Innholdsfortegnelse for May-13 i Home Theater

EDITOR Hold your index finger up to the air for a moment. Can you feel that? It’s the fresh breeze of good sound wafting ever so gently across the horizon. After years of living in a desert of low-res MP3s, crappy white ear buds, wafer-thin flatpanel TV speakers pointed away from the listener (come on!), and increasingly anemic AVRs, there is a revolution afoot. I can’t quite explain it—perhaps it’s a grassroots backlash against uninvolving, emotionally void music and muddled TV dialogue. Or maybe it’s just a fashion trend as the giant headphones and vinyl LPs that geeks like me thought were cool in the ’70s have oddly gained new traction as status symbols. Whatever the genesis, there appears to be growing demand for high-quality audio. The evidence is everywhere.…

The 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy relief concert was seen by at least 19 million people on 15 networks tracked by Nielsen—and Nielsen didn’t measure all of the 38 networks that carried the program, or the 100 networks and satellite/cable operators that have run it subsequently. The concert also generated 4.5 million streams and 2.5 billion Twitter impressions... Sharp and Qualcomm are partnering to combine Sharp’s IZGO LCD technology with Qualcomm’s low-power display technology. The ailing TV maker needs the $56 million investment and then some... Photos on Samsung TVs are easier to enjoy communally with a pair of Woven apps. Download one to the TV and another to your iOS or Android phone or tablet, and then you can click through photos from Facebook, Picasa, Shutterfly, Flickr, or Instagram... The First…

Price: $100 At a Glance: Small stick connects directly to HDMI input on TV • Same menus and channels as full-sized Roku Box • No additional power connection; requires MHL-enabled TV That Roku box is shrinking… again. The Roku Stick looks like a thumb drive and is only about 3 inches long. For the most part, it provides the same experience as the standard Roku boxes—same menus, same performance. But to use one, you’ll need an MHL-enabled TV or other device. Mobile High Definition Link (MHL)–enabled displays can power a device connected to an MHL-compatible HDMI input without the need for a separate power source. At the January CES, the MHL consortium announced that, to date, there have been more than 200 unique MHL-enabled devices (including smartphones, TVs, and others)…

Price: $299 (accessories: Air DAC Receiver, $149; iTX Transmitter, $79; uTX Transmitter, $59) At a Glance: Easy setup • Excellent wireless performance • Good sound from compact speakers The promise was enticing: A compact wireless speaker system offering “exceptional” performance with the option of using an outboard digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to achieve a “much needed, audiophile-grade alternative to mediocre wireless sound.” Amen. The last thing the world needs is another pair of bad-sounding wireless speakers. When I pulled the NuForce S3-BT speakers ($299/pair) out of the box, I was immediately struck by their heft and handsome leatherette finish. The right speaker houses the wireless receiver and a Class D amplifier that brings to life the soft-dome tweeter and small woofer in each ported box. Plug in the power cord, run…

The Dish hike is the first in two years. It will add $5/month to core tiers, bringing the cost of the Smart Pack to $30/month, America’s Top 120 to $50, America’s Top 200 to $65, and America’s Top 250 to $75. The all-you-can-eat America’s Everything, with 290-plus channels, is going up $15 to $120. Spanish-language packages will increase $2 to $4 a month, though sports packages won’t be touched. Older ViP DVRs will cost a dollar more, though the ViP 922 and cool new Hopper DVRs will hold steady at $10, with Joey set-top boxes still $7. DirecTV levied a 4.5 percent average rate increase in February. The Choice package went up a buck to $65, Xtra Choice two bucks to $71, and Premiere five bucks to $125. HBO will…

Life is slower and more relaxed in the Keys, and the homeowner of this theater wanted a space to reflect the region’s comfortable sensibilities, including the vibrant colors prevalent in the area such as teal, blue, amber, and especially purple, which was a departure from the more classical theater with dark woods and red walls. A highlight of the installation was using the homeowner’s own photographs for the wall panels that are meant to appear as windows. According to Brad Bergoine, president of the Cinema Design Group Int’l (CDGi), this is what made the project extraordinarily unique. It also required a lot of post-processing since the images were taken at different times of the day and at varying angles. It was necessary to perform a good deal of work to…

The Marantz initially sailed through our HDMI benchmark tests when processing an HDMI signal with the exception of the Chroma Resolution test. The lower right box on the Spears & Munsil Benchmark disc showed some rolloff of the chroma signal culminating in a borderline Fail, but this deficiency didn’t rear its head in normal viewing material and only occurred when the Video Convert feature was in its On position; taking the video processor out of the loop resulted in a Pass. As we finalized our review, Marantz investigated and sent a firmware update that fully resolved this issue, resulting in perfect Video Test Bench scores across the board. The change is expected to be integrated within the AV8801’s next firmware push.…

For a complete list of the picture settings used in this review, go to HomeTheater.com. All the 2D measurements here were taken in the Movie mode, adjusted for the most accurate picture. The backlight was set to 9, Contrast to 80, Brightness to 46, Gamma to +1. Cinema Black on, and Smart LED in Standard. The full-on/full-off contrast ratio above was calculated at the settings indicated from a measured peak white level of 29.66 foot-lamberts and a full black field reading of 0.001 ft-L. The latter is the lowest reading possible from our Minolta LS-100 light meter. When taking this black reading, we left the pause bug from our Oppo Blu-ray player displayed in the upper left-hand corner of the screen to simulate a very dark but not totally black…

PRICE: $3,000 AT A GLANCE: Broad dispersion • Good power handling • Powerful subwoofer Areview is more interesting when it tells a story. How should the story of the GoldenEar Aon 2 begin? There’s the technology angle: The Aon 2 is among the few speakers on the market with an unusual pleated tweeter design that uses a squeezing motion (as opposed to a piston motion) to generate the changes in air pressure that we hear as sound waves. Because the benefits—wide horizontal dispersion and vivid imaging—are easy to describe, that would be a good way to begin. And then there’s the human interest angle: GoldenEar is the third brand to be cofounded by Baltimore-based loudspeaker impresario Sandy Gross, whose genuine love for audio is balanced by his love for gourmet…

PIONEER ELITE SC-61 A/V RECEIVER AUDIO DECODING: DOLBY: TrueHD, Digital, EX, Pro Logic II/IIx/IIz DTS: DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS, ES, 96/24, Neo:6 LOSSY FILE FORMATS: AAC, MP3, WMA HIGH-RESOLUTION FILE FORMATS: FLAC, WAV STREAMING: Pandora, vTuner OTHER: 16 DSP modes, Full Stage Surround Advance (Focus/Wide), Sound Retriever AIR, Auto Sound Retriever 3D: Yes THX CERTIFIED: No NUMBER OF AMP CHANNELS: 7 RATED POWER (WATTS PER CHANNEL): 125 watts into 8 ohms, two channels driven SPECIFIED FREQUENCY RESPONSE: Not specified VIDEO PROCESSING: Marvell Qdeo AUTO SETUP/ROOM EQ: Full Auto MCACC DIMENSIONS (W X H X D, INCHES): 17.13 x 7.25 x 17.38 WEIGHT (POUNDS): 31.7 PRICE: $1,100…

PRICE: $1,449 AT A GLANCE: Second-gen high-end compact satellites • Mix of flat and cone drivers • Incredible dispersion Compact cube speakers are an intriguing subset of the satellite/subwoofer speaker genre. Though not invariably high performers, cubes have achieved iconic status, and some manufacturers have made a fortune marketing them to folks whose significant others look at the diminutive geometric forms and say, “Bingo. That’s what I want your speakers to look like. Now get those big tombstones out of our den.” Cambridge Audio has tapped into the cube mystique with its Minx sat/sub sets. In fact, the Minx has done so well that it is now a separate division of the company. Part of the Minx success story is, believe it or not, performance. The first-generation Min 10 (single…

OUTLAW MODEL 975 SURROUND PROCESSOR Analog frequency response in Stereo mode: –0.65 dB at 10 Hz –0.18 dB at 20 Hz –0.06 dB at 20 kHz –26.40 dB at 50 kHz Analog frequency response with signal processing: –0.65 dB at 10 Hz –0.18 dB at 20 Hz –0.06 dB at 20 kHz –26.46 dB at 50 kHz The chart below shows the frequency response of the left (aqua), center (green), LFE (purple), and left surround (red) channels at the preamp outputs of the Dolby Digital decoder. The left channel measures–0.14 decibels at 20 hertz and–0.10 dB at 20 kilohertz. The center channel measures +0.03 dB at 20 Hz and–0.12 dB at 20 kHz, and the left surround channel measures–0.18 dB at 20 Hz and–0.16 dB at 20 kHz. The LFE…

It’s not exactly a secret that Sony Pictures produced a fabulously successful trilogy of Spider-man films from 2002 to 2007. All three were directed by Sam Raimi and starred Tobey Maguire as the resident arachnid. Though the last of the three laid something of a critical egg, it was nevertheless a golden one at the box office. The Amazing Spider-Man is not a sequel but instead a complete reboot, origin story and all. Clearly, Sony was hoping to re-invigorate the franchise. Judging from its commercial success, I’d say it succeeded. The Amazing Spider-Man (note the subtle tweaking of the title to avoid confusion with Raimi’s Spider-Man) is no less cartoonish than the original, but overall is richer, more serious, and darker. While no less removed from its comic book roots,…

If it weren’t for the 2012 presidential election and the recent public shaming of Anthony Weiner and David Petraeus, we might have a difficult time finding any credibility in the outrageous humor of The Campaign. Scandals, corruption, lies, and character assassination: It isn’t just for breakfast anymore. It’s become part of our daily diet. Just watch CNN, for Pete’s sake. Will Ferrell plays the philandering, profane, and corrupt congressman from the South who likes to tweet cell phone pictures of his penis. Yeah, like that could ever happen in real life. Where do they come up with this stuff? Zach Galifianakis is the effeminately soft-spoken small-town family man who runs against Ferrell in a take-no-prisoners grudge match for the governorship of North Carolina. While the jokes in The Campaign play…

There’s an old expression: “God is in the details.” This was never truer for a film than Ridley Scott’s visceral dystopian masterpiece Blade Runner. It’s not uncommon for a motion picture to be released in more than one version or cut for the public’s delectation. Many times, a filmmaker’s original vision is compromised in favor of releasing a more commercially marketable product by the studio putting up the money. As a result, director’s cuts, extended cuts, and special editions are much more prevalent now in the digital age and home video market. Few films, however, have seen as many versions or received as much scrutiny as Blade Runner. Officially, there are five versions of Blade Runner: the Original Theatrical Cut, the International Cut, the Director’s Cut, the Workprint, and the…

WE WELCOME QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS. E-mail them to editor@hometheater.com. Please note: Be sure to check the FAQ page on our Website (HomeTheater.com) to see if we’ve already answered any questions you might have. Questions about the features and functions of a particular product are best directed to the manufacturer. Questions about what product you should buy are best directed to a dealer who knows all the details of your system, your preferences, and your personal habits. All submissions are considered the exclusive property of Home Theater magazine and Source Interlink Media. Due to the volume of mail that we receive, we regret that we cannot respond to every letter. Darryl Wilkinson Must Go I am a home theater enthusiast and longtime subscriber. I have found Home Theater to be useful…

Jason Mecier combines his crafty nature and a love of pop culture to create these unique mosaics. About 20 years ago, the San Francisco–based artist wanted to take macaroni art to a new level and made more than 200 bean and noodle portraits, mostly of ’70s TV icons like Charlie’s Angels, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Mary Tyler Moore. Feeling limited by the earth-toned palette, he started working with bright-colored candy. Then came experiments with yarn, pills, fake fingernails, makeup, and finally anything he could get his hands on. “I was making large junk portraits of my favorite celebrities, and I would imagine what they would have in their house and that my junk was really their junk,” Jason says. “I figured I should just ask all my favorite people…

Place LG’s Hecto Laser TV 20 inches from a wall or screen, and it can muster a 100-inch 1080p image. The two-piece system comes with its own 100-inch, high-gain screen and uses an ultra-short-throw (UST) projector with a laser light engine, DLP chip, prism, and optics that spray the image upward. It also comes with a built-in tuner, smart TV features, wireless capability, and even a speaker. It is designed for installation by mere mortals, as opposed to professionals, so if you’re a DIYer, this may be just the big-screen solution for you. LG claims the picture will be about as good as plasma, with strong color, black level, and motion reproduction. At press time, the product was slated for a March debut, but pricing was unavailable.…

Want to download movies onto the world’s coolest media server with the potential for “Blu-ray-quality” video and lossless surround? Welcome to the Kaleidescape download store. You’ll remember Kaleidescape as the company that offered world-class DVD and Blu-ray servers and got royally sued by Hollywood for daring to suggest that a consumer might transfer content from disc to hard disc. While that did involve using decryption in a way that got studio executives on the phone with their lawyers, it allowed consumers to access movies through a much hipper interface. Maybe those are all digits under the bridge. This latest venture is Hollywood friendly, with Warner Bros. as the first studio to sign on with 3,000 movies and 8,000 TV episodes. How does it work? Once your Kaleidescape media server is…

KLIPSCH IMAGE ONE HEADPHONES Weighing in at 5 ounces, the Image One headphones feature ear cushions made of leather-wrapped memory foam, an adjustable leather headband, and a flat, tangle-resistant cable. An in-line three-button remote/microphone makes it easy to control music on an iPhone/iPad/iPod and answer calls without removing the headphones; the microphone has a 360-degree pickup pattern with echo cancellation so you don’t have to worry about speaking directly into it. Available in black or white. Space Saver: The earcups fold into the headband for convenient storage in the supplied travel case. Price: $150 Klipsch • (800) 544-1482 • klipsch.com B&W PANORAMA 2 SOUNDBAR Yep, you read that right—another soundbar from world-class speaker maker Bowers & Wilkins. Drawing on technologies developed for B&W’s 800 Series Diamond reference speakers, the svelte…

Price: AV8801, $3,599; MM8077, $2,399 At A GlAnce: Up to 11.2-channel playback with Audyssey DSX and DTS Neo:X • Audyssey MultEQ XT32 and Sub EQ HT • Apple AirPlay support As A/V enthusiasts, we are constantly on the lookout for the best audio and video we can find, and when we reach that state of nirvana, we enjoy our equipment until the next CES or CEDIA when we then hear about something new and begin to worry that our system will soon be second best. Writing for Home Theater makes me an unwilling accomplice in this never-ending cycle of upgrade-itis, but truth be told, I’m just as affected by this as the rest of you. Thankfully, I’m able to get my fix by having lots of equipment moving through my…

Two channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 128.4 watts 1% distortion at 150.3 watts Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 113.9 watts 1% distortion at 125.4 watts Seven channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 108.9 watts 1% distortion at 116.8 watts Frequency response RCA input: –0.16 dB at 10 Hz –0.04 dB at 20 Hz +0.03 dB at 20 kHz –2.64 dB at 50 kHz Frequency response XLR input: –0.19 dB at 10 Hz –0.05 dB at 20 Hz –0.08 dB at 20 kHz –2.95 dB at 50 kHz This graph shows that the MM8077’s left amplifier channel, with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1 percent distortion at 128.4 watts and 1 percent distortion at 150.3 watts. Into 4…

PRICE: $800 AT A GLANCE: Learns commands from your TV’s or other remote control • Wireless subwoofer with automatic pairing • Built-in Dolby Digital and DTS decoding Addicted, as millions of us are, to the near instantaneous gratification of loaded DVRs and streaming services capable of providing lifetimes of mindless entertainment, it’s no surprise that we want speed and simplicity to apply to the entire process of watching TV. In fact, digging the remote control out from under the couch cushions ought to be about the limit of the physical and mental effort involved. Simplicity, of course, in both physical setup and daily operation, is the driving force behind the phenomenon that is the soundbar—and it’s a big phenomenon, too, seeing as how more than two-and-a-half million soundbars were sold…

GOLDENEAR AON 2 SPEAKER SYSTEM Satellite Sensitivity: 89 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the Aon 2 satellite (purple trace) and ForceField 5 subwoofer (blue trace). The passive loudspeaker was measured with grille at a distance of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input. The Aon 2’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.00/–2.53 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. An average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal responses measures +2.10/–2.43 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The–3-dB point is at 57 Hz, and the–6-dB point is at 40 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 4.21 ohms at 198 Hz and a phase angle of–55.94 degrees at 111…

PIONEER ELITE SC-61 A/V RECEIVER Two channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 127.2 watts 1% distortion at 150.3 watts Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 109.0 watts 1% distortion at 127.7 watts Seven channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 99.4 watts 1% distortion at 110.3 watts Analog frequency response in Pure Direct mode: –0.37 dB at 10 Hz –0.12 dB at 20 Hz +1.01 dB at 20 kHz –1.01 dB at 50 kHz Analog frequency response with signal processing: –0.72 dB at 10 Hz –0.25 dB at 20 Hz +0.75 dB at 20 kHz –58.66 dB at 50 kHz This graph shows that the SC-61’s left channel, from CD input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches…

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO MINX S325V2 SPEAKER SYSTEM Satellite Sensitivity: 87 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (corrected for on-wall boundary gain and employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the Min 21 satellite (purple trace) and X300 subwoofer (blue trace). The passive loudspeaker was measured with grille at a distance of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input. The Min 21’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +2.01/–4.99 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. An average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal responses (in horizontal mode) measures +2.50/–4.78 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. The–3dB point is at 168 Hz, and the–6dB point is at 143 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 6.31 ohms at 144…

In many ways, Norman Babcock is a typical kid trying to find his way in the world. He enjoys watching TV with his grandma, gets bullied at school, and what he wants more than anything is acceptance. Unfortunately, Norman has a certain ability that seems to turn people off—he can see and speak with the dead. In fact, his grandma has been dead for a while, and whenever he mentions to his family that he enjoys spending time with her, Mom and Dad kind of freak out. Poor Norman is considered the town freak of Blithe Hollow because of his ability, but little do the townspeople know that the young man is about to save them from a witch who was executed more than 300 years earlier and is seeking…

Moonrise Kingdom is another witty charmer from writer/director Wes Anderson, this time with a bittersweet tinge of youth’s passing in 1965 New England. The protagonists are two troubled 12-year-olds who run away to marry in the wilderness of insular New Penzance Island. Suzy’s parents are miserable, insufferable lawyers (Frances McDormand and Bill Murray). Suzy sees a lot (often through binoculars) and has discovered her mother is having an affair with the island policeman, Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis). Sam is an orphan with outstanding wilderness skills, who resigns from his Khaki Scout troop (in writing!) and is not invited back to his foster family if found. His only family is the troop of Khaki Scouts led by the well-meaning but overmatched Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton). The real trouble with Sam…

Lawrence of Arabia may be the last extravagant blockbuster that was also a great film. It’s nearly four hours long, much of it consisting of men galloping on camels through the desert, shot on location with a cast of hundreds, no sex, almost no women—yet this is riveting, heart-pounding stuff, and witty, to boot. It’s based on the true story of T.E. Lawrence, the romantic British officer who led a gaggle of bedouin armies against Turkish strongholds in World War I, helped bring down the Ottoman Empire, came to believe his own myths and see himself as a demigod—and thus became a delusional monster. The film has the feel of a grand epic and an intimate psychodrama. It’s an adventure, a clash of cultures, and a tragedy. Director David Lean…

FLAT PANELS ENTRY LEVEL Samsung UN40EH6000 LCD HDTV, $850 Reviewed June 2012 Vizio E601i-A3 LCD HDTV, $1,000 Reviewed February/March 2013 Samsung PN51E550 3D Plasma HDTV, $1,200 Reviewed January 2013 Panasonic Viera TC-P55ST50 3D Plasma HDTV, $1,700 Reviewed July 2012 Vizio M3D650SV 3D LCD HDTV, $1,870 Reviewed February 2012 MIDRANGE Sony KDL-55HX850 3D LCD HDTV, $2,600 Reviewed November 2012 SunBriteTV Model 4660 HD Outdoor LCD HDTV, $2,795 Reviewed July 2012 LG 55LM8600 3D LCD HDTV, $2,900 Reviewed February/March 2013 HIGH END Sony XBR-55HX950 3D LCD HDTV, $3,500 Reviewed February/March 2013 Panasonic TC-P65VT50 3D Plasma HDTV, $3,700 Reviewed October 2012 Sharp Elite PRO-60X5FD 3D LCD HDTV, $6,000 Reviewed January 2012 Samsung UN75ES9000 3D LCD HDTV, $9,000 Reviewed May 2013 PROJECTORS ENTRY LEVEL Mitsubishi HD7800D 3D DLP Projector, $2,995 Reviewed September 2012 BenQ…

The next time you sit down to watch a movie, take a minute and look around the room before you turn down the lights and hit the play button. Is the space everything it could be? Could it use a little drama? 3-D Squared, a Florida-based home theater design company, specializes in creating decorative acoustic panels and themes for home theaters. You can choose from more than 50 original designs, or the company will work with you to create appropriately sized panels featuring reproductions of existing art or your own art. Art possibilities include movie posters, classic art, photographs—you name it. Or you can create a theme featuring artwork you provide or choose from a catalog of images and designs that includes contemporary and art deco designs, traditional patterns (including…

Will 2013 be the year of high-quality wireless audio? Jim Venable, president of the Wireless Speaker & Audio Association (WiSA), thinks so. The association was formed in 2011 to develop interoperability testing and compliance programs for wireless products with a focus on multichannel surround sound systems. Just over a year later, its membership includes speaker brands Definitive Technology, Klipsch, MartinLogan, Paradigm, Polk Audio, and Aperion, which introduced the first WiSA-compliant home theater speaker system last year (Home Theater, November 2011). “We think 2013 is really going to be a watershed year for the association and for wireless audio in the home,” Venable said, noting that consumer electronics companies are looking for wireless solutions that work well. “The consumer has had a bad experience with wireless audio, particularly wireless surround sound…

Most cable, satellite, and telco TV subscribers don’t know what TV Everywhere is, but they sure do like it. The service—which enables authenticated viewing of IPTV on ancillary devices—is popular and growing fast, says a GfK survey. Forty-three percent of subscribers are using it via video providers, TV networks, Websites, or apps. However, only 22 percent have heard the term TV Everywhere, only 34 percent know the term authentication, and 70 percent say having to provide a user name and password would deter them from using TV Everywhere. For those who do use it, 66 percent say the service is augmenting (as opposed to replacing) viewing on their primary sets.…

Price: $199 At a Glance: Basic styling with solid build quality • Supremely comfortable to wear • Sounds swell with tablets and receivers Universally loved audio products are rare, but you won’t find too many folks with a bad thing to say about the Audio-Technical ATH-M50 headphones (it has around 800 five-star and just nine one-star ratings on Amazon). Te headphone consistently garners raves, but the mundane styling won’t cut it with folks craving the latest fashion statements from the likes of Beats by Dr. Dre, V-Moda, or Bowers & Wilkins. While the ATH-M50 is mostly made of plastic, it feels remarkably durable, and its two-year warranty offers double the length of coverage of most headphones, even higher-end models. Everyone is different, but the racetrack-shaped ear cushions have a better…

When an older and quite esteemed film expert asked me not long ago what my favorite genre was, I was honestly flummoxed. Pixar isn’t a genre, and I’ve just seen too many lame science-fiction flicks. Looking back over a life of film fandom and the past decade in particular, I finally came up with an eyebrow-raising response: comic book movies. When done right, the adapted adventures of a beloved hero, superhero, or even an anti-hero can capture the concentrated “Wow!” once exclusive to the graphic novel format and yield some legendary go-to scenes. And the wonders of modern digital effects (and enormous budgets) have sparked the ambition of writers and directors, surely pushing the envelope of awesomeness. So, in light of this unprecedented era for comic book movies on Blu-ray,…

MARANTZ AV8801 SURROUND PROCESSOR Analog frequency response in Direct mode: –0.19 dB at 10 Hz –0.05 dB at 20 Hz –0.01 dB at 20 kHz –0.04 dB at 50 kHz Analog frequency response with signal processing: –1.23 dB at 10 Hz –0.39 dB at 20 Hz –0.21 dB at 20 kHz –15.78 dB at 50 kHz The chart below shows the frequency response of the left (aqua), center (green), LFE (purple), and left surround (red) channels at the preamp outputs of the Dolby Digital decoder. The left channel measures–0.04 decibels at 20 hertz and–0.33 dB at 20 kilohertz. The center channel measures–0.05 dB at 20 Hz and–0.25 dB at 20 kHz, and the left surround channel measures–0.04 dB at 20 Hz and–0.25 dB at 20 kHz. The LFE channel, normalized…

Price: $9,000 At A GlAnce: Superb resolution and color • Impressive blacks • State-of-the-art 3D reproduction If last year was the year of thin in flat-screen HDTVs, 2013 promises to be the year of big. Seventy may well be the new fifty, and we’re not talking birthdays. While this year’s models are still remarkably thin, now your friends can ooh and ahh while viewing them from the front and not just the sides. Not everyone will welcome this trend. Interior decorators nationwide will turn catatonic, mumbling incoherently in complementary colors. And consumers will have to dig deeper into their wallets. Some of this big-screen trend is clearly preparing the public for 4K Ultra HD, but for now, most of the jumbo-HDTV action will continue to be in ye olde 2K/1080p.…

POLK SURROUNDBAR 9000 IHT SOUNDBAR This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (corrected for on-wall boundary gain and employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the SurroundBar 9000 IHT soundbar (purple trace) and subwoofer (blue trace). The left channel was measured with grille at a distance of 1 meter. The SurroundBar 9000’s listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures + 4.11/– 5.03 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The–3-dB point is at 122 Hz, and the–6-dB point is at 106 Hz. The subwoofer’s close-miked response, normalized to the level at 80 Hz, indicates that the lower–3-dB point is at 38 Hz and the–6-dB point is at 35 Hz. The upper–3-dB point is at 100 Hz.—MJP…

PRICE: $1,100 AT A GLANCE: 125 x 7 watts D3 power • Brawny, assured bass • Network audio cornucopia Someday I will be able to review a Class D receiver without mentioning this up-and-coming amplifier technology in the lead. That day hasn’t come yet and probably won’t in the next few years. But I can see it shimmering on the horizon. Class D has been steadily infiltrating Pioneer’s upper-crust Elite line since 2008 and now accounts for five of the line’s seven 2012–2013 models. (By the time you read this, the 2013–2014 line will have been announced.) With the SC-61, reviewed here, the latest version of the technology—which Pioneer calls D3—has come down in price to as little as $1,100. That’s a far cry from the $7,000 Pioneer charged for…

INPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.4a (7), component video (2), composite video (5) AUDIO: Coaxial digital (2), optical digital (2), analog stereo (5) ADDITIONAL: Ethernet (1), Wi-Fi adapter port (1), USB (1), AM (1), FM (1), IR remote (2) ACCESSORY: Bluetooth adapter port (1) OUTPUTS: VIDEO: HDMI 1.4a (1), component video (1), composite video (3) AUDIO: Analog stereo (3), 9.1-channel w/extra subwoofer preout (1), 0.25-inch headphone (1) ADDITIONAL: RS-232 (1), 12-volt trigger (2), IR remote (1), RF extension (1)…

PRICE: $549 AT A GLANCE: Audiophile audio quality • Excellent customer service • Meets or exceeds performance of processors costing multiples of its price Remember the days when being the middleman of a business transaction reaped all kinds of rewards? Times have certainly changed in this regard with the invention of the Internet. The traditional distribution channels for electronics have been reshaped, and businesses that can’t adapt—Circuit City, The Good Guys, and many specialty A/V retailers—are either extinct or on the express train to bankruptcy court. I’m talking about you, Best Buy. How consumers buy electronics has evolved to where Amazon.com is king of the world, but there are some companies out there that are adapting in a different way. Outlaw Audio is a great example of this. It designs…

Young Merida may be a princess in the misty highlands of Scotland, but she isn’t happy with her lot. She wants only to practice her horsemanship, archery, and all other manner of un-princess-like behavior. Her father is delighted, but her mother is beside herself and arranges for the neighboring clans to vie for Merida’s hand in marriage. Our heroine, however, isn’t all that thrilled by the idea—and even less by the suitors. Fleeing into the woods, Merida stumbles upon a witch and has her cast a spell to make her mother change. Her mother does change, but unfortunately not exactly as Merida intended. Brave’s plot didn’t spring from a classic fairy tale but rather is a fresh creation from the Disney/Pixar partnership that has produced a solid run of computer-animated…

One of silent film’s biggest stars, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), enlists the talents of a down-on-his-luck Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) to help edit a screenplay she wrote in hopes of launching her big comeback. Little does Gillis know, the poor lady is off her rocker. But when you’re broke, you have to take work when you can get it. The pair watch her old movies with her trusty butler—who hides his own dirty secret—at the helm of the camera, but the more time Gillis spends with the ex-starlet, the more he becomes accustomed to the lavish lifestyle she provides him. Rated No. 12 on AFI’s Top 100 Films list, Sunset Boulevard is a classic in every sense of the word. The characters are so lifelike thanks to career-defining…

Steve Martin stars as Neal Page, an uptight advertising executive who misses his scheduled flight from New York to Chicago when an obnoxious salesman steals his cab. As fate would have it, the cab thief turns out to be a shower curtain ring salesman (John Candy) who just happens to sit next to Neal on his flight home. Due to inclement weather, their plane is diverted to Wichita, and when they land, Neal fails to secure a place to stay for the evening. Lucky for him, his new “friend” has booked the last room in town. Thus begins a relationship made in heaven—or hell, depending on your perspective. Unlike most of today’s comedies, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is funny without being overtly crude and always seems to tickle my funny…

Named after Africa’s awe-inspiring Victoria Falls, one of the world’s seven natural wonders, the Victoria Evo is itself a wonder. Speakers are made of wood, not glass. But Cédric Aubriot, founder and CEO of Waterfall Audio in Carcès, France, was looking for something different when he set out to build a glass speaker cabinet in 1996. He chose glass because, as a material that defines residential interiors, he felt it would greatly broaden the appeal of the speakers—and win over “the lady of the house.” Building a glass speaker isn’t easy, though. It took four years to design one that would sound as good as it looked. The high rigidity and density of glass is perfect for preventing cabinet vibrations, but Aubriot had to figure out a way to control…