All Articles Tagged Hands On

Arlen Schweiger | 02/24 08:36 AM, 0 Comments

Homeowners may not be investing in dedicated home theaters like they used to, but that hasn’t stopped the projection category from being fruitful … and perhaps it’s allowed installers to get more creative with their video sales. For multipurpose media rooms, for example, clients might request both a fixed television display and a larger motorized projection screen that can disappear when not in use. For multiple aspect ratio viewing, there’s still plenty of reason to pitch customers on 2.35:1 setups that allow projectors to fill the screen without the unused… View this story

Robert Archer | 02/17 06:48 AM, 0 Comments

I’ve always viewed San Francisco-based Parasound as a company whose goal has been to deliver products that combine audiophile performance with price points that are much less than typical audiophile fare. Features Parasound’s Z Series of products meets both criteria. The Z Series fits in somewhere between Parasound’s traditional audiophile products and its home theater line, and it can be used for whole-house audio or today’s new wave of compact, desktop audio systems. The components paired together only take up 1U of space mounted within a rack, and if used… View this story

Arlen Schweiger | 01/31 08:53 AM, 0 Comments

Canadian manufacturer PSB Speakers picked an apt name for its Imagine Mini bookshelf loudspeakers. At first glance, it’s hard to imagine how much quality audio these Minis can put forth. But once you start listening, that answer becomes crystal clear - the Imagine Minis rock as hard as dedicated two-channel loudspeakers two or three times their size. Features With dimensions of 5.75 x 9.25 x 8.3 inches, the Minis can be plugged into various listening setups. Each contains a 1-inch titanium dome tweeter with ferrofluid neodymium magnet, plus a 4-inch… View this story

Robert Archer | 10/27 11:38 AM, 0 Comments

Technologies like Wi-Fi and powerline have improved exponentially over the past few years. During the same period, a connectivity protocol from the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) quietly went through its development stages, and companies like Wi3 are bringing this technology to market. Using a home’s coax cabling, the Wi3 solution features a transmitter type unit that plugs into a router or switch and a receiver unit that works on the Internet connectivity. In my home I found the setup surprisingly easy. In my media room I have an eightport… View this story

Arlen Schweiger | 07/29 05:57 AM, 0 Comments

Michael Bridwell brimmed with enthusiasm during CEDIA Expo 2010 when the marketing communications manager for Digital Projection Inc. (DPI) walked me through his company’s latest product introductions. He was eager to show the $7,000 M-Vision Cine 230, an “entry-level” projector from a company whose models traditionally run mid-to-high five-figures. After viewing a handful of those costlier solutions, we reached the demo that featured the Cine 230, a single-chip DLP projector. My initial reaction as we watched the opening bank-robbery scene from The Dark Knight was that Bridwell was joking about… View this story

Arlen Schweiger | 04/22 07:33 AM, 0 Comments

Not to put any pressure on a product, but Sharp’s XV-Z17000 DLP projector review was essentially a make-it-or-break-it test for me. I’ve been skeptical about 3D’s relevance for the home, but had not had a chance to view it in my theater as a projection setup. The verdict came quickly when I flipped the switch during Despicable Me (via a Sharp Aquos 3D Blu-ray player) to go from 2D to 3D: this projector “makes it,” so to speak. That’s not to say 3D in the home works for all shapes… View this story

Robert Archer | 04/21 09:21 AM, 9 Comments

When it comes to solid-state, high-performance audio, there’s little debate that Mark Levinson pioneered the category. Once the home theater market started to take over for two-channel audio, the company made what some say was a mistake by taking a wait-and-see approach. But Levinson has made a strong comeback through its No.502 media console device and state-of-the-art No.53 digital switching monoblock amplifier, and now with the five-channel No.535H amplifier. Features The 535 is rated to output 200 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load. Levinson says the amp employs independent… View this story

Robert Archer | 04/19 10:06 AM, 2 Comments

To the dismay of installers everywhere the flat-panel television category commoditized faster than Usain Bolt runs a 100-meter dash. On the surface this may seem like bad news, but looking at it opportunistically, the lower prices do provide the ability to sell more products in other categories. In today’s shifting A/V market, one of the ways installers can combat the falling prices is to offer retrofittable and affordable solutions that serve a variety of needs. One product capable of supporting many A/V sales initiatives is DVDO’s iScan Duo Processor. This… View this story

Robert Archer | 02/23 08:27 AM, 2 Comments

When people talk about subwoofers, they typically describe massive box-like products with huge woofers and power-sucking amplifiers that are designed to shake the foundation of a home. But subwoofers have to come in all shapes and sizes, not everyone has room for mini-refrigerator-size audio components in their home theater. That brings me to Canton’s ASF 75 SC Subwoofer, which unlike the German manufacturer’s low-frequency monster Vento SUB 850 R, is designed for small-footprint applications. Features The ASF 75 SC is a slim-profile subwoofer that can be used when a client… View this story

Arlen Schweiger | 02/21 09:21 AM, 5 Comments

The DreamVision Starlight1 Projector arrived at my home theater with poor timing. It followed my review time with the Anthem LTX 300v, which employs the same LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) light engine rebadged from JVC. I also tested the Starlight1 right around my visit to the CEDIA Expo, which is always filled with high-performance projector demos. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give the Starlight1 is that during this projector blitz, it held its own and then some. I thoroughly enjoyed the Anthem unit, and the Starlight1 delivered detail… View this story