Yamaha BD-S1065 Blu-ray Player, RX-V2065 Receiver, and Phase Technology Speaker System

Secrets

Welcome to the second of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity System Reviews, where we choose a complete home theater setup and evaluate it for continuity, system synergy and to take some of the guesswork out of buying a complete home theater system and wondering if it all will work together seamlessly. We hope to hit all of the speed bumps so you don't have to. In this review, we take a look at a Yamaha BD-S1065 Blu-ray player, Yamaha RX-V2065 receiver, and Phase Technology speakers.

Soundbars

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – August, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Brooklyn's Finest (Blu-ray), Unthinkable (Blu-ray), True Blood Season 2 (Blu-ray), Hot Tub Time Machine (Blu-ray), Jason and the Argonauts (Blu-ray), Big Trouble in Little China (Blu-ray), Jimmy Hollywood (Blu-ray), Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DVD), Black Narcissus (Blu-ray), The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (Blu-ray), Greenberg (Blu-ray), The Breakfast Club (Blu-ray), Heroes Season 4 (Blu-ray), Henson's Place (DVD), Repo Men (Blu-ray), The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Blu-ray), Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 (Blu-ray), Kick-Ass (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8100 Projector

Piero Gabucci and Chris Eberle

Even as an audio guy, it's hard not to be seduced by the amazing video demonstrations sprinkled around the main shows like CES or CEDIA. I think it makes me admit I'm just as much a movie fan as I am music. An offer came my way to review an entire in-wall speaker package so I thought it a perfect opportunity to add a projector and screen to my otherwise exclusive two-channel space. My hunt was on for an affordable projector, Epson immediately came to mind. They've proven over the last several years that they could design and manufacture not only value packed projectors, but actually very well performing units. For this review, we selected the Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8100.

Projectors

Mystere ca21 Stereo Tube Preamplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Following on our recent review of the Mystere pa21 stereo tube power amplifier, we now review the matching preamplifier, the ca21. It is a single gain stage design, with only one buffer and one capacitor in the signal path. It is as beautiful as its brother, and sounds great as well. Read on.

Preamplifiers

Cambridge Azur 650BD Universal Blu-ray Player

Chris Eberle and Adrian Wittenberg

Cambridge Audio is a long-time bearer of high standards in British-made audio and now video products. They have been turning out quality components since 1968. While they are best known for fine yet value-conscious audio offerings, they have recently introduced a new receiver, the Azur 650R and the subject of this review, the Azur 650BD Universal Blu-ray Player.

Blu-ray Players

Burson HA-160 Headphone Amplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

While headphone amps are not in every audio enthusiast's system, they are still engineered with many of the same design choices as other more common components. One of the main choices to be made is whether to build a full featured but complicated component, or a simple, barebones component that has thrown all the nice but unnecessary features over the side. Burson Audio is an Australian company known for making the latter.

Headphone and Earphone Reviews

LG LHB535 Home Theater in a Box

Stephen Hornbrook

I come from a world of slowly building a system, upgrading one piece at a time, to achieve the best performance for my dollar. So buying an entire solution in one box has never crossed my mind. The LG LHB535 was my first experience with a "Home Theater in a Box" system. Like many people's first time, I was nervous.. apprehensive.. What if it doesn't perform?

Surround Sound Speaker Systems