Velodyne SC-600 IF/IC In-Floor / In-Ceiling Subwoofer- Secrets of Home Theater - July 2, 2009
- For those of you new to the home theater game Velodyne has been making subwoofers for longer than some directors have been making movies. They make big ones, small ones, loud ones, and even louder ones. They were also one of the first to recognize th...
Spendor A5 Speakers- Secrets of Home Theater - July 1, 2009
- Ah...British Hi-Fi. Say no more and an entire wing of audiophiles suddenly get giddy. When I was offered a pair of speakers for review from Spendor, renowned speaker manufacturer since 1969, I simply had to take advantage and hear for myself the stat...
NAD C565BEE Compact Disc Player- Secrets of Home Theater - June 29, 2009
- I well remember the day I got my first NAD product back in the 70s. I have long since forgotten the model number, but it was a stereo receiver. I remember listening to it and thinking how great it sounded compare to the old Marantz it was replacing. ...
Oppo BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player - Benchmark- Secrets of Home Theater - June 25, 2009
- There has been a lot of anticipation for OPPO Digital's brand new BDP-83 Blu-ray player. This is in part because OPPO has had an excellent track record for producing top notch affordable DVD players, such as the DV-983H (one of the only players in S...
Sennheiser HD 238 Precision High Resolution Stereo Headphones- Secrets of Home Theater - June 25, 2009
- Let me start this review by getting a few things clear: I am not, or was not anyway, what I would consider a true audiophile. I also am not (or was not) much of a headphone user. All this changed when I got the chance to spend a couple months with th...
Integra DTR-8.9 7.1 A/V Receiver- Secrets of Home Theater - June 22, 2009
- Integra keeps putting out high-quality, value-priced products year after year. The company, which is the high-end of the Onkyo brand, sells primarily to custom installers and boutique A/V resellers rather than Internet and big-box stores. In this rev...
The Synergistic Research ACOUSTIC ART Real-Time Analogue Room Treatment- Secrets of Home Theater - June 18, 2009
- Vibratron, Gravitron, Magnetron, and Bass Station: the sci-fi names alone are enough to raise eyebrows. But when you add in the fantastic appearance of the resonating bowls, and the claims that they can tune your listening room and ameliorate most co...
Marantz PM8003 Integrated Amplifier- Secrets of Home Theater - June 15, 2009
- Marantz is a name that has been around for a long time; refreshingly they continue to produce quality two channel gear despite branching out into both budget and high-end home theater. My own listening experiences have found their budget home theater...
Cambridge Audio DacMagic- Secrets of Home Theater - June 11, 2009
- Cambridge Audio has come up with a product that has wowed everyone: the DacMagic. For $399, 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 outpu...
KEF XQ10 Bookshelf Speaker Review- Secrets of Home Theater - June 8, 2009
- Founded by Raymond Cook in the 1960s on the premises of Kent Engineering & Foundry (from where the name KEF is derived), KEF speakers have been a popular loudspeaker brand in Europe for many years. With interest in expanding their presence here i...
Totem Mites Bookshelf Speakers- Secrets of Home Theater - June 4, 2009
- A couple of years ago, a friend and I were on a quest for the perfect bookshelf speaker. With a budget of $1100 a pair this quest certainly had its challenges. Although our needs were slightly different, I was geared more towards hometheater and he t...
Yamaha RX-V665 AV Receiver- Secrets of Home Theater - June 1, 2009
- Part of what I enjoy most about this hobby is helping other people get into it. Given that, Im a big fan of mid- to entry-level home theater equipment, since most people asking for advice about their first system are not looking to dole out beaucoup ...
OPPO BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player - A Preview- Secrets of Home Theater - May 28, 2009
- OPPO's new BDP-83 is their first Blu-ray player, and it is also a universal player, meaning it will play DVD-A and SACD. You can choose to have it output SACD bitstream or have it converted to PCM in the player so that older receivers can decode it. ...
Dynaudio Excite Home Theater Speakers- Secrets of Home Theater - May 28, 2009
- Long before I ever dreamed of owning a genuine set of Dynaudio speakers, Ive lusted after their raw drivers. Dynaudio speaker components have always been highly regarded in the do-it-yourself (DIY) community for their exceptional fidelity and bullet...
Onkyo TX-NR906 7.1-Channel Home Network Receiver- Secrets of Home Theater - May 25, 2009
- Onkyo has broken new ground by introducing two receivers to be the first in the world with isf video calibration. The TX-NR906 is the flagship of the Onkyo receiver line and the step up from the equally isf capable TX-SR876. Several features set th...