Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin iPod Amplified Speaker Dock System

Adrian Wittenberg

The iPod dock/speaker market continues to grow every year and more high end speaker manufacturers are joining the game. Products range from cheap and flimsy $20 plastic models to higher end models such as the Fatman iTube Red-i that lists for $649. Bowers and Wilkins, renowned British loudspeaker company, has created their own high end iPod speaker dock system called the Zeppelin, which lists at $599, and is the subject of this review.

Portable Audio

Gefen HDMI Detective Plus

Sumit Chawla, Ph.D.

I caught the HTPC bug sometime back and went about building one after receiving component recommendations from Sandy Bird, one of our Senior Editors. The installation went smoothly. Then, one day I encountered an issue I had not seen before. Switching the source input from the HTPC to some other source, such as my DVR, and then back to the HTPC would sometimes give a small 800x600 window centered on the display. The output was no longer 1080p, the resolution I started out with.

Switchers

Home Theater Movie Renter’s Guide – January, 2010

John E. Johnson, Jr.

The Hangover (Blu-ray), The Marine 2 (Blu-ray), Mamma Mia! (Blu-ray), Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Blu-ray), Extract (Blu-ray), Jennifer's Body (Blu-ray), Horton Hears a Who! (Blu-ray), Command Performance (Blu-ray), 9 (Blu-ray), A Perfect Getaway (Blu-ray), Taking Woodstock (Blu-ray), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (Blu-ray), CSI: The First Season (Blu-ray), 10 Things I Hate About You (Blu-ray), Fighting (Blu-ray), Love Actually (Blu-ray), American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (Blu-ray), Funny People (Blu-ray), Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Blu-ray)

Movie Reviews

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Seven Tube Monoblock Power Amplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

PrimaLuna is a Dutch-based company that released its first products, the ProLogue One and ProLogue Two integrated tube amplifiers in 2003. Then, in 2006, they released the ProLogue Three preamplifier, and ProLogue Five, Six, and Seven power amplifiers. Late in that same year, the PrimaLuna DiaLogue series hit the market, which had the DiaLogue's basic features, but with upgraded parts and additional capabilities. Here, we review the DiaLogue Seven, which is a monoblock power amplifier, capable of delivering 40 watts RMS in triode mode, and 70 watts RMS in ultra-linear mode (see review for an explanation of what this means). The bottom line is that the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Seven monoblock is more than capable of delivering a clean, detailed, and lush sound (ah, those tubes are responsible for that).

Power Amplifiers

NuVision NVU65FX5 65″ LCD Flat-Panel HDTV

Chris Eberle

PRICE DROP AS OF 1-18-10. When shopping for an LCD panel, NuVision is not one of the first manufacturers that come to mind. Sold only through a network of CEDIA-member dealers, NuVision is firmly in the category of boutique brands. Their line of televisions are "built by connoisseurs for connoisseurs" to quote their website. Here, we review the NuVision 65" NVU65FX5, which is their 65" LCD Flat-panel HDTV. At an MSRP of $10,499 ($9,999 for black bezel version), it is a pricey HDTV. Read our review to see if it cuts the mustard at the checkout counter.

HDTV