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Reviews

Emotiva ERC-1 CD player

Rich Schmidt

The first thing you'll notice about the Emotiva ERC-1 CD player is that it looks great. The faceplate of the player and the remote are brushed aluminum painted black accented with unfinished brushed aluminum at the edges. Nice. When it's turned on the buttons on the face of the player light up with blue halos. This player would look right at home next to Macintosh gear.

CD Players

Audiolab 8000AP Preamplifier/Processor

Bill Blackwell

Audiolab is a brand that may be unfamiliar to many consumers in the United States, but in the UK, it has a decades-long reputation for putting out great-sounding, high-value electronics. While the brand (and company) has gone through a few changes over the years, including a flirtation with the ultra high-end, Audiolab has recently brought its mainstream offerings to the US market, including CD players, amplifiers and analog two-channel preamplifiers. While those will all be interesting for the dedicated audiophile, for home theater, the most intriguing piece in the line-up is the audio-only preamplifier/processor, the 8000AP.

Receivers

Rotel RSP-1570 A/V Processor

Jared Rachwalski

The latest processor from Rotel looks to improve upon the solid quality of the previous RSP-1069. The biggest change is that the RSP-1570 now features four HDMI 1.3 inputs with 1080p / 24 Hertz compliance which also supports the new "Deep Color" and xvYCC video options.

Processors

Focal Dome 5.1 Speaker System

Chris Eberle

Many loudspeakers today are marketed more for their ability to blend into a space or make an aesthetic statement than to provide high performance.  Since they are the most visible AV component after the television, sizes and styles vary as much as colors of the rainbow.  With many lifestyle products come compromises in audio quality; not so with the Focal Dome system.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Anthem AVM50v Audio/Video Processor

Brian Florian

It started way back in 2001 when I reported to you on the exquisite AVM20, which to this day for various reasons still represents to me a watershed. Two years later came the "V2" upgrade for the AVM20 wherein we swapped out the processor board for a more powerful one, opening up the then much enthused about Pro Logic II, upgrading the THX suite to Ultra2, and adding more bass management options.

Receivers

Onkyo TX-SR607 7.1 A/V Receiver

Tyler Stripko

I have to admit, I'm a sucker when it comes to having the latest and greatest toys. As my wife can attest, I'm always looking for excuses that will allow me to spring for that next upgrade. In recent years, Onkyo has been at the forefront of new A/V receiver technology and features, releasing new models at an almost breakneck pace in order to stay one step ahead of the competition. The TX-SR607 continues that technological advance as the first product in the world to sport Dolby Pro Logic IIz.....The bottom line is this: you need to pay quite a bit more money to dramatically improve upon the performance of the TX-SR607.

Receivers

Paradigm Millenia 20 Hybrid In-Wall speakers

Greg Zakrzewski

Ahh summer time. Time for pools, get togethers with friends and tearing apart walls in search of audio and aesthetic excellence for your flat screen TV. While this may not be the average summer activity for most I'll wager more than a few Secrets readers are in the midst of their own audio-video inspired renovations. Here's my story of an in wall audio adventure courtesy of the new Paradigm Millenia 20 Hybrids.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

JL Audio Fathom F110 Subwoofer

Michael Jude Galvin

It would truly surprise me if anyone reading this review had not heard of JL Audio. Notwithstanding JL Audio's stellar reputation in the car audio world, its Fathom and Gotham series of subwoofers have set the home audio/video world on fire like few products in recent memory.

Subwoofers

Revel Concerta 5.1 Speaker System

Jim Milton

Revel is the upscale speaker division of Harman International, which includes Infinity, Harmon Kardon, JBL and Lexicon. Revel has been making speakers since 1996 and makes the Ultima2 (~ $26K/pair) and Performa series from which the Concerta gets its lineage. The chief designer of these speakers is Kevin Voecks who also has had a hand in developing speakers for Snell and Mirage. With an audio testing facility built by Harman International in California, all Revel speakers go through a rigorous testing process for voicing and timbral accuracy.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Emotiva USP-1 Stereo Preamplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Emotiva's new USP-1 stereo preamplifier, at $399, sets a new standard in performance in low priced components. Besides the standard full range outputs, this preamp offers a split output where you can adjust the low-pass frequency for one (which goes to your subwoofer) and the high-pass frequency for the other (which goes to your main power amplifier). This allows you to essentially bi-amplify, and with the low frequencies removed from the high-passed output, your power amplifier will run more efficiantly, not having to waste power on low frequencies that your speakers cannot reproduce. And, they toss in a phono stage that has both MC and MM settings. This may mark the beginning of phono stages being a standard part of stereo preamplifiers, rather than having to purchase an outboard phono stage. Long live LP's! Oh, there's a headphone jack too.

Preamplifiers

“Imagine” (NAD Blu-ray Player and Receiver, PSB Speakers)

Jim Clements

Welcome to the inaugural Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity system review! We are planning to publish a series of similar reviews to highlight system packages in the Low (up to $2,500 MSRP), Medium ($2,501 - $5,000 MSRP) and High (over $5,000 MSRP) price categories. The systems will all include a source component, receiver (or prepro and amp), speakers and sub (optional). We will also evaluate products in the burgeoning soundbar category. We will strive to select balanced systems that will offer the best value in their respective price ranges. These reviews will be focused on helping readers select turnkey systems for new installations or upgrades.

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

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