I make no apologies about my enthusiasm for Emotiva. After I reviewed their RSP-1 preamplifier and RPA-1 dual mono power amplifier here about 18 months ago, I replaced a $3000 Plinius integrated amplifier with them. They cost less than $1400 retail for the entire setup, and bested the “high end” Plinius in virtually every area. Emotiva is built on the idea of offering the maximum possible value to home theater and audio enthusiasts. They sell manufacturer direct only, build their products overseas and pass those discounts on to their customers. Their products offer quality and performance you would have to spend at least twice as much, maybe even three or four times as much to equal.

I am continuing my journey into the world of affordable front projector systems, with a special emphasis on systems that are suitable for multi-use rooms.  My first foray, the Sanyo PLV-Z2000, was a success. But I didn’t have anything to compare it to, at least in my own home environment. Now comes the first challenger, the Mitsubishi HC5500, another affordable 1080p projector. These projectors use the same basic display technology (LCD panels), so provide a pretty good apples-to-apples comparison. We also review the Elite Screens ezCinema Plus Pull-up Projection Screen.

I remember marveling at the sound being produced by a pair of small bookshelf speakers during a recent visit to a local high-end dealer’s shop.  I asked the salesman, “The bass extension on these speakers is amazing for their small size.  How do they do it?”  “Technology” was his reply.  I sat there stone faced for a second while the wheels turned.  Great bass extension with useable output is still governed by the laws of Newtonian physics.  Technology can’t violate those laws.  The designer must work within the framework of the laws to produce a design that will fulfill their objectives. Velodyne has worked within these laws to produce a compact subwoofer that will surprise you with its amazing bass output. Read more about what Jim Clements has to say.

Many years ago, CRT projector owners had an annoying problem, if they increased their projection area, scan lines would become visible. The idea of line doubling – duplicating the number of lines to avoid the empty spaces between the scan lines became the first consumer video processing technique available. Since all of our video sources at the time were video, but were originally film – Yvves Faroudja introduced the world to the concept of 3:2 pulldown de-interlacing. De-interlacers were able to double lines but effectively turned the image into a progressive one – a single image that contained data from both interlaced fields at once. Many video processors have come to market since that time to improve on this basic technology, adding many more features than simply de-interlacing. Anchor Bay Technologies has produced numerous processors over the years, and the DVDO Edge is their latest model. It is priced at only $799. Ofer LaOr dissects this new processor and gives us his views on its performance. 

Everyone would like a "good deal" in the world of audio, but there’s usually a lot of skepticism involved because of the tendency for such products to be made with cheaper components and outsourced labor. It’s not unusual for these kinds of cheaper goods to break, in even short periods of time. Well, you get what you pay for. On the other side of the spectrum are very high quality products that come at astronomical prices that, while providing the ultimate experience, are often way out of many consumer’s budgets. Somewhere in the middle of all this though, there are still a few companies that make products that have high performance and are also affordable. Emotiva, over the years, has been one of these companies and they have gained a favorable reputation with audiophiles because of it.

The question I am asked most often regarding stereo systems is “what speaker should I buy”? My answer is usually “the one that sounds best in your room”. If you have a good relationship with your local HiFi dealer, you just may be able to audition in your own home. Not all of the good speakers are sold in stores and sometimes to get the best value you need to purchase online. The problem is, you will have to at least pay shipping one way to get the speakers into your home. This can get pricey. What if you could audition in home, risk free? How about a ten year warranty? While we are at it, toss in a 100% credit trade up program.

While not sold in big box retail stores nor shipping Internet-direct to consumers, Focal has built and maintained a solid reputation in the audiophile community by offering top tier sound quality. Being very familiar with the brand, it was with great anticipation that I agreed to review the Chorus 700 speaker system. The Chorus 700 series is at the lower end of Focal's speaker lineup, and the review system consisted of a pair of 726V three-way tower speakers, a CC700V center channel speaker, a pair of 706V bookshelf speakers for the rear, and a SW700V subwoofer. At roughly $3,600 for the package, I was eager to see how the Chorus system compared to its mass-market competitors. Furthermore, can the 700 series live up to the reputation of its higher priced siblings?

The Denon AVR-2309CI is the entry level product in Denon’s Custom Integration line, which includes receivers specifically designed with custom installers in mind.  It offers extras like an RS-232C port for integration with automation and advanced control systems such as Crestron, and a 12 volt trigger to automate things such as a front projection screen lowering when the system is powered on.

The Jaton company has been around for over 25 years. They started with manufacturing PC video cards, and have since branched into home theater and hi-fi gear. Lyra's HD-661 DX speakers were recently reviewed at Secrets, and their interesting design and great sound made me want to try out their amplification. George from Jaton was kind enough to send me a rather large and heavy Class A/B Stereo amplifier capable of putting out 300 watts RMS per channel into 4 ohms. Initial problems with the amplifier has required Jaton to redesign it, and the revised version will be sent to me for review In the meantime, here are some initial observations on the unrevised unit.

Last year Onkyo introduced a truly stunning product, the TX-SR605, which offered HDMI 1.3 inputs, HD audio processing and a host of other advanced features at the amazing price point of $599. As 2007 has moved to 2008, Onkyo has now introduced their TX-SRxx6 series receivers and a new model, the Onkyo TX-SR576, that looks to move some of the TX-SR605's novel features to an even lower $479 price point.

I’ve really had the itch to try out one of the new wiz-bang receivers with HDMI, high def audio, auto configuration etc.  Luckily, at least for my bank account, the Marantz SR7002 recently showed up at my door to help scratch my upgrade itch. 

Hsu Research is an A/V company selling only online, and which continually produces superb products at affordable prices. Until recently, Hsu sold nothing but subwoofers. I bought one of the original Hsu Research VTF-2 subs, which had incredible performance for a $500 price tag. I’ve since upgraded to the VTF3-HO with Turbocharger. Like the rest of the Hsu’s line, those subs had a ported design.

Now comes Hsu’s first sealed-box subwoofer, the Hsu Research ULS-15. It's one of the first subs to hit the market with wireless connections (RF), and it has four separate channels, so you can have several discrete wireless subwoofer channels if you like (e.g., front left, right, and LFE).  Along with the ULS-15, Hsu also sent their newly redesigned HB-1 Mk 2 bookshelf speakers and HC-1 center channel speaker, for a complete 5.1 system. I had heard good things about the HB-1’s, but never had a chance to audition them in person. Plus, I was very curious to see how Hsu’s experience with subs would translate into full range speakers.

JL Audio's new Fathom f212 subwoofer is an astonishing product. Their years of building car audio subwoofers that you can hear a block away have paid off in this subwoofer meant for audio and home theater applications. It is expensive, but notwithstanding, even just one of these subs will satisfy the most critical of home theater aficionados. The f212 is one of the finest subwoofers in the world.

The gloves were off, and the gauntlet thrown. On May 26, 2008, Jim Pierce of Amazing Audio sent me (Jason Serinus) a major challenge via e-mail.

Sigma's new DP1 compact digital camera has the same large Foveon sensor as in the SD14 DSLR, yet it can fit in your pocket. Read Secrets exclusive, detailed bench test report to see how it compares with its larger SLR cousins.

With the TX-SR806 Onkyo further pushes the bar of what can be done within a $1100 Reciever:  THX Ultra2 Plus certification, 1080 line video processor, and the full suite of audio processing.  Did they give anything up?  Our Brian Florian investigates.

It has been some time since Yamaha manufactured a hi-def disc player, either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.  Instead Yamaha has been offering upscaling DVD players such as the S1700 and the S2700.  Now that the format war is over and Blu-ray is the declared winner, this is no longer true.  Yamaha has created the BD-S2900, their first Blu-ray player.

Many audio designers report that they design their components by listening, making a change, perhaps as small as a resistor, and then listening again. These are the guys you want making your stereo equipment. Even mass market audio equipment can be made to compete with uber-expensive models given the same treatment.

High sensitivity speakers have had a following amongst the proponents of low power single ended tube amplifiers for a long time.  Many of these speakers work well with these low power amps, but not necessarily with more typical amplification. Not so with these Zu audio Druids. While I am sure they still are wonderful with low power tube amps, they also deliver with more typical solid-state amplification. The Druid, made by cable and speaker manufacturer Zu Audio in Ogden, Utah, has had a cult following among many audiophiles. I was able to test the latest Mk. 4/08 version, released earlier this year.

Torus Power makes as wide an array of isolation transformers as I have ever encountered. The 100 amp version (RM-100) would be a great addition for supplying isolated AC to an entire home theater in custom install situations, but a small one like the RM-10 is useful especially for digital sources and projectors, the total power of which does not exceed 10 amperes.

Rotel made some interesting choices with their RSP-1069 7.1 SSP. There is an obvious attention to build quality, the processor is heavy, solid and uses quality components throughout. However it is missing some key features found on many processors today, most obvious is the lack of room correction.

Every now and then you run into a product you are so impressed with you just have to share.  The ISTAR Mini Network Media Tank is one of those products.  By all accounts the product is another media extender set top box that you plug into your TV that plays video, music and photos from an attached hard drive or home network.  There are lots of these products on the market.

Front projectors have been the gold standard in home theater for many years. But until recently, front projection meant a CRT-unit the size of a coffee table mounted to the ceiling. It only looked good if you turned your room into a bat-cave, was very finicky about set-up, needed regular calibration, and probably cost more than the family sedan. Well, now front projectors are very affordable and are small and easy to set up. Perfect for that family room that has other uses than just home theater. Secrets takes a look at the Sanyo PLV-Z2000 as the first in our series on affordable projectors that you can use in just about any room of your home.

 The DVD-2500BTCI is one of several Blu-ray players that Denon is offering in their current lineup.  Unlike the  DVD -3800BDCI which features a Realta HQV video processing solution and internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio, the DVD-2500BTCI is billed as a digital-only transport that offers playback of BD discs as well as output of  the audio signals on the disc in raw bitstream format using its HDMI 1.3a compliant connection.

Harmony has been building universal remotes for a number of years now.  Honestly a couple of years ago, with the release of the 880, Harmony converted me from years of using Phillips Pronto remotes.  The Harmony remotes were simply easier to program and faster to change when a new component was introduced or swapped.

The Sony PMW-EX1 is a Prosumer HD video camera that is quite affordable ($7,499) when you take into account that it will record 1080p30. That's right. Remember how we have all been talking about the day when HDTV programs might begin broadcasting in 1080p instead of 1080i? Well, if it isn't actually part of program broadcasting yet, you can have it for all your home videos. Those birthday parties, daughter's wedding, trip to Europe . . . . you can record them in 1080p30 with a camera that is reasonably portable (it comes with its own small suitcase).

No, it's not one of the pocket sized HD cameras, but you can carry it around without too much difficulty. And, as you will see, the image quality is vastly superior to any consumer HD camera of the past. It's studio quality, affordable to the aficionado.

Class D switching amplifiers are here to stay. The RMB-1085 is a five channel home theater amplifier that uses ICE power modules which stay cool and deliver very efficient high power, all from a small chassis.

The new Klipsch Palladium P-39F floor-standing speakers are big, bold, beautiful, and best of all, they sound fantastic. They are very sensitive, so can be powered by small amplifiers, and as my wife told me, "These things make you want to pay attention and listen to the music rather than read the newspaper." They have an amazing ability to localize instruments and voices. Read Secrets' exclusive review of these find speakers.

Although I have always been interested in McIntosh products, I was really intrigued by the McIntosh MA6300 because I could finally afford one.  Modest power output and all solid state construction will let you into the world of McIntosh ownership for just $3,000.

My long romance with Lumagen processors started quite a few years ago when image processing was still considered something so uniquely bizarre, the only place you could actually read about it was on Internet forums. I was a frequent forum visitor, and after a lot of reading I ended up with the first generation of Lumagen processors. In this review, Secrets takes a look at their latest iteration, the Radiance. It's expensive, but what a picture!

A typical display will go quite easily into my house. When I call up the local importer, they are usually quite inclined to lend me their displays. The 65PY700 was no exception, but it did require quite a bit of work to verify that it would fit into my test lab area. The hallway and staircase leading up to the second floor are quite tight, and I’ve never actually tried a display larger than 55” in height . . .

I really don't know what else to say here. The F80 is a very simple, very elegant, and fantastic way to play incredible sounding music from your favorite FM stations as well as CDs and iPod, all from an enclosure not much larger than a shoebox.

I found both video and audio quality of the TViX M6500A to be exceptional, and over the last few months, some of the firmware updates have already made this unit significantly more stable and better than its previous versions. Given that DViCO has been quite adamant in providing support for existing products and continually improving them, I have no doubt they will succeed in turning this unit into an ever more powerful item over the upcoming months.