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Paradigm Soundtrack (Soundbar and Subwoofer) Speaker System

Jim Milton

There is no question that soundbars are a "hot item" for home theater enthusiasts. The soundbar category grew a whopping 68% over all of 2012, with a monumental surge in Q4 2012 alone. Unit sales for Q4 versus Q3 were up 158%, even better, the category of soundbars with a companion subwoofer increased 126% in 2012 versus the prior year. This according a new report from Quixel Research. I can't think of any major speaker manufacturer that does not offer at least one soundbar in their line up.

 

Surround Sound Speaker Systems

Pioneer VSX-43 7.1 Elite A/V Receiver

Jim Milton

Back in my college days, I had a roommate that had a nice stereo Pioneer receiver. It cost him a few hundred bucks. Since it was pre-digital, the inputs were pretty basic. Simply hook up to a cassette deck and turntable and we reveled in the audiophile sounds that its 30 watts/channel produced. Ah, the 70's were the "golden era" of audio. Point being, everybody has to start somewhere in their journey to musical nirvana. Fast forward to 2013 and now for around $500 you can get a 7.1 surround, network capable, DSP loaded, phone/Android integrated, Bluetooth, 80 watt/channel Elite receiver from Pioneer. True, the VSX-43 is their entry level Elite receiver, but it is packed with features that would have cost you a lot of money, even just a few years ago. But does the VSX-43 have what it takes to be the brain and brawn you are looking for in a modern home entertainment system?

Receivers

D-Sonic M3-5400-7 Class D Seven-Channel Power Amplifier

Mark Vignola

D-Sonic is a company that I had been tangentially aware of for many years due to their direct marketing efforts on websites like Audiogon. The brainchild of Dennis Deacon, D-Sonic was founded in 2006 to make high quality Class D based amplifiers marketed directly to consumers. I had the pleasure of having D?Sonic's new top of the line 7-channel multi-channel amp in house for a few weeks and am excited to pass on my thoughts.

Power Amplifiers

Bryston Mini-T Monitor Speakers

Jared Rachwalski

Bryston has a long history of manufacturing high quality amplifiers and digital components. Their products come with an industry leading warranty, reference-level sound quality, and above average build quality. For years their electronics have been paired with high end speakers at various shows, Thiel, Magnepan, PMC and other serious loudspeaker manufactures have chosen Bryston electronics to showcase their sound so I was very interested to hear that they were producing their own speakers.

Bookshelf Speakers

Parasound Halo CD 1 Player

Rick Schmidt

The Halo CD 1 is a flagship CD Player from the well regarded, San Francisco based, Parasound. CD Player? Surely I mean 'DAC with Transport'. Nope. CD player, put your CD in, music comes out. No, you mean it's part of a server system, the data is stored for later retrieval by a computer system. Well, only if you count the internal buffering and Intel ITX computer running Linux inside the CD 1. In implementation then the CD 1 is quite modern, it's a computer, dedicated to CD playback only. In practice, it's an old fashioned (and in this case, that's good) CD player.

CD Players

Pass Labs INT-150 Integrated Stereo Amplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Pass Labs is renown for their high end preamplifiers and power amplifiers, but they also have integrated amplifiers as well, which include the INT-30A and the INT-150. Here, we review the INT-150, which, as you can imagine from the model number, outputs 150 watts x 2 (into 8 ohms). It has the same massive build quality as the other Pass components I have reviewed, and also, its own distinctive sound, as I have found with the others.

Integrated Amplifiers

Marantz AV7701 7.2 A/V Preamp/Processor

Chris Heinonen

Marantz came out with their AV7005 processor a few years ago, which contains almost all of the high-end processing and features that people wanted, but at a lower price-point than almost any processor out there. Now Marantz has some back with the AV7701, a replacement for the AV7005 that brings it up to date with the modern streaming functions of current receivers and processors, and adds a few nice other touches as well while keeping that aggressive price-point. Has this update let Marantz keep this little niche to themselves again? I swapped the AV7701 in for my AV7005 to see if I could tell a difference between the two.

Processors

GoldenEar Technology Aon2 Bookshelf Speakers

Chris Heinonen

As GoldenEar president Sandy Gross says, his desire is to take the sound he manages to get from far more expensive speakers, and engineer that into his own products at a much lower price. With his Triton line of towers he has certainly succeeded, but how good could he really make a $400 bookshelf speaker? They sure sounded good when I heard them at the CEDIA Expo, but those shows are never an environment in which to make any final declarations. With a pair in hand, I was ready to find out.

Bookshelf Speakers

SVS SB13-Ultra Subwoofer

Jim Clements

The SVS SB13-Ultra powered subwoofer features a 13.5" driver with 50mm peak excursion.  It is driven by a 1,000 watt RMS Class D amplifier (3,600 watts peak).  This amp has a dual band parametric equalizer and a unique limiter circuit that retains dynamic shadings even when pushed hard.  The sub is a sealed box design with tight and clean bass.  In fact, my nearfield (1 foot) THD+N measurements were all under 0.33% from 28 - 100Hz at 100dB!

Subwoofers

Axiom LFR1100 Omnidirectional Speakers and ADA-1500 Power Amplifier

Chris Eberle

About a year ago, Ian Colquhoun, founder of Axiom Audio, contacted me to talk about an exciting new design he was working on. It was the LFR1100 omnidirectional tower speaker and it represented a radical departure from not only their other products, but from traditional speaker construction. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to review them, but tremendous customer demand prevented me from getting a pair right away. When a surprise phone call came recently asking where I'd like the speakers delivered, I couldn't help but get excited!

Floor Standing Speakers

Bryston BP17 Stereo Preamplifier

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Bryston is the only high-end audio company I know of that offers a 20 year warranty on its products. They manufacture some very expensive preamps and power amps, but even the least expensive product carries that warranty. Why? Because they have massive build quality. The BP17 stereo preamplifier exemplifies that approach, and it is in the middle of their preamplifier line-up, which includes the BP6 and BP26.

Preamplifiers

GoldenEar Triton Three Floor-Standing Speakers

Piero Gabucci

After the successful launch of the Triton design, GoldenEar soon introduced the Triton Two, which packed a 1200 watt class-D amplifier powering two 5" x 9" "racetrack" subwoofers, along with a pair of 4.5" midrange drivers and the now popular HVFR folded ribbon tweeter. Triton Three followed on the heels of the larger Triton Two. The Triton Three is a smaller version with one less subwoofer and one less midrange driver.

Floor Standing Speakers

Audiolab M-DAC Digital to Analog Converter

Michael Jude Galvin

On its website, respected British manufacturer Audiolab proclaims the M-DAC is the follow-up to the 8000 DAC, introduced all the way back in 1992. I have gathered that DACs were quite popular in that era because CD players had not become all that good yet. With the market now awash in quality DACs, I guess it is safe to say we are in a DAC renaissance. Here, we review the Audiolab M-DAC, which, at $899, turns out to be an audio bargain.

DACs