Speakers

It's safe to say Bill Gates has it all. And there probably aren't many things that impress him. But once in a while comes a product that makes even Bill drool. Bill, meet the Xbox 5.1 Surround Sound System! And don't worry, unlike other Microsoft...

4 expert reviews

The inverted bottle meets the custom virtuoso. At some point in the evolution of home theater, someone noticed that the phrase includes the word home. At that point, weird and wonderful things began to happen. Speakers morphed into smaller, more...

2 expert reviews

I've come to appreciate that, when it comes to evaluating speakers, first impressions count—big time. Immediate gut reactions typically run from, "I like them," to, "Yuck, turn them off." The latter tend to instantly put the kibosh on any prospective...

3 expert reviews

Break out that dusty case of champagne. Get the kids together. Give them each a bottle. No, don't do that. But yell out the window to your neighbors. Call all of your relatives. Throw a few shrimp on the barbie. Make popcorn. Stack your favorite DVDs...

3 expert reviews

When it comes to TVs and speakers, bigger is most definitely better. Smaller models can be perfectly acceptable, and, in small rooms, they're a necessity. But, if you have the space, you can't beat a large screen matched with a set of heavyweight...

3 expert reviews

My daughter has been coming home recently with holes in her slacks—and, no, they aren't the holes she puts her legs through, as she wryly pointed out the other day. (That's what I get for raising a family full of wiseacres.) The cause of these holes is...

3 expert reviews

The finesse as implied in this sub-woofer design reflects the blend of physical exquisiteness as well as technical skill to generate a high magnitude of bass frequency sound output.

2 expert reviews

The IKON 6, a substantial floorstander that never sounds small, really delivers the goods dynamically - and does so effortlessly. No speaker is completely neutral, and though the overall balance is quite smooth, the midrange is projected a bit in the...

3 expert reviews

Even a quick glance at the home theater section of your local consumer electronics retailer reveals an overabundance of A/V receivers. They're a staple component in home theater. After you sift through all the ubiquitous brands, you'll come across...

3 expert reviews

I have had many speakers over the last 30 years dynaudio, wilson watt puppy 5.1 , triangle , Sonus faber guinarious and many others... To start with these are the most beautiful speakers I have ever seen... built like a tank and a voice like an angel....

2 user reviews

I just purchased a pair at a local flea market for $18 b/c I recognised the Onkyo name from the 1980s,and the kevlar cone woofs /fabric dome tweet looked to be high quality. My standard for comparison is the Realistic Minimus 7 with crossover upgrades....

2 user reviews

I admired the HSU Research HB-1 horn-loaded loudspeaker when I first heard it at the Home Entertainment Show in Los Angeles in June 2006. Nearby demo rooms were stuffed with megabucks two-channel gear, much of which simply didn't approach the...

3 expert reviews

As I unboxed this month's Spotlight System, I flashed on the innovative histories of Marantz and Snell Acoustics. Saul B. Marantz was a bona fide American audio pioneer in the 1950s and 1960s. His company's electronics not only sounded amazing, they...

3 expert reviews

No more. In fact, this week Induction Dynamics introduced the ID1.15 and S1.8 loudspeakers. The two products complete the company's "Super Loudspeaker" line, which also includes the ID1.18 tower loudspeakers and the C1.8 center loudspeaker.

2 expert reviews | 1 user reviews

We haven't spent a lot of review time here at Ultimate AV on two major trends in speaker design. One of them is euphemistically referred to in the industry as "architectural speakers." That is, speakers designed to be mounted either in or on a wall....

2 expert reviews

I've had the good fortune of being able to bring some extremely cool gear into my house: a 50-inch plasma HDTV (way back when 50 inches was big for a plasma), a $40,000 Kaleidescape multiroom movie server, and, last but not least, five gorgeous Legacy...

3 expert reviews

Do They Make You Horny Baby?You won 't find Hsu products at your local big box store or even a good high-end dealer. Hsu Research can provide you better value only if it sells its products direct on the web, just like Outlaw Audio. Both companies have...

3 expert reviews

The Aeon's 37 x 8-inch electrostatic line-source panel uses MartinLogan's familiar CLS (curvilinear line source) technology, designed to widen the optimum listening zone with its relatively open (yet still controlled) horizontal dispersion pattern, yet...

1 expert reviews | 2 user reviews

Small footprint, Good sound, Built in FM radio, Small footprint, Good sound, Built in FM radio

2 expert reviews

In its quest for continuous quality improvement a couple of decades ago, the U.S. business community fell in love with a cobbled-together phrase known as paradigm shifting. The phrase comes from Thomas Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific...

4 expert reviews

The SS line of subwoofers is the more affordable part of the Critical Mass family of subs that includes the acclaimed UL...

2 expert reviews

Feeling Horny?So what is a "horn speaker" anyway? Basically it's a speaker whose driver has a horn in front of it. Technically speaking, a horn's job is to match the impedance of a driver with the impedance of the room. How does a horn audibly affect...

3 expert reviews

Released from the boxes of thousands upon thousands of plasma and LCD TVs was a nasty disease that's induced feverish thoughts of flatness and smallness in the minds of otherwise good and decent people, making them forget how important audio is to a...

3 expert reviews

The Newton T100 is an engineering success, but (for very understandable reasons) a marketing failure. The idea behind them - other than the marketing dept's desire to fill a void in the lineup - is simple: With the advent of home theater more and more...

2 user reviews

The LC265i-IP is a two-and-a-half-way speaker with one 6.5-inch woofer, one 6.5-inch midwoofer, and a 1-inch ring radiator mounted on a pivot that you can angle up to 15 degrees. It is a triamplified speaker with 100 watts for the bass driver, 75 watts...

2 expert reviews