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

Screen Innovations Black Diamond II HD Front Projection Screen

John E. Johnson, Jr.

One of the major problems affecting those of us with projectors is the ambient room light that tends to desaturate colors of the images on the screen when we watch movies. Screen Innovations (SI) has designed a new material that helps solve this problem. It's called the Black Diamond II HD. The screen can be wall mounted, or ceiling mounted with or without motorized control.

The company also offers other types of screen material such as fabric that lets sound come through so you can place your speakers behind the screen.

Screens

Dream Vision Starlight1 LCoS Projector

Chris Eberle

Dream Vision, an emerging brand in America, has been developing and marketing high-end models in Europe since 1996. In 1999, they became available on this side of the Atlantic when they introduced, with the help of Audio Plus Services, the world's first consumer-targeted DLP projector, the DL500. Today their DLP and LCoS designs offer cutting-edge features and most importantly, high performance. They've also made some of the most stylish projectors I've ever seen. Created by leading French industrial designers; their chassis' make a bold statement as a centerpiece in a modern media room. With unique options like fixed anamorphic lenses, Dream Vision has projection systems to suit a wide variety of home theater installations. In this review, we cover the Dream Vision Starlight1, which is a three-chip LCoS projector.

Projectors

JBL LS 80 Floor-Standing Speakers, LS Center, LS 40 Rear Surround Speakers, and LS 120P Subwoofer

Jim Clements

I was smitten by the JBL LS 80 speakers when I first saw them at the 2009 CEDIA Expo in Atlanta. They were on static display in the JBL booth when I came across them. Even though I couldn't hear them playing, I was impressed by their bold look and solid build quality. In person, their finish is downright striking. It also doesn't hurt that they won the 2008-2009 European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) "European HT Loudspeaker of the Year" Award or that they are very reasonably priced. Here, we review the LS 80's for the front left and right channels, the LS Center, LS 40's for the rear surround channels, and the LS 120p subwoofer.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Lamm LL1 Signature Stereo Tube Preamplifier – An Audiophile’s Dream

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Lamm introduces their LL1 Signature preamplifier, which is the partner to their ML3 Signature power amplifier. Both the LL1 and ML3 are cost-no-object products using only the finest parts that can be found anywhere in the world. The design is based on Vladimir Lamm's 50 year career in design of tube components that perform at the extreme limits of sonic perfection. The LL1 is a $43,000 four-chassis, 114 pound, state-of-the-art masterpiece.

Preamplifiers

Editorial: MP3 Music and Undersaturated Movies

John E. Johnson, Jr.

I received an interesting e-mail today, from a reader who was concerned about all the movies that have been released over the past few years with little to no color in the image.

I have been planning to write an editorial about why I think young consumers are into MP3 music and don't really care about the high quality of lossless digital music that the rest of us have been trying to get them to switch over to, or at least give it a listen.

Editor's DeskEditorial
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Sony ES Product Announcements and 3D Studio Tour

Adrian Wittenberg and Chris Heinonen

Senior Editors Adrian Wittenberg and Chris Heinonen were invited to represent SECRETS at  Sony's unveiling of their new receivers and Blu-ray products in the flagship ES line. The press event took place at the prestigous SLS hotel in Beverly Hills and finished up at Sony Pictures where everyone got a glimpse of a few of the production facilities used in movie picture creation and 3d movie picture creation.The Sony 2010 ES lineup includes three receivers and one Blu-ray player. The most significant change that Sony will be making this year is that Sony ES products will no longer be available for purchase from mass retailers or online retailers and will only be available through AV specialty and installation dealers.

Press