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HD Digitech HDX900 HDTV Media Streamer

Ofer LaOr

The HDX900 is an HDTV streamer based on the Network Media Tank (NMT) middleware platform by Syabas. If you don't know what a streamer is yet, think of the AppleTV but without any of the Apple restrictions. Consider a player that will play all of your movies, in file format, including Blu-ray, DVDs, or any popular format you might have on your computer hard drive, as well as pictures and audio, but doesn't require you to pay a monthly iTunes bill.

Media Servers

Marantz VP-11S2 Single-Chip DLP 1080p Projector

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Remember back a few years when projectors were 720p resolution, had modest brightness, not so great contrast, and you could spend $15,000 to get one? Well, you can still spend that kind of money and a lot more, but it gets you a lot more too. The buzzword now of course is 1080p and HDMI all the way. Marantz' latest donation to this category is called the VP-11S2. It has two HDMI inputs, will accept and project native 1080p, has Deep Color capability, and is built like a tank.

Projectors

Marantz TT-15S1 Turntable

Piero Gabucci

The Marantz TT-15S1 has me so excited about vinyl again that it has me scrambling to find old LPs. A friend recommended that I check out a used CD store, and, "Oh yeah," he says, "they sell vinyl too!" Tunes in Hoboken, New Jersey has become a favorite destination when I can find parking and have a bit of time to kill searching through their ever growing collection. I never stop to look at the CDs by the way, but go straight to the 12" x 12" disc-size.

TurntablesTurntables

Sony Bravia KDL-46X3500 46″ 1920x1080p LCD HDTV

Ofer LaOr

When the local Sony dealer asked me which model I wanted to check out, I wasn't sure if I should get the smaller 40" or the larger 46" model. On the one hand, statistics say that the 40" model will be a lot more popular, but they also suggest that the 44-50" segment, particularly in the US, is growing at an amazing rate.

HDTV

Montana EPS2 Floor-standing Speakers

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Montana Loudspeakers, marketed by PBN Audio, is a company whose products I have been very interested in for a long, long time. I have seen them at numerous hi-fi shows, and since I have two massive 1,200 watt monoblock power amplifiers that I like to pair with massive speakers once in awhile, I have been attracted to the Montana's, partly because the line includes some really big models. But more importantly, they have always impressed me with the sound quality at shows - which is not easy to do because the rooms are less than ideal - and they are incredibly beautiful.

Floor Standing Speakers

Halcro MC70 Seven-Channel Power Amplifier

Ross Jones

Halcro's MC series amplifiers come in two, three, five and seven channel configurations (designated the MC20, MC30, MC50, and MC70). The MC70 lists for $7,000, but compared to the Halcro Reference DM88 monoblocks, which will set you back more than $40,000 per pair, the MC70 is quite the bargain. So what kind of amp do you get for a kilobuck per channel?

Power Amplifiers

Eggleston Works The Nine Floor-standing Speakers

Jason Victor Serinus

Sometimes a disappointing start can lead to a glorious finish. Such has been my experience with Eggleston Works' The Nine, a beautiful loudspeaker that more than deserves the copious amounts of praise it is receiving here and abroad. I have spent a long time – far too long, with The Nines. I have done so for purely selfish reasons. I have grown quite fond of these babies, and will be sad to see them go. But other speakers are on their way, and there's only so much room at the Inn.

Floor Standing Speakers

mStation 2.1 iPod Dock Amplified Tower Speaker System

Jared Rachwalski

The mStation 2.1 tower is an all in one solution for taking your iPod music out of your ears and into your room. The tower consists of one down firing 5.25" woofer, and two speaker modules with 2 – 2" midrange and 1 – 1" tweeter per speaker. There is a docking station a USB port and a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo miniplug jack. All in a four foot tall, 14" wide aluminum tower.

Portable Audio

Nordost Thor Power Distribution Center

Jason Victor Serinus

Nordost's new power distribution center is called the Thor. In my system, it took music reproduction to an entirely different level. Within minutes, I felt that everything I had heard before was merely play-acting. What changed? Images that had previously floated in their correct little spaces in that classic, somewhat disembodied "audiophile way" now seemed to hold together in a far more realistic manner. They weren't simply arranged or staged; they belonged together.

Power Conditioners

JL Audio Fathom f112 Subwoofer

Colin Miller

"Seriously, thanks. I haven't had anything this refreshing from audio equipment since a long, long time. This is the kind of $#^+ that makes me want to believe again. As sincerely as a junkie can get."

Subwoofers

Classe CDP-502 DVD Player

Adrian Wittenberg

For a player as expensive as it is, the Classé CDP-502 could stand for some improvement in its core video performance.  Its de-interlacer performance is very good though, and the National Semiconductor AVC 2510 chip set handles most material very well, as there were really only a few minor hiccups it experienced in our DVD Player Benchmark™ tests. It would be hard for me to recommend this DVD player based on its video performance alone, but people in the market for a player in this price class will undoubtedly be looking at it for its ultra high-end audio performance. That, combined with a robust video feature set and the ability to up-convert any material to various HD resolutions through HDMI, makes the CDP-502 an impressive offering overall.

DVD Players