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Reviews

PSB Imagine B Bookshelf Speakers

Jim Clements

The Imagine speakers are PSB's newest speaker line. There are four models in this line – The Imagine T towers, the Imagine B bookshelf speakers, the Imagine C center speaker and the Imagine S surround speakers. I opted to review the Imagine B's for the mains versus the much more common towers for two reasons – first, this is the inaugural Secrets system review and the point is to review affordable system and the bookshelf speakers are somewhat less expensive than the towers and secondly, my system works better with bookshelf speakers.

Bookshelf Speakers

NAD T587 Blu-ray Disc Player – Benchmark

Jim Clements

The NAD T587 represents NAD's first foray into the Blu-ray arena. NAD started big by building the T587 to the Blu-ray Profile 2.0 spec. The T587 can also handle CD and DVD discs among other formats such as DiVX. It is not a universal player and will not spin DVD Audio or SACD discs. Its circuitry is based on the Broadcom decoder. A nice touch is that the player comes with auxiliary feet that closely resemble Vibrapods.  This player is reviewed as one of the Imagine Affordable System components.

Blu-ray Players

PSB SubSeries 6i Subwoofer

Jim Clements

The PSB Subseries 6i subwoofer is a very unassuming-looking product, albeit a little on the large size by today's standards. It has a single 12" driver in a ported enclosure. There are two ports that exit at the bottom front of the cabinet. The volume and crossover controls are mounted along the bottom of the front part of the cabinet as well. This arrangement allows the 6i to be mounted inside a cabinet.

Subwoofers

Flagship Home Theater – Part 2: Anthem Statement D2v Audio/Video Processor and Statement A5 Five-Channel Power Amplifier

Chris Eberle

In Part 1 of Flagship Home Theater, I covered the video side with Anthem's LTX-500 LCoS 1080p projector and the Black Diamond II screen from SI Screens.  Now let's look at the other half of the home theater equation: the sound.  To round out my Flagship Home Theater experience, I tested the Anthem Statement D2v A/V Processor and A5 five-channel power amplifier.

Receivers

Earthquake Titan Telesto Floor-standing Speakers and Supernova MKVI 10″ Subwoofer

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Earthquake Sound has just introduced the Titan Telesto floor-standing speakers. They are 50" high and have a unique horn-loaded tweeter as well as a conventional dome tweeter. Two 4" drivers handle the midrange, with a side-mounted 8" woofer dealing out the low frequencies. They are beautifully finished in black piano lacquer and are priced at $4,999 for the pair. Earthquake also sent their Supernova MKVI 10" subwoofer, because I had been so impressed with the 15" version, and I wanted to see how the smaller one performed. Well, it performed! And so did the Telestos . . . .

Floor Standing Speakers

Ultrasone Pro 900 Over-the-Ear Headphones

Chris Heinonen

Recently, I have started to put more of a focus on using headphones in my office instead of speakers. I enjoy listening to music while working, but my cubicle neighbors don't necessarily appreciate the same type of music that I prefer. When a pair of  Ultrasone Pro 900 headphones became available for review, I obtained them to see how they would work in my setup and how they compare to my current reference headphones, the AKG K701's.

Headphone and Earphone Reviews

Sony VPL-HW10 LCoS Projector

Ross Jones and Chris Eberle

This is the third in a semi-regular series looking at affordable front projector systems, particularly projectors that don't require a dedicated theater space. So far, we've looked at Sanyo and Mitsubishi projectors. Until recently, I had not considered Sony's SXRD front projectors as candidates, for a couple of reasons. First, Sony projectors were not what I would classify as "affordable," with MSRP's typically starting at $5,000. Plus, the Ruby and Pearl models were really designed for dedicated rooms; they have limited lens adjustments and are not known for exceptionally bright output.

Projectors

Bryston 4B SST2 Stereo Power Amplifier

Kevin Lichterman

Bryston Ltd. is a Canadian company which has been designing and manufacturing audio equipment for over 35 Years. While there are many companies competing in their market, Bryston's gear is coveted by enthusiasts and professionals alike. They have earned the reputation of providing bullet-proof reliability, high performance and value. Byston's value is not due to a bargain basement price. It's the sound and their 20 year guarantee of high performance that can make a Bryston purchase a value. This remarkable warranty speaks to Bryston's confidence in their own quality standards, and it is definitely the exception versus the rule in the A/V industry.

Power Amplifiers

SVS STS-01 Floor-standing Speakers, PB10-NSD Subwoofer, and AS-EQ1 Subwoofer Equalizer

John E. Johnson, Jr.

With SVS' release of the STS speaker series, they have made a concise statement that they are definitely in the speaker trade as well as subwoofers. The STS follows on the MTS series, and according to their website, a high-end speaker series is slated for late 2009. In the current article, we review a pair of STS-01 floor-standing speakers along with a pair of PB10-NSD 10" subwoofers and their new AS-EQ1 equalizer that is made specifically for subwoofers. The listening tests as well as bench tests show that SVS is a company to be reckoned with. Their products continue to perform at a very high standard, and yet, they are priced so that anyone can afford them.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Cambridge Audio 840 Series CD Player, Stereo Preamplifier, and Stereo Power Amplifier

Larry Hryshko

My wife, who I affectionately refer to as "the music Anti-Christ" often calls me "He without Brains" when it comes to purchasing audio gear. Our latest interchange of pleasantries began when I announced that I needed a new CD player in the $1500 to $2000 range.  She found one at Costco for considerably less than a hundred bucks and thought I would be very pleased.  "You just don't get it" I said, to which she replied "Neither will you".  I think she meant it in so many ways.

CD Players

Benchmark ADC1 USB Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)

Rick Schmidt

The pro-audio company Benchmark has a firm foothold in the audiophile world with their digital to analog converter/headphone amp the DAC1 and DAC1 USB. These have been universally well reviewed, including here at Secrets, and I've been able to listen to them myself, and I concur with the positive reports.

DACs

Spendor A5 Floor-standing Speakers

Brian Florian

Ah...British Hi-Fi. Say no more and an entire wing of audiophiles suddenly get giddy. When I was offered a pair of speakers for review from Spendor, renowned speaker manufacturer since 1969, I simply had to take advantage and hear for myself the state of British Hi-Fi today.

Floor Standing Speakers

Flagship Home Theater – Part 1: Anthem LTX-500 LCoS Projector and SI Black Diamond II Screen

Chris Eberle

Flagship Home Theater.  The very words evoke the highest quality in audio and video reproduction.  Anthem, a well-established maker of high end audio products has just released their first display, the THX-certified LTX-500 LCoS Projector.  Like their audio gear, Anthem is marketing this unit as a reference quality piece.  In their own words, "A full HD 1920x1080 ‘Reference' point of view… brings the scale and excitement of the Cinema experience home."  Have they achieved their goal?  Boy did I ever have fun finding out! In this review, which we call Flagship Home Theater - Part 1, I take a look at Anthem's top of the line projector, and also an SI Black Diamond II projection screen.

Projectors

Paradigm Reference Signature Sub 25 Subwoofer and Perfect Bass Kit Software (PBK-1)

Ross Jones

Not so long ago, the word subwoofer meant one thing: a squat, black cube-shaped box sitting in the corner of your listening room. These days, subwoofers are made to fit in walls, ceilings, floors, even tucked under a couch. There are cylinder-shaped subs, wireless subs, and itsy-bitsy subs sure to please the wife. But there will always be a place in the hi-fi world for the mega-sub, the Beast, the Mother-of-All-Subwoofers.

Subwoofers