Worst DIY Installs Ever Part 7
10 Must-Have Products for Your Next Install
6 Amazing High-End Home Theaters
8 Awesome Turntables for Spinning Vinyl
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Clearing my Plate
With CEDIA getting closer every day CE Pro senior editor Bob Archer felt it was time to talk about a few items he is working on.
Sherbourne’s PT-7020A includes balanced and RCA outputs, RS-232, Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, DTS MA and a choice of other options. For just about $3,000 this pre/pro stacks up to be a nice unit for installers to offer to clients that want a higher level of home theater performance.
It's amazing how this year has flown by so far. Between family time, work and everything else it's shocking that we're heading into the July 4th holiday weekend.
Over the past few months here at CE Pro we've been occupied with our typical magazine stories, Web content and special packages like our commercial and retrofit content that have run in the June and July issues respectively.
After the July 4 holiday we'll be heading into our annual CEDIA Expo build up. Knowing how much time we'll be dedicating to everything CEDIA I decided that I wanted clear the decks of some things I've been working on or at least thinking about working on:
Starting with some educational opportunities that I think could help installers is the series of Webinars that Key Digital has been conducting. The N.Y.-based company has been offering educational classes on its line of video switching and processing products for a few months and its next one is scheduled for Friday July 2, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST. During the one-hour seminar the company will cover products like its KD-MSW8X4Pro, KD-MSV8X8 and KD-MSA8X8 Fat Boy Series switchers, as well as its KD-MSCAT8X8 and KD-HDMS4X4 Hercules Series products.
Anyone interested in learning on how to implement matrix series switchers in a residential and/or commercial environment could have their questions answered by Key Digital's staff members.
Moving on to some product opinion items. I've been slowly working on some product reviews from companies like Sherbourn and its PT-7020A preamplifier/processor .
So far my usage as been confined to some basic 2.1 home theater applications, but so far I've been impressed. As a video processor, its transcoding appears to be top-notch. Feeding it a composite signal from a Cary Audio DVD player I've was shocked at how good the picture has been on a Sharp LCD television. The image is noise free, crisp and vibrant. The pre/pro's sound quality has been good too. Later as I progress with the product review I'll get deeper into some of its digital functionality, but based on what I've seen so far, it's worth the time for installers to investigate, especially with a competitive MSRP of just $3,000.
The other piece of electronics I've been using with the Sherbourn PT-7020A is Anthem's MCA20 two-channel amplifier. Anthem says the amp is capable of delivering 200 watts of continuous power into both channels at 8 ohms and 300 watts into a 4 ohm load. The MCA20 is part of the company's MCA line of products, which all offer similar levels of performance, which are highlighted by clean, effortless power and a surprising amount of detail. I say surprising because the amp offers a whole lot of value for just $1,500.
Next up is RTI's convenient VIRsa Mouse IR Emitter. This is a neat little product that in the grand scheme of things could be called a problem solving device. Designed for CE Pros, it includes a low-profile design to make it as unobtrusive as possible and its blue LED flasher is said to provide increased visibility while enabling installers to hide it out of sight.
Another product I'm working on for CE Pro/Electronic House review is Mordaunt Short's Carnival 2 bookshelf loudspeakers.
I've run these speakers heavily with a tubed integrated amp and the above mentioned Sherbourn/Anthem solid state electronics combination and was knocked out by these puppies. For approximately $300 per pair these speakers reproduce a surprisingly dynamic soundstage that images like crazy. Listening to the song "Would" by Alice in Chains for example I was surprised at how well the Sherbourn/Anthem combo with the Mordaunt Shorts separated the bass line in this song ( bass is de-tuned to E flat and the song is in F#m) and the kick drum of Sean Kinney. Both these instruments are operating in the 41Hz to 45Hz area of the sound spectrum and for the speakers and electronics to not only separate these tones, but they also did it while providing space and weight within the soundstage.
Mordaunt Short is distributed in the U.S. by Audio Plus Services and the speakers go for about $300 per pair.
Looking at some of the upcoming story topics I am targeting, we'll be looking at the engineering cycle behind Anthem's preamplifier/processors and receivers, and how the high-performance audio industry creates some of its products. For this story, I'll be talking to Ayre Acoustics, Cambridge Audio and Oppo.
Over the past few months here at CE Pro we've been occupied with our typical magazine stories, Web content and special packages like our commercial and retrofit content that have run in the June and July issues respectively.
After the July 4 holiday we'll be heading into our annual CEDIA Expo build up. Knowing how much time we'll be dedicating to everything CEDIA I decided that I wanted clear the decks of some things I've been working on or at least thinking about working on:
Starting with some educational opportunities that I think could help installers is the series of Webinars that Key Digital has been conducting. The N.Y.-based company has been offering educational classes on its line of video switching and processing products for a few months and its next one is scheduled for Friday July 2, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST. During the one-hour seminar the company will cover products like its KD-MSW8X4Pro, KD-MSV8X8 and KD-MSA8X8 Fat Boy Series switchers, as well as its KD-MSCAT8X8 and KD-HDMS4X4 Hercules Series products.
Anyone interested in learning on how to implement matrix series switchers in a residential and/or commercial environment could have their questions answered by Key Digital's staff members.
Moving on to some product opinion items. I've been slowly working on some product reviews from companies like Sherbourn and its PT-7020A preamplifier/processor .
So far my usage as been confined to some basic 2.1 home theater applications, but so far I've been impressed. As a video processor, its transcoding appears to be top-notch. Feeding it a composite signal from a Cary Audio DVD player I've was shocked at how good the picture has been on a Sharp LCD television. The image is noise free, crisp and vibrant. The pre/pro's sound quality has been good too. Later as I progress with the product review I'll get deeper into some of its digital functionality, but based on what I've seen so far, it's worth the time for installers to investigate, especially with a competitive MSRP of just $3,000.
The other piece of electronics I've been using with the Sherbourn PT-7020A is Anthem's MCA20 two-channel amplifier. Anthem says the amp is capable of delivering 200 watts of continuous power into both channels at 8 ohms and 300 watts into a 4 ohm load. The MCA20 is part of the company's MCA line of products, which all offer similar levels of performance, which are highlighted by clean, effortless power and a surprising amount of detail. I say surprising because the amp offers a whole lot of value for just $1,500.
Next up is RTI's convenient VIRsa Mouse IR Emitter. This is a neat little product that in the grand scheme of things could be called a problem solving device. Designed for CE Pros, it includes a low-profile design to make it as unobtrusive as possible and its blue LED flasher is said to provide increased visibility while enabling installers to hide it out of sight.
Another product I'm working on for CE Pro/Electronic House review is Mordaunt Short's Carnival 2 bookshelf loudspeakers.
I've run these speakers heavily with a tubed integrated amp and the above mentioned Sherbourn/Anthem solid state electronics combination and was knocked out by these puppies. For approximately $300 per pair these speakers reproduce a surprisingly dynamic soundstage that images like crazy. Listening to the song "Would" by Alice in Chains for example I was surprised at how well the Sherbourn/Anthem combo with the Mordaunt Shorts separated the bass line in this song ( bass is de-tuned to E flat and the song is in F#m) and the kick drum of Sean Kinney. Both these instruments are operating in the 41Hz to 45Hz area of the sound spectrum and for the speakers and electronics to not only separate these tones, but they also did it while providing space and weight within the soundstage.
Mordaunt Short is distributed in the U.S. by Audio Plus Services and the speakers go for about $300 per pair.
Looking at some of the upcoming story topics I am targeting, we'll be looking at the engineering cycle behind Anthem's preamplifier/processors and receivers, and how the high-performance audio industry creates some of its products. For this story, I'll be talking to Ayre Acoustics, Cambridge Audio and Oppo.
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Article Topics
Blogs · Audio · Video · Wire and Cable · HDMI · Commercial · Home Theater · Switchers · Video Processors · Rti · Key Digital · Sherbourn · Audio Plus Services · Mordaunt Short · Anthem Av ·About the Author
Robert Archer, Senior Editor, CE Pro
Bob is an audio enthusiast who has written about consumer electronics for various publications within Massachusetts before joining the staff of CE Pro in 2000. Bob is THX Level I certified, and he's also taken classes from the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA). In addition, he's studied guitar and music theory at Sarrin Music Studios in Wakefield, Mass.
2 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Thanks for reading Whitevan. The Mordaunt Shorts do represent a lot of value for consumers. I was surprised at how good they did sound.
The Sherbourn piece is nice too and it balances sound quality and all the latest video options nicely.
It too is a good value piece for you to present to clients.
Page 1 of 1 comment pages
Bob, I love that you touched on Sherbourn and Mordaunt Short. In my opinion these are 2 of the most under rated companies in the industry. I’ve recommended Sherbourn hundreds of times to installers looking for the right fit. When that recommendation has been taken it has always ended with the same result. That result is gratitude and another Sherbourn believer. I can not say enough good things about this company and the product they produce.
Unfortunately things are a bit different for Mordaunt Short. As many times as I have put their name out there to my friends in the industry they just get overlooked. I find that to be a shame because in my opinion Mordaunt is diamond waiting to be discovered. It wasn’t long ago that I did an install for a ball player whom was reluctant to lose his terribly placed 5.1 in favor of a perfectly placed 2.1.
This setup was in a great room which was not the main TV location and the importance was focused on his wifes music. After about 4 or 5 times of coming to me with uncertainty I was beginning to become a little nervous myself and decided to throw some extra wire in the ceiling just in case. To make a long story short, install day came and we showed up with the 2.1 I had been preaching. When everything was hooked up and we fired up the system he looked at his wife and she threw her hands up in the air and said FINALLY!
We have gotten more recommendations from them than I can count on two hands.
Mordaunt makes incredible speakers and Subs.