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Reviews

Waterfall Audio, Iguasçu Evo Floor-Standing Speakers

Brian Alvarez

I'm hoping to not be the minority when it comes to design and audio equipment. Far too often you hear of audio and videophiles mentioning that a piece of gear has a high WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). All too often this denotes it's not a boring slab of black electronics or a monolithic boring speaker. Why is it only the spouse who has high aesthetic requirements? Here, we review Waterfall Audio's Iguasçu Evo floor-standing speakers that have glass enclosures.

Floor Standing Speakers

Pass Labs INT-30A Integrated Stereo Amplifier

Chris Eberle

For nearly forty years, Nelson Pass has been designing simple, high-performance electronics. In 1991, with twenty years experience under his belt, he founded Pass Laboratories which has since become among the most highly regarded companies for high-end power and integrated amplifiers. His design goals couldn't be more clear: power, simplicity and performance.

Integrated Amplifiers

NAD T785 7.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

Most stereo and home theater enthusiasts know NAD, and can almost certainly pick out a piece of NAD gear without seeing the label from it's distinctive, slate gray color scheme. While most people probably know NAD more for their CD players and integrated amplifiers, they have a whole line of home theater equipment, from receivers to processors, Blu-ray players and multi-channel amplifiers. Recently, NAD came out with a whole new line of receivers and processors featuring their Modular Design Construction.

Receivers

Lindemann 882 Stereo Integrated Amplifier

Chris Groppi

I have always been a fan of integrated amplifiers, and they were the heart of all my audio systems up until recently. They offer the best value in terms of getting the most performance per dollar, but they take away one thing many audiophiles love: fooling around with their system. Several ultra-high end companies have recently introduced very serious integrated amps, for the audiophile who is done with fooling around.

Integrated Amplifiers

Logitech Squeezebox Touch Wireless Music Streamer

Chris Heinonen

For a long time now, I've been wanting an easy solution to get music streaming all throughout my house. I've added a Network Attached Storage device (NAS) to allow me to keep all the music in one location that is always accessible, and I've tried out many different streaming solutions, from the Sony PS3 to various processors and receivers with DLNA access built in. Unfortunately, nothing to this point has been both powerful, and easy to use.

DACs

MK Sound LCR950 Monitor Speakers, SUR950T Surround Speakers, and MX250 Subwoofer

Ross Jones

MK Sound, successors of the former Miller & Kreisel company, started with a "don't mess with success" philosophy. At first, it sold legacy products like the renowned 150 THX speakers, and introduced consumer products like the M Series that were previously available only to the professional market. More recently, MK Sound developed a new tweeter for its MPS 2510P and 1611P professional monitors. The new tweeter was developed in conjunction with Peerless of Denmark (now part of Tymphany), M & K's driver component partner for 34 years. MK has incorporated the new tweeter into its newest consumer speakers, the 950 series.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Yamaha BD-S1065 Blu-ray Player, RX-V2065 Receiver, and Phase Technology Speaker System

Secrets

Welcome to the second of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity System Reviews, where we choose a complete home theater setup and evaluate it for continuity, system synergy and to take some of the guesswork out of buying a complete home theater system and wondering if it all will work together seamlessly. We hope to hit all of the speed bumps so you don't have to. In this review, we take a look at a Yamaha BD-S1065 Blu-ray player, Yamaha RX-V2065 receiver, and Phase Technology speakers.

Soundbars

Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8100 Projector

Piero Gabucci and Chris Eberle

Even as an audio guy, it's hard not to be seduced by the amazing video demonstrations sprinkled around the main shows like CES or CEDIA. I think it makes me admit I'm just as much a movie fan as I am music. An offer came my way to review an entire in-wall speaker package so I thought it a perfect opportunity to add a projector and screen to my otherwise exclusive two-channel space. My hunt was on for an affordable projector, Epson immediately came to mind. They've proven over the last several years that they could design and manufacture not only value packed projectors, but actually very well performing units. For this review, we selected the Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 8100.

Projectors

Mystere ca21 Stereo Tube Preamplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Following on our recent review of the Mystere pa21 stereo tube power amplifier, we now review the matching preamplifier, the ca21. It is a single gain stage design, with only one buffer and one capacitor in the signal path. It is as beautiful as its brother, and sounds great as well. Read on.

Preamplifiers

Cambridge Azur 650BD Universal Blu-ray Player

Chris Eberle and Adrian Wittenberg

Cambridge Audio is a long-time bearer of high standards in British-made audio and now video products. They have been turning out quality components since 1968. While they are best known for fine yet value-conscious audio offerings, they have recently introduced a new receiver, the Azur 650R and the subject of this review, the Azur 650BD Universal Blu-ray Player.

Blu-ray Players

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