The Ongoing Career of Baritone Benjamin Luxon

Jason Victor Serinus

English baritone Benjamin Luxon remains prized for the intelligence of his portrayals, and his unfettered directness of expression. Now 72, and devoting much of his time to theater, Luxon came to fame as a member of Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group. After creating the title role in Britten's Owen Wingrave, he proceeded to perform a wide variety of roles in many of the world's leading houses.

Musician and Vocalist Artist Interviews

JVC GZ-HM400U High Definition Video Camera

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Up until the past year, the sensors in HD video cameras were just barely enough in pixel count (2,073,600) to get 1920 x 1080 video. That has changed now, and camera manufacturers are putting sensors in their HD video cameras that have a much higher pixel count. The main reason is so that consumers can take high resolution snapshots with their video cameras, similar to the high resolution photos they can get from dedicated digital snapshot cameras. The serendipity is that the high resolution image can be downsampled to 1920 x 1080 rather than there being only just over 2 megapixels to start with, and this gives a sharper video image. The JVC GZ-HM400U is just such a camera, with its 10.3 megapixel sensor. Have a look at our review to see how it performed.

Video Accessories Misc

Pioneer SC27 7.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

Over the past few years, Class D amps have been gaining in popularity for many reasons including their much smaller size, their incredibly high efficiency, and the much smaller amount of heat that they put off compared to a standard Class A, AB, or B amplifier. More and more high end audio companies such as Rotel, Bel Canto and PS Audio have come out with Class D products that offer high performance in a much smaller form factor than was possible with standard amplifier technologies.

Receivers

Paradigm Reference Millenia 300 Tower Floor-standing Speakers, Millenia 30 Center Channel Speaker, Millenia ADP Surround Speakers, and Studio Sub 15 Subwoofer

Larry Hryshko

Talk about mixed feelings! I need to unload all of my biases first since they are sufficient to taint this review. First, I'm a longstanding fan of Paradigm speakers and over the years, I have either owned or listened to a wide range of their products, right from the diminutive Atoms to their flagship Signature models. In this review, I tested the Millenia series.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems