Recently Filed in Audio

I recently reviewed a 5.1 speaker set by AV123 called the ELT, or Extremely Lucious Theater. One of the best aspects of this high-value 5.1 setup was the monster (for the price) 15” slot-ported subwoofer. It was huge but didn’t look it, and dug deep without giving up musical control.  Have some room for more boom in your audio system? You may be interested in the MFW-15 but not necessarily the rest of the ELT package. ELT has (until Sunday) an amazing deal on a… View this story
Subwoofers • Deals • Audio • Product News

Wadia has been doing its best to get your digital audio files up to audiophile speed for your quality listening environment. The company’s iTransport that came out a couple of years ago was hailed for its pureness in handling iPod music, for example. The company’s focus on improving your digital music continues with its latest offering, the 151 PowerDAC mini ($1,195), which is designed to complement the iTransport and provide benefits of Wadia’s original Reference PowerDAC. Don’t let the mini’s 2 x 8 x 8-inch… View this story
Preamplifiers • Audio • Product News

There may not be as much buzz around media servers as there was a few years ago, but they still provide as slick a solution as you can find. At this year’s CES, serving your music and movie files from a centralized location came with pizzazz as high-end introductions and improvements to current products took the spotlight. Meridian Sooloos 2.1 showcased enhancements with additions of Rhapsody web radio integration, zone linking synchronization to create a whole-house system, iPhone app and improved user interface and navigation.… View this story
Digital Media Servers • Multiroom Audio • Audio • Product News

While companies such as Micromega raised eyebrows on the electronics side of wireless audio at CES 2010, several companies were making sweet music to the ears of those who want to reduce cable clutter of a surround-sound system. Polk Audio was one of those, as the company used an engaging demonstration of an “August Rush” Blu-ray in conjunction with Polk’s sound system comprising one of its SurroundBar units for the front channels and its new Wireless Surround F/X for those surround effects. I took a… View this story
Surround Sound • Wireless Speakers • Audio • Product News

With home theater subwoofers it is said that any particular design can maintain a small footprint, be acoustically efficient, and inexpensive … but you can usually only pick two. Subwoofer design is obviously much more complex than this, with tradeoffs between enclosure types, driver designs, amplification requirements, and overall design goals all being thrown into the proverbial blender hundreds of times before a final product is derived. But final products usually do end up following that two-of-three rule. When Elemental Design was drafting the A5-350,… View this story
Subwoofers • Reviews • Audio • Product News

I don’t know why, but there’s a strange charm in owning equipment made by companies who’s names hold ambiguous pronunciation.  I’m pretty sure the bulk of it is the ego boost you get when correcting your friend’s butchering of the word with your own nuanced elocution. Jamo, of Danish decent, fits nicely into that category. And today, you don’t need a briefcase full of cash or AMEX Centurion to boost your hubris. Today only, Vanns has an easy-to-pronounce deal on a Jamo 5-channel speaker package… View this story
Floor Standing Speakers • Speaker Systems • Deals • Audio • Product News

Q. I have a Blu-ray player (Samsung BD-P2500) that decodes Dolby TrueHD. It is hooked through HDMI to my Denon 3806 Receiver, which doesn’t have that capability. But shouldn’t I be able to get Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio with that setup? - Pat, Libertyville, Illinois A. No, not necessarily. Your Blu-ray player may be compatible with those formats, but you need a compatible receiver to decode those signals. If your Blu-ray player has multichannel outputs, you can set it up to decode and… View this story
AV Components • Blu-ray • Receivers • Audio • Ask a Pro

It seems the last thing people want is the components of their home theater system to be in plain sight. Rotel isn’t so sure of that. The company’s RSX-1560 surround-sound receiver makes a bold statement—and not just in performance. The brushed silver finish, along with understated and symmetrical hard buttons, blue backlighting and slim on-screen display make for a striking package. Unlike traditional black-box electronics, this is a receiver to show off. Just leave enough room—at 7 inches high it’s bolder than most receivers in… View this story
Receivers • Reviews • Audio • Product News

Is it live, or is it Memorex? That was the big hi-fi question back in the 80s when cassette playback was on everyone’s mind. The next big audio question might become, is it wired, or is it wireless? Today’s listening trend is a by-product of the ripping, storing and playback of music collections to and from a computer. At CES 2010 there were a number of companies joining the fray to make the transfer of those PC-based files—whether they’re in compressed form or more audiophile-friendly… View this story
Amplifiers • Preamplifiers • CES • Audio • Product News

The iPod may have been the singular face of music for the decade of the 2000s, but a couple of companies showed that sound can still be retro cool. Lasonic and Ion Audio displayed some interesting audio products at CES 2010, giving us a blast from the past with their designs—Lasonic’s being straight outta the 1980s, and Ion’s more like the 1950s. The Lasonic products are iPod docks disguised as 1980s boomboxes. One of the models even goes by the moniker i931 iPod Ghetto Blaster… View this story
AM and FM Tuners • Docks & Cradles • Turntables • CES • Audio • Product News

Ever since surround sound formats were popularized in the mid ‘80s, and even more so with the boom of Dolby Digital-encoded DVDs in the mid ‘90s, speaker manufacturers have been bundling 5.1 channel speaker packages for easy consumption.  Just add an AV receiver, source and display and you have yourself a full-fledged home theater. These packages range from micro-satellite speakers and tiny “bass modules” to all-out reference systems certified for actual theater use … and everything in between. What you don’t see all that often… View this story
Bookshelf Speakers • Floor Standing Speakers • Speaker Systems • Subwoofers • Reviews • Audio • Product News

Over the past couple of decades movie and music buffs have had to deal with the problem of low-frequency sound distribution in their home theater spaces.    Lately this topic has also been a popular point of discussion on ElectronicHouse.com. Looking at the evolution of the home theater, it used to be that audiophiles would move their speakers around to get the best possible sound. Unknowingly, yesteryear’s audiophiles were not only improving the imaging and soundstage of their two-channel systems, they were also adapting their… View this story
Subwoofers • Surround Sound • Home Theater • Audio • Info and Answers