Boston Acoustics A Series 5.1 Home Theater Speakers

Brian Alvarez

Boston Acoustics has a well deserved reputation for delivery good sounding and musical speakers at reasonable prices. The very first pair of speakers I owned were Boston Acoustics. It was such a long time ago I can't remember the model number. All I recall are small bookshelf speakers in black ash. Sound wise they stood out at the time as the only speakers I could afford that sounded like music. The Boston Acoustic A Series set of 5.1 speakers is reviewed here.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Panasonic DMP-BDT210 3D Blu-ray Player

Chris Heinonen

Sales figures for home theater components are not something I really pay attention to. I'd much rather own something that works great than to have what's popular, or to have my opinion influenced by sales numbers. However, I'd be willing to bet that Panasonic has done pretty well with their 3D Blu-ray players this year because of one huge advantage they have over everyone else: The ability to include Avatar 3D for consumers. And now, you can get a 3D Blu-ray player for $200: the Panasonic DMP-BDT210.

Blu-ray Players

Dream 24″ Bliss Half Cup Ride Cymbal

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Dream Cymbals are manufactured in China, being totally hammered and lathed by hand, directly from the cast bronze disc, rather than put through rollers to flatten them before hammering. The results are cymbals that have a very strong wash that sustains. The current review covers their 24" Bliss Half Cup Ride Cymbal. This basically means the bell is about half the size it normally would be. This gives the cymbal a strong ping, and just enough wash to make it interesting.

Cymbals

ChromaPure 2.2 Video Calibration System and Lumagen Radiance Mini-3D Video Processor

Chris Heinonen

If you've read the previous DIY calibration articles here at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, then you've seen us cover ChromaPure and CalMAN calibration systems, and the DVDO Duo video processor. This time we're going to look at the newest release of ChromaPure, version 2.2, as well as the Lumagen Radiance Mini-3D Video Processor, both individually and together.

Video Calibration

Toshiba 55SL417U 55″ Edge Lit LED LCD HDTV

Chris Eberle

With all the hoopla surrounding 3D, the other big innovation in HDTVs has been largely forgotten – LED backlighting. For an image-quality geek like me though, this is a far more significant advance in technology. LCD panels can now play in the same black-level arena as plasma TVs. In some cases, they even exceed. As anyone schooled in imaging science will tell you, dynamic range is the single most important factor in perceived image quality. Let's take a look at this Toshiba 55" HDTV with edge lit LED backlighting.

HDTV

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – October, 2011

The SECRETS Movie Review Team

The Lion King - 3D (Blu-ray), Beauty and the Beast - 3D (Blu-ray), Star Wars - Episode II (Blu-ray), Star Wars - Episode III (Blu-ray), Bridesmaids (Blu-ray), Planet Earth: Special Edition (Blu-ray), Transformers Dark of the Moon (Blu-ray), The Tempest (Blu-ray), Dumbo (Blu-ray), Fast Five (Blu-ray), Life is Beautiful (Blu-ray), The Hour (Blu-ray), Moby Dick (2010) (Blu-ray), A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song (DVD), Ben-Hur (Blu-ray), Cape Fear (1991) (Blu-ray), African Cats (Blu-ray), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D, Blu-ray), X-Men: First Class (Blu-ray), Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Blu-ray), Green Lantern (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Channel D Pure Music High Resolution Music Server Software

Chris Groppi

Computer audio is quickly becoming the source of choice for high-resolution audio playback. A vast number of products focused on computer audio are available today, but most of the attention is paid to hardware: DACs and computer audio interfaces like the Bryston BDA-1 and Halide Design USB to SPDIF Bridge I reviewed last year. In all our reviews, we forget one key component of the playback chain: the software player. I have complained extensively about the difficulty of getting no-compromise audio playback from a computer.

Portable Audio

Yamaha R-S700 Stereo Receiver

Kieran Coghlan

5.1, 7.1, 9.2... even 11.2 and beyond. Yes, I'm talking about the numbers of channels available in multi-channel home theater systems. It seems to be getting out of control, don't you think? Well, Yamaha may have the prescription for your multi-channel nausea: good, affordable, old-fashioned 2-channel stereo, done right. In this review, we take a look at their R-S700 Stereo Receiver. For many folks, two channels is enough.

Receivers