Speakers

VIZIO VF551XVT 55″ LCD LED HDTV

VIZIO has introduced a 55" (diagonal) LCD HDTV (1080p) that uses 960 LEDs in 80 control blocks as the backlighting. The control blocks change their brightness according to the brightness of the part of the scene that they responsible for illuminating. The result is absolute black, where there is supposed to be black. We measured a contrast ratio of nearly 300,000:1. It also has 240 Hz refresh rate (120 Hz plus backlight scanning) which allows for interpolated frames in between actual frames, and this delivers smooth motion during panning or objects moving across the screen. Best of all, it is available (street price) at $1,899 which is not an increase over last year's technology at the same screen size.

Marantz SA-15S2 Reference Series SACD Player

Marantz can be thought of in two ways: the company owned by D&M Holdings with a huge market to satisfy, developing highly competitive consumer level products such as receivers and DVD players. Secondly, Marantz is an audio-first legacy from Saul Marantz, that produced vacuum tube gear in the 1950's, and leading the way to solid state in the 1960's. Here, we take a look at their SA-15S2 SACD player.

Cambridge Audio DacMagic

Cambridge Audio has come up with a product that has wowed everyone: the DacMagic. For $479, you get a DAC that is fully differential (a stereo DAC on each of the two channels), upsampling to 24/192, very low specified distortion, and selectable output filters. Does it perform as claimed? Read our review to see for yourself.

DreamVision Dream’E 1080p LCoS Projector

It has been my privilege recently to sample DreamVision's latest addition to the 1080p LCoS front-projector market, the Dream'E. With attractive Euro-styling, a choice of case colors, excellent performance, and suitability for medium to large theaters, the Dream'E deserves a serious look by those wanting to satisfy their big-screen desires without breaking the bank.

Toshiba XD-E500 DVD Player – Benchmark

I can remember a time when Toshiba offered entry level DVD players and also high dollar flagship models like the SD-9200. As DVD players became a commodity Toshiba logically focused on mainstream consumer players much like the XD-E500 reviewed here.  The XD-E500 is a main stream DVD player priced at $99.99 and offering the features a player of this price offers. This includes the obvious DVD playback, the almost universal support amongst new DVD players for DivX playback, Mp3 and WMA.

A Collection of New Vinyl Releases – February, 2009

Neil Young has been making music for well past 40 years now. His catalog is extensive. His disdain for his labels' expectations is legendary. The man was sued by his own company for making records that didn't sound like Neil Young. His live setlists are frequently populated by songs that the casual fan has never heard. His concept albums have been brilliant (see "Tonight's the Night") & confusing (witness "Greendale"). His next release is rumored to be an album about an electric car. I'm serious.

Denon AVR-1909 7.1 A/V Receiver

With over a five thousand dollar range from the entry level AVR-588 to the top of the line AVR-5308CI, Denon offers a receiver to fill just about every budget and need.  While not necessarily inexpensive at $649, the Denon AVR-1909 can be considered a deal in comparison to the $5500 price tag of their top offering.   Since the AVR-1909 falls roughly in the middle of Denon's 23 receiver lineup, my initial impression is that this receiver will offer a lot a value for your money.  Let's see if that impression plays out.

Aperion Audio Intimus 6T-DB Hybrid XD 5.1 Speaker System

When I was just getting started in hi-fi back in college, going to look for a new piece of equipment was both exciting, and annoying. Venturing out with a collection of CD's to evaluate speakers at different shops would often lead to two results: salespeople that would totally ignore me based on my perceived age and income, or salespeople that would try to steer me away from the speakers I could reasonable afford to something far more expensive. In those rare cases that I found a store with a salesperson that actually respected that I wanted a nice set of speakers but did have limited funds and tried to help, I would return there later as my finanaces allowed.

Movie Renter’s Guide – January, 2009

Hancock (Blu-ray), Swing Vote (Blu-ray), The Bourne Trilogy (Blu-ray), The Express (The Ernie Davis Story) (Blu-ray), King Kong (2005) (Blu-ray), Universal Soldier (Blu-ray), My Best Friend's Girl (Blu-ray), Max Payne (Blu-ray), Saw V (Blu-ray), Space Buddies (Blu-ray), Bangkok Dangerous (Blu-ray), Righteous Kill (Blu-ray), Dexter: The First Season (Blu-ray)