. Welcome to the world of acoustics: incredibly complicated and undoubtedly intimidating. The XTZ Room Analyzer may just be the thing to help get you into this world a little easier.

Audio Accessories Misc