The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary.
Bowers & Wilkins home theater system is more than just watching a nice TV. The full movie experience can only be enjoyed with multiple speaker setups to experience the audio output from all audio channels.
Like an excellent home theater system Bowers & Wilkins Home Theater Speakers generally consist of five or more speakers known as 5.1 speaker system which includes 5 satellite speakers and one subwoofer. Other option is 7.1 speaker systems which includes 7 satellite speakers with one central subwoofer. The satellite speakers are positions all round the room to create full theater like experience. Sub woofer places on the ground to feel the low frequency notes.
Most of this information comes straight from the home theater speaker pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you'll know what they know.
Normally Bowers & Wilkins Home Theater Speakers can be bought in a set called “home theater in a box” or HTiB. This HTiB sets consists of all the speakers needed to create theater like experience. These Htib systems are without amplification or control unit but all the speakers in Htib are pre matched to produced best sound and comes in single box which also saves on buying individual speakers.
Home theater technology is always improving so you can find well-functioning home theater equipment at relatively low prices. Gone are the days of shelling out thousands of dollars for good home theater equipment, although it definitely is possible to spend that much. You can get a very good home theater set up for under $1,000, and even less if you bargain shop for your equipment. The basics of any home theater system are the television or viewing screen, the DVD player, and the sound system.
Take time to consider the points presented above. What you learn may help you overcome your hesitation to take action.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
home theater speaker's fan
The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary.
No matter how advanced a home theater system you have, secretly hidden behind it is a jungle of wires that you don’t want to see. Wireless home theater system components can help to you to clear that jungle.
The most difficult part in setting up a new home theater system is the complicated cable hookups. The cable connections for many systems are wrongly configured, leading to sub-optimal sound or even damage to system components. In addition, wiring speakers is an extremely complex job that often requires the snaking of wires within walls and ceilings to hide ugly speaker cables. This is the case particularly for providing connections to the rear and center surround speakers in a system.
The more authentic information about home theater speaker you know, the more likely people are to consider you a home theater speaker expert. Read on for even more home theater speaker facts that you can share.
The best part of this whole system is it's cost which is under $400 on some online sites. And considering how easy it is to spend thousands on a home theater surround sound speaker system, that figure is very easy on the pocketbook. So if you want to step up to a surround sound experience for your home theater system, but just can't afford the big bucks right now, consider this home theater speaker review of the Athena Micra 6 and see if it doesn't fir the bill.
Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what's important about home theater speaker.
No matter how advanced a home theater system you have, secretly hidden behind it is a jungle of wires that you don’t want to see. Wireless home theater system components can help to you to clear that jungle.
The most difficult part in setting up a new home theater system is the complicated cable hookups. The cable connections for many systems are wrongly configured, leading to sub-optimal sound or even damage to system components. In addition, wiring speakers is an extremely complex job that often requires the snaking of wires within walls and ceilings to hide ugly speaker cables. This is the case particularly for providing connections to the rear and center surround speakers in a system.
The more authentic information about home theater speaker you know, the more likely people are to consider you a home theater speaker expert. Read on for even more home theater speaker facts that you can share.
The best part of this whole system is it's cost which is under $400 on some online sites. And considering how easy it is to spend thousands on a home theater surround sound speaker system, that figure is very easy on the pocketbook. So if you want to step up to a surround sound experience for your home theater system, but just can't afford the big bucks right now, consider this home theater speaker review of the Athena Micra 6 and see if it doesn't fir the bill.
Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what's important about home theater speaker.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Ideal to choose home theater system at home
Have you ever wondered if what you know about home theater speaker is accurate? Consider the following paragraphs and compare what you know to the latest info on home theater speaker.
A home theater system is ideal for those who hate to go to a theater but want to enjoy watching movies at home. A mix of audio and visual parts, the set-up may include a DVD player fed through a stereo system, a big television set or, if you have the inclination and money, an entire room wired with multiple speakers and a projection screen. Some systems may even have theater-style chairs and an elevated floor for optimal viewing.
With all the makes and models of home theater speaker systems on the market today finding one that will suit your needs can be a real chore. But there is an easy way to get the system you want at the best possible price.
First we'll take a look at home theater components, then I'll show how to get rock bottom prices on a quality home theater system.
While home theater systems can be bought all in one package, buying individual components, including speakers, lets you get the best of every element.
Like any good audio system, the best home theater speaker systems will have midrange speakers, a set of tweeters, and a sub woofer. It's the speakers that give you the full surround sound experience.
Home theater speaker systems come in wired and wireless designs. Compare them both for their sound quality and how easy or difficult they will be to install.
It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of home theater speaker is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news about home theater speaker.
The best home theater speaker systems have good crossover design. While the speaker driver is important, good crossover can make any driver sound good, while bad crossover can make even a good driver sound bad.
Music playback is a good way to judge sound quality. Most DVDs do not produce great music signals, but if your speakers can handle a CD, then you know they are going to sound good playing a DVD.
Decide how many speakers you need. Many small speakers provide surround sound while large tower speakers are good for stereo effects. Small speakers also work better with a single sub woofer. The ideal home theater speaker system has five speakers for surround sound.
You may also prefer one surround sound system to another. The most popular surround sound systems today are Dolby Pro Logic, Virtual Dolby, and Q Surround.
High-quality home theater systems try to recreate these aspects of professional theaters. For instance, the DVD player in a home theater system can separate the audio track into two, three or even five channels. DVD films often have 2.0 Dolby stereo and 5.1 surround-sound options for home theaters. Two speakers can be set up for traditional stereo sound, while a smaller central speaker can provide surround sound. For even better results, one can add a subwoofer for bass sounds and a satellite speaker placed behind the audience for complete surround sound.
A home theater system should also have a big television screen, preferably with a 16:9 wide screen ratio as found in professional theaters. A flat-screen television may be the best option for a typical home theater system.
Knowing enough about home theater speaker to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about home theater speaker, you should have nothing to worry about.
A home theater system is ideal for those who hate to go to a theater but want to enjoy watching movies at home. A mix of audio and visual parts, the set-up may include a DVD player fed through a stereo system, a big television set or, if you have the inclination and money, an entire room wired with multiple speakers and a projection screen. Some systems may even have theater-style chairs and an elevated floor for optimal viewing.
With all the makes and models of home theater speaker systems on the market today finding one that will suit your needs can be a real chore. But there is an easy way to get the system you want at the best possible price.
First we'll take a look at home theater components, then I'll show how to get rock bottom prices on a quality home theater system.
While home theater systems can be bought all in one package, buying individual components, including speakers, lets you get the best of every element.
Like any good audio system, the best home theater speaker systems will have midrange speakers, a set of tweeters, and a sub woofer. It's the speakers that give you the full surround sound experience.
Home theater speaker systems come in wired and wireless designs. Compare them both for their sound quality and how easy or difficult they will be to install.
It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of home theater speaker is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news about home theater speaker.
The best home theater speaker systems have good crossover design. While the speaker driver is important, good crossover can make any driver sound good, while bad crossover can make even a good driver sound bad.
Music playback is a good way to judge sound quality. Most DVDs do not produce great music signals, but if your speakers can handle a CD, then you know they are going to sound good playing a DVD.
Decide how many speakers you need. Many small speakers provide surround sound while large tower speakers are good for stereo effects. Small speakers also work better with a single sub woofer. The ideal home theater speaker system has five speakers for surround sound.
You may also prefer one surround sound system to another. The most popular surround sound systems today are Dolby Pro Logic, Virtual Dolby, and Q Surround.
High-quality home theater systems try to recreate these aspects of professional theaters. For instance, the DVD player in a home theater system can separate the audio track into two, three or even five channels. DVD films often have 2.0 Dolby stereo and 5.1 surround-sound options for home theaters. Two speakers can be set up for traditional stereo sound, while a smaller central speaker can provide surround sound. For even better results, one can add a subwoofer for bass sounds and a satellite speaker placed behind the audience for complete surround sound.
A home theater system should also have a big television screen, preferably with a 16:9 wide screen ratio as found in professional theaters. A flat-screen television may be the best option for a typical home theater system.
Knowing enough about home theater speaker to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about home theater speaker, you should have nothing to worry about.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
confident to expert on home theater speaker
Would you like to find out what those-in-the-know have to say about home theater speaker? The information in the article below comes straight from well-informed experts with special knowledge about home theater speaker.
Home theater systems have made dramatic improvements with the introduction of latest technologies. Fortunately for us, the price for a quality home theater system is also going down. Generally, the price of the system increases as you opt for more qualitative, powerful and more versatile features in addition to the Hi Fi brands. The key to successfully incorporating your new home theater system is to get creative with the ways you install your speakers. Home theater speakers come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes that make them easier to disguise within the decorations and furnishing of your home interiors.
Speakers are an integral part of any audio system, be it a simple radio or a home theatre system. Home audio speakers are generally multi-drive systems, i.e. they contain two or more drive units. These include woofers, midranges, tweeters, and sometimes horns or super tweeters. A home theatre system is complete only if all the above mentioned add-ons are attached with it to give a theatre-like sound experience. In home audio speaker specifications, the speakers are classified as “N-way” speakers. It indicates the number of bands of different frequency into which the system divides the sound. A 2-way system consists of woofers and tweeters, a 3-way system consists of mid-range speakers with a combination of woofers and tweeters. It depends upon person to person; rather there exists different perceptions towards the quality of sound and thus the drives in a speaker.
You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about home theater speaker. But don't be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.
Let's know how successfully installation of the home theater system speakers in order to get maximum sound and attractive arrangement. To this it is most important to note that the placement of the speaker in the room. It is important to note that there are different types of speaker available, like Bookcase Speakers, Ceiling Mount Speakers, and Free Standing Speakers. Many home theater speakers will come with freestanding mounts that sit right behind your couch or recliner, improving your total sound enjoyment and feel like the perfect Dolby theatre effect.
If and when you decide upon purchasing a home audio speaker system, you will be spoilt for choice. They come in various ranges of quality and pricing, thus you need to decide carefully what caters to your specific set of requirements. Good audio companies make available a host of choices for speaker systems that can gel with your audio systems. They also provide different designs and creations of speakers that fit into your décor. You can place your systems in such a way that it gives you the optimum output.
Now you can be a confident expert on home theater speaker. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on home theater speaker.
Home theater systems have made dramatic improvements with the introduction of latest technologies. Fortunately for us, the price for a quality home theater system is also going down. Generally, the price of the system increases as you opt for more qualitative, powerful and more versatile features in addition to the Hi Fi brands. The key to successfully incorporating your new home theater system is to get creative with the ways you install your speakers. Home theater speakers come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes that make them easier to disguise within the decorations and furnishing of your home interiors.
Speakers are an integral part of any audio system, be it a simple radio or a home theatre system. Home audio speakers are generally multi-drive systems, i.e. they contain two or more drive units. These include woofers, midranges, tweeters, and sometimes horns or super tweeters. A home theatre system is complete only if all the above mentioned add-ons are attached with it to give a theatre-like sound experience. In home audio speaker specifications, the speakers are classified as “N-way” speakers. It indicates the number of bands of different frequency into which the system divides the sound. A 2-way system consists of woofers and tweeters, a 3-way system consists of mid-range speakers with a combination of woofers and tweeters. It depends upon person to person; rather there exists different perceptions towards the quality of sound and thus the drives in a speaker.
You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about home theater speaker. But don't be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.
Let's know how successfully installation of the home theater system speakers in order to get maximum sound and attractive arrangement. To this it is most important to note that the placement of the speaker in the room. It is important to note that there are different types of speaker available, like Bookcase Speakers, Ceiling Mount Speakers, and Free Standing Speakers. Many home theater speakers will come with freestanding mounts that sit right behind your couch or recliner, improving your total sound enjoyment and feel like the perfect Dolby theatre effect.
If and when you decide upon purchasing a home audio speaker system, you will be spoilt for choice. They come in various ranges of quality and pricing, thus you need to decide carefully what caters to your specific set of requirements. Good audio companies make available a host of choices for speaker systems that can gel with your audio systems. They also provide different designs and creations of speakers that fit into your décor. You can place your systems in such a way that it gives you the optimum output.
Now you can be a confident expert on home theater speaker. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on home theater speaker.
Would you like to find out what those-in-the-know have to say about home theater speaker? The information in the article below comes straight from well-informed experts with special knowledge about home theater speaker.
Home theater systems have made dramatic improvements with the introduction of latest technologies. Fortunately for us, the price for a quality home theater system is also going down. Generally, the price of the system increases as you opt for more qualitative, powerful and more versatile features in addition to the Hi Fi brands. The key to successfully incorporating your new home theater system is to get creative with the ways you install your speakers. Home theater speakers come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes that make them easier to disguise within the decorations and furnishing of your home interiors.
Speakers are an integral part of any audio system, be it a simple radio or a home theatre system. Home audio speakers are generally multi-drive systems, i.e. they contain two or more drive units. These include woofers, midranges, tweeters, and sometimes horns or super tweeters. A home theatre system is complete only if all the above mentioned add-ons are attached with it to give a theatre-like sound experience. In home audio speaker specifications, the speakers are classified as “N-way” speakers. It indicates the number of bands of different frequency into which the system divides the sound. A 2-way system consists of woofers and tweeters, a 3-way system consists of mid-range speakers with a combination of woofers and tweeters. It depends upon person to person; rather there exists different perceptions towards the quality of sound and thus the drives in a speaker.
You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about home theater speaker. But don't be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.
Let's know how successfully installation of the home theater system speakers in order to get maximum sound and attractive arrangement. To this it is most important to note that the placement of the speaker in the room. It is important to note that there are different types of speaker available, like Bookcase Speakers, Ceiling Mount Speakers, and Free Standing Speakers. Many home theater speakers will come with freestanding mounts that sit right behind your couch or recliner, improving your total sound enjoyment and feel like the perfect Dolby theatre effect.
If and when you decide upon purchasing a home audio speaker system, you will be spoilt for choice. They come in various ranges of quality and pricing, thus you need to decide carefully what caters to your specific set of requirements. Good audio companies make available a host of choices for speaker systems that can gel with your audio systems. They also provide different designs and creations of speakers that fit into your décor. You can place your systems in such a way that it gives you the optimum output.
Now you can be a confident expert on home theater speaker. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on home theater speaker.
Home theater systems have made dramatic improvements with the introduction of latest technologies. Fortunately for us, the price for a quality home theater system is also going down. Generally, the price of the system increases as you opt for more qualitative, powerful and more versatile features in addition to the Hi Fi brands. The key to successfully incorporating your new home theater system is to get creative with the ways you install your speakers. Home theater speakers come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes that make them easier to disguise within the decorations and furnishing of your home interiors.
Speakers are an integral part of any audio system, be it a simple radio or a home theatre system. Home audio speakers are generally multi-drive systems, i.e. they contain two or more drive units. These include woofers, midranges, tweeters, and sometimes horns or super tweeters. A home theatre system is complete only if all the above mentioned add-ons are attached with it to give a theatre-like sound experience. In home audio speaker specifications, the speakers are classified as “N-way” speakers. It indicates the number of bands of different frequency into which the system divides the sound. A 2-way system consists of woofers and tweeters, a 3-way system consists of mid-range speakers with a combination of woofers and tweeters. It depends upon person to person; rather there exists different perceptions towards the quality of sound and thus the drives in a speaker.
You may not consider everything you just read to be crucial information about home theater speaker. But don't be surprised if you find yourself recalling and using this very information in the next few days.
Let's know how successfully installation of the home theater system speakers in order to get maximum sound and attractive arrangement. To this it is most important to note that the placement of the speaker in the room. It is important to note that there are different types of speaker available, like Bookcase Speakers, Ceiling Mount Speakers, and Free Standing Speakers. Many home theater speakers will come with freestanding mounts that sit right behind your couch or recliner, improving your total sound enjoyment and feel like the perfect Dolby theatre effect.
If and when you decide upon purchasing a home audio speaker system, you will be spoilt for choice. They come in various ranges of quality and pricing, thus you need to decide carefully what caters to your specific set of requirements. Good audio companies make available a host of choices for speaker systems that can gel with your audio systems. They also provide different designs and creations of speakers that fit into your décor. You can place your systems in such a way that it gives you the optimum output.
Now you can be a confident expert on home theater speaker. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on home theater speaker.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
information about home theater speaker
This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding home theater speaker. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about home theater speaker.
The positioning of speakers is most important in creating home theater system. First look at the front speakers. Ideally all front speakers should be in horizontally line throughout in the middle of the image. But this is not possible in most of today’s home theater speakers system. To get most realistic sound experience speakers should be arrange in such a manner that they create the sound at par with source on the image. Placement should be above the ear level. In modern patented systems like Dolby Prologic or Dolby digital there are many other things, which needs to be done including software installation, tuning of the entire component. For better results manual should be referred to avoid any trouble and bad experience.
The quality of picture depends on the resolution. That’s why a large-screen TV may not have the picture quality of a small-screen TV with higher resolution. A screen between 35 and 50 inches will be good enough if you want to enjoy your favorite movie in your living room. High-definition televisions, or HDTVs, receive digital signals and are therefore essential for picture and sound clarity. Most televisions come with video components like Composite Video and S-Video inputs, and that should suffice for you.
The DVD player you are going to buy should have a six-channel decoder, video outputs, and additional disc formats. You will require a six-channel decoder as well as five surround speakers (center, two front, and two back) for surround sound.
If you don't have accurate details regarding home theater speaker, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don't let that happen: keep reading.
Buying Bose home theater speakers are more than just normal home theater speakers. It is buying the most admired in quality entertainment system. Before buying it is always advisable to check out the latest price at directly on Bose site and if possible buy directly from Bose. But if it’s not possible even then make sure that it is from Bose authorized outlet and if there is no Bose outlet it needs to be imported by Bose authorized entity.
If different speakers are of different brands, the overall sound quality will suffer. So go for five identical speakers, as they will work better for your home theater.
DVD Home Theater Systems provides detailed information on DVD Home Theater Systems, Wireless Home Theater Systems, Buy Home Theater Systems, Home Theater Speaker Systems and more. DVD Home Theater Systems is affiliated with DVD Movie Rentals.
Now you can understand why there's a growing interest in home theater speaker. When people start looking for more information about home theater speaker, you'll be in a position to meet their needs.
The positioning of speakers is most important in creating home theater system. First look at the front speakers. Ideally all front speakers should be in horizontally line throughout in the middle of the image. But this is not possible in most of today’s home theater speakers system. To get most realistic sound experience speakers should be arrange in such a manner that they create the sound at par with source on the image. Placement should be above the ear level. In modern patented systems like Dolby Prologic or Dolby digital there are many other things, which needs to be done including software installation, tuning of the entire component. For better results manual should be referred to avoid any trouble and bad experience.
The quality of picture depends on the resolution. That’s why a large-screen TV may not have the picture quality of a small-screen TV with higher resolution. A screen between 35 and 50 inches will be good enough if you want to enjoy your favorite movie in your living room. High-definition televisions, or HDTVs, receive digital signals and are therefore essential for picture and sound clarity. Most televisions come with video components like Composite Video and S-Video inputs, and that should suffice for you.
The DVD player you are going to buy should have a six-channel decoder, video outputs, and additional disc formats. You will require a six-channel decoder as well as five surround speakers (center, two front, and two back) for surround sound.
If you don't have accurate details regarding home theater speaker, then you might make a bad choice on the subject. Don't let that happen: keep reading.
Buying Bose home theater speakers are more than just normal home theater speakers. It is buying the most admired in quality entertainment system. Before buying it is always advisable to check out the latest price at directly on Bose site and if possible buy directly from Bose. But if it’s not possible even then make sure that it is from Bose authorized outlet and if there is no Bose outlet it needs to be imported by Bose authorized entity.
If different speakers are of different brands, the overall sound quality will suffer. So go for five identical speakers, as they will work better for your home theater.
DVD Home Theater Systems provides detailed information on DVD Home Theater Systems, Wireless Home Theater Systems, Buy Home Theater Systems, Home Theater Speaker Systems and more. DVD Home Theater Systems is affiliated with DVD Movie Rentals.
Now you can understand why there's a growing interest in home theater speaker. When people start looking for more information about home theater speaker, you'll be in a position to meet their needs.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
how you think about home theater speaker?
This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding home theater speaker. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about home theater speaker.
The first step is find out where it is coming from. Disconnect your source and display equipment from your receiver or surround sound processor. If the noise stops, connect them back to the receiver or processor on at a time until the noise returns. When the hum comes back, you found where the noise is entering your system. Note that if you are connecting remote equipment, such as running the signal from your theater room DVD player to the TV in the bedroom, your chances to pick up noise increase dramatically. With such long runs, noise can be induced into the long cable runs from adjacent electrical wiring. It is also easy to create a ground loop, because the equipment is plugged into two different, widely separated outlets, on different electrical circuits.
Working together, these speakers create the surround sound experience of a professional movie theater in your living room. You will find several brands and models of good speakers; you have to ensure that they work as a cohesive unit. One very important aspect is voice matching. The best way to achieve this is choosing speakers from the same ‘family,’ by the same brand. Voice matching ensures a smooth flow of sound around you, creating a seamless surround effect.
Sometimes power conditioners will stop noise problems by placing equipment on different, electrically isolated outlets. This is done using isolation transformers. Sometimes this is ineffective however, due to the differences in internal construction of different power conditioning equipment. Some safety regulations, such as UL 1950, specify that an isolation transformer is only allowed to isolate the hot and neutral wires; the grounding wire must be passed straight through. If this is the case, the ground loop problem may still exist because many communication circuits are connected to the grounding conductor and not the neutral. In this case, the isolation transformer, or any power conditioner or UPS with an isolation transformer will have absolutely no affect on the grounding problem.
Truthfully, the only difference between you and home theater speaker experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to home theater speaker.
The surround speakers, apart from producing sounds like raindrops, or the rustling of leaves, also provides directional effects, such as a locomotive rushing by, a bullet whistling past, or the rumble of a spaceship. If the system includes a subwoofer, then most users prefer either bookshelf or satellite speakers requiring stand placement or wall mounting.
You can solve most noise problems in your home theater or multi room audio/video system by taking the systematic, step-by-step approach. Work your way up the signal chain, eliminating each piece of equipment as you go. If you have nothing connected to your speakers except the speaker wiring, and they still hum, the problem is noise induced into the speaker wiring from adjacent power cables. Other than that case, most problems are caused by ground problems, which you can find, and solve, if you take it one step at a time.
DVD Home Theater Systems provides detailed information on DVD Home Theater Systems, Wireless Home Theater Systems, Buy Home Theater Systems, Home Theater Speaker Systems and more. DVD Home Theater Systems is affiliated with DVD Movie Rentals.
I hope that reading the above information was both enjoyable and educational for you. Your learning process should be ongoing--the more you understand about any subject, the more you will be able to share with others.
The first step is find out where it is coming from. Disconnect your source and display equipment from your receiver or surround sound processor. If the noise stops, connect them back to the receiver or processor on at a time until the noise returns. When the hum comes back, you found where the noise is entering your system. Note that if you are connecting remote equipment, such as running the signal from your theater room DVD player to the TV in the bedroom, your chances to pick up noise increase dramatically. With such long runs, noise can be induced into the long cable runs from adjacent electrical wiring. It is also easy to create a ground loop, because the equipment is plugged into two different, widely separated outlets, on different electrical circuits.
Working together, these speakers create the surround sound experience of a professional movie theater in your living room. You will find several brands and models of good speakers; you have to ensure that they work as a cohesive unit. One very important aspect is voice matching. The best way to achieve this is choosing speakers from the same ‘family,’ by the same brand. Voice matching ensures a smooth flow of sound around you, creating a seamless surround effect.
Sometimes power conditioners will stop noise problems by placing equipment on different, electrically isolated outlets. This is done using isolation transformers. Sometimes this is ineffective however, due to the differences in internal construction of different power conditioning equipment. Some safety regulations, such as UL 1950, specify that an isolation transformer is only allowed to isolate the hot and neutral wires; the grounding wire must be passed straight through. If this is the case, the ground loop problem may still exist because many communication circuits are connected to the grounding conductor and not the neutral. In this case, the isolation transformer, or any power conditioner or UPS with an isolation transformer will have absolutely no affect on the grounding problem.
Truthfully, the only difference between you and home theater speaker experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to home theater speaker.
The surround speakers, apart from producing sounds like raindrops, or the rustling of leaves, also provides directional effects, such as a locomotive rushing by, a bullet whistling past, or the rumble of a spaceship. If the system includes a subwoofer, then most users prefer either bookshelf or satellite speakers requiring stand placement or wall mounting.
You can solve most noise problems in your home theater or multi room audio/video system by taking the systematic, step-by-step approach. Work your way up the signal chain, eliminating each piece of equipment as you go. If you have nothing connected to your speakers except the speaker wiring, and they still hum, the problem is noise induced into the speaker wiring from adjacent power cables. Other than that case, most problems are caused by ground problems, which you can find, and solve, if you take it one step at a time.
DVD Home Theater Systems provides detailed information on DVD Home Theater Systems, Wireless Home Theater Systems, Buy Home Theater Systems, Home Theater Speaker Systems and more. DVD Home Theater Systems is affiliated with DVD Movie Rentals.
I hope that reading the above information was both enjoyable and educational for you. Your learning process should be ongoing--the more you understand about any subject, the more you will be able to share with others.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
about home theater speaker
The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary.
Neil Young was on NPR chatting about his new movie, Heart of Gold, when he uttered a line that stuck with me: "The art of singing is making a sound that comes from your heart." Thanks Neil, I'm co-opting the idea to describe what distinguishes great home theater systems—their sound touches your heart. Yeah, that's it. While components are getting better all the time, many lack that special something. There's nothing obviously out of whack, it's just that their sound doesn't connect on an emotional level. Sometimes the individual components are all top notch, but, if they're not well matched to each other, the sound suffers. When everything clicks, you know it. That was certainly the case when I hooked up Marantz's SR8500 A/V receiver with a set of PSB's VisionSound VS300 speakers and SubSeries 5i subwoofer. They're all charmers.
Portable DLP Front Projector (model DT-100) - Weighing just over eight and a half pounds, this portable DLP front projector can be moved easily from room to room, for an instant big-screen theater anywhere in the home. Using DLP technology from Texas Instruments, this stylish, feature-packed projector is ideal for consumers to watch TV, DVDs or play computer games on a full-size screen and then pack it all up and put it away, saving space and avoiding clutter. The DT-100 provides consumers with a compact, lightweight product that will easily fit on a shelf, cabinet or small side table. The projector is EDTV (enhanced definition television), with a resolution of 854 x 480 that is high-definition compatible. Upgraded features include an extremely high contrast ratio of 2500:1 as well as 1000 ANSI Lumen brightness for brilliant clarity and a superior image. The low fan noise of 30 dBA (in economy mode) ensures that a film's dialogue and special effects are the only sounds that movie-watching guests will hear.
So far, we've uncovered some interesting facts about home theater speaker. You may decide that the following information is even more interesting.
The projector is outfitted with a 6 Segment 5 X Speed color wheel that minimizes "color breaking" and provides high quality images with accurate color reproduction.
The Widescreen LC-26DV20U and LC-20DV20U LCD TVs provide a slim, versatile, all-in-one television and video solution. Both units feature HDMI and HD component inputs for high-definition compatibility when connected to a separate set-top box. A built-in progressive-scan DVD Player loads discs into the TV from the side, keeping the sleek appearance of the unit and creating a complete home theater solution. The DV20U Series provides a high contrast ratio (800:1) and wide viewing angles (170 degrees). The 26-inch model is an HDTV and includes built-in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners. The 20-inch model is an HDTV Monitor offering HD compatibility and PC connectivity. These televisions are silver and feature bottom-placed speakers that will complement any decor.
Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what's important about home theater speaker.
Neil Young was on NPR chatting about his new movie, Heart of Gold, when he uttered a line that stuck with me: "The art of singing is making a sound that comes from your heart." Thanks Neil, I'm co-opting the idea to describe what distinguishes great home theater systems—their sound touches your heart. Yeah, that's it. While components are getting better all the time, many lack that special something. There's nothing obviously out of whack, it's just that their sound doesn't connect on an emotional level. Sometimes the individual components are all top notch, but, if they're not well matched to each other, the sound suffers. When everything clicks, you know it. That was certainly the case when I hooked up Marantz's SR8500 A/V receiver with a set of PSB's VisionSound VS300 speakers and SubSeries 5i subwoofer. They're all charmers.
Portable DLP Front Projector (model DT-100) - Weighing just over eight and a half pounds, this portable DLP front projector can be moved easily from room to room, for an instant big-screen theater anywhere in the home. Using DLP technology from Texas Instruments, this stylish, feature-packed projector is ideal for consumers to watch TV, DVDs or play computer games on a full-size screen and then pack it all up and put it away, saving space and avoiding clutter. The DT-100 provides consumers with a compact, lightweight product that will easily fit on a shelf, cabinet or small side table. The projector is EDTV (enhanced definition television), with a resolution of 854 x 480 that is high-definition compatible. Upgraded features include an extremely high contrast ratio of 2500:1 as well as 1000 ANSI Lumen brightness for brilliant clarity and a superior image. The low fan noise of 30 dBA (in economy mode) ensures that a film's dialogue and special effects are the only sounds that movie-watching guests will hear.
So far, we've uncovered some interesting facts about home theater speaker. You may decide that the following information is even more interesting.
The projector is outfitted with a 6 Segment 5 X Speed color wheel that minimizes "color breaking" and provides high quality images with accurate color reproduction.
The Widescreen LC-26DV20U and LC-20DV20U LCD TVs provide a slim, versatile, all-in-one television and video solution. Both units feature HDMI and HD component inputs for high-definition compatibility when connected to a separate set-top box. A built-in progressive-scan DVD Player loads discs into the TV from the side, keeping the sleek appearance of the unit and creating a complete home theater solution. The DV20U Series provides a high contrast ratio (800:1) and wide viewing angles (170 degrees). The 26-inch model is an HDTV and includes built-in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners. The 20-inch model is an HDTV Monitor offering HD compatibility and PC connectivity. These televisions are silver and feature bottom-placed speakers that will complement any decor.
Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what's important about home theater speaker.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
home theater speaker: How to Find the Best Home Theater Speaker System at the Best Price
Finding the best home theater speaker system
With all the makes and models of home theater speaker systems on the market today finding one that will suit your needs can be a real chore. But there is an easy way to get the system you want at the best possible price.
First we'll take a look at home theater components, then I'll show how to get rock bottom prices on a quality home theater system.
Home theater speaker system components
While home theater systems can be bought all in one package, buying individual components, including speakers, lets you get the best of every element.
Like any good audio system, the best home theater speaker systems will have midrange speakers, a set of tweeters, and a sub woofer. It's the speakers that give you the full surround sound experience.
Home theater speaker system features
Home theater speaker systems come in wired and wireless designs. Compare them both for their sound quality and how easy or difficult they will be to install.
The best home theater speaker systems have good crossover design. While the speaker driver is important, good crossover can make any driver sound good, while bad crossover can make even a good driver sound bad.
Music playback is a good way to judge sound quality. Most DVDs do not produce great music signals, but if your speakers can handle a CD, then you know they are going to sound good playing a DVD.
Decide how many speakers you need. Many small speakers provide surround sound while large tower speakers are good for stereo effects. Small speakers also work better with a single sub woofer. The ideal home theater speaker system has five speakers for surround sound.
You may also prefer one surround sound system to another. The most popular surround sound systems today are Dolby Pro Logic, Virtual Dolby, and Q Surround.
How to compare home theater speaker system prices
Start by visiting your local electronics stores to get an idea of system capabilities, features, and prices. Make sure you listen to each system so you know how they sound in person. Then go online to get product reviews and price comparisons.
The comparison shopping website I use provides independent comparisons of products as well as unbiased reviews of home speaker systems by consumers like yourself. You also get price comparisons for various home theater systems, pictures of each system, plus detailed product information. They even rate the various retailers so you'll know which ones are reputable.
Click on the links below to visit this online service and have fun comparison shopping.
The author, Brian Stevens, is the senior editor for TheSatelliteTVGuide.com and has written extensively on home theater speaker systems.
Visit the http://TheSatelliteTVGuide.com to get more information, to compare prices, and to get consumer ratings for home theater systems.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Stevens
With all the makes and models of home theater speaker systems on the market today finding one that will suit your needs can be a real chore. But there is an easy way to get the system you want at the best possible price.
First we'll take a look at home theater components, then I'll show how to get rock bottom prices on a quality home theater system.
Home theater speaker system components
While home theater systems can be bought all in one package, buying individual components, including speakers, lets you get the best of every element.
Like any good audio system, the best home theater speaker systems will have midrange speakers, a set of tweeters, and a sub woofer. It's the speakers that give you the full surround sound experience.
Home theater speaker system features
Home theater speaker systems come in wired and wireless designs. Compare them both for their sound quality and how easy or difficult they will be to install.
The best home theater speaker systems have good crossover design. While the speaker driver is important, good crossover can make any driver sound good, while bad crossover can make even a good driver sound bad.
Music playback is a good way to judge sound quality. Most DVDs do not produce great music signals, but if your speakers can handle a CD, then you know they are going to sound good playing a DVD.
Decide how many speakers you need. Many small speakers provide surround sound while large tower speakers are good for stereo effects. Small speakers also work better with a single sub woofer. The ideal home theater speaker system has five speakers for surround sound.
You may also prefer one surround sound system to another. The most popular surround sound systems today are Dolby Pro Logic, Virtual Dolby, and Q Surround.
How to compare home theater speaker system prices
Start by visiting your local electronics stores to get an idea of system capabilities, features, and prices. Make sure you listen to each system so you know how they sound in person. Then go online to get product reviews and price comparisons.
The comparison shopping website I use provides independent comparisons of products as well as unbiased reviews of home speaker systems by consumers like yourself. You also get price comparisons for various home theater systems, pictures of each system, plus detailed product information. They even rate the various retailers so you'll know which ones are reputable.
Click on the links below to visit this online service and have fun comparison shopping.
The author, Brian Stevens, is the senior editor for TheSatelliteTVGuide.com and has written extensively on home theater speaker systems.
Visit the http://TheSatelliteTVGuide.com to get more information, to compare prices, and to get consumer ratings for home theater systems.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Stevens
Sunday, September 10, 2006
home theater speaker: Software turns cell phone into personal shopping guide
By Kevin Hunt
Tribune Newspapers
Published September 10, 2006
I just got back from a mock shopping trip with a real expert -- a cell phone.
This Nokia S60 with Scanbuy Shopper software, a free download from Scanbuy of New York (www.scanbuy.com), gathers price comparisons, reviews and product information from the Web.
Whether you're pricing a jug of Tide detergent or an LCD television, Scanbuy Shopper consults PriceGrabber.com, Shopping.com and Amazon.com, among others, before displaying information on your cell phone's screen.
All you do is activate the Scanbuy Shopper program, then use the phone's touch pad to enter the product's eight-digit bar code found on the desired item's box. It works only with Java-enabled services from providers T-Mobile, Cingular and Sprint. (Depending on the plan, each call will cost about 25 cents. Consult Scanbuy's Web site for a list of compatible phones.)
Future Scanbuy versions will do it paparazzi style, entering the digits automatically after you take a picture of the bar code with the phone's built-in camera.
Fortunately, this was only an impulse-buying drill. It's scary how many of us wake up, decide we're going to buy a plasma TV and walk into a store, uninformed and unwitting, clutching a credit card.
On this trip to a local Best Buy, Scanbuy Shopper was only as good as the available bar codes. It could not save an impulse buyer from paying too much for that plasma set because most electronics stores like Best Buy do not leave boxed, big-screen televisions (and their bar codes) on the showroom floor. They'll display one of each TV model, then leave the remaining, ready-to-buy sets in an adjacent storeroom.
To use Scanbuy Shopper, the customer must have access to a boxed item with the manufacturer's eight-digit bar code, also known as a Universal Product Code. Don't confuse the 20-digit store bar code for the Universal Product Code.
So I took the Nokia phone around the store to various smaller items with boxed, bar-coded stock available on the shelves, from a $500 home-theater speaker system to a $100 HDMI cable. Most times, Best Buy prices were competitive with online prices.
- A Samsung virtual-surround sound system with two speakers and a subwoofer cost $499.99 at Best Buy, but Scanbuy Shopper found a better price, $474.99, at Sears via Yahoo! Shopping. There happened to be a Sears at the other end of the shopping plaza, so if I were actually buying the system, I could have saved $25 with a short walk.
- A Sony DVD player that cost $68.99 at Best Buy showed up on Yahoo! Shopping at $59.99 from J&R Electronics in New York. But the search did not show the cost of shipping. When I checked later, it would cost $10 to deliver it to my house, wiping out the savings (and then some).
- A Toshiba 15-inch LCD television with a built-in DVD player that cost $499.99 at Best Buy, though, was substantially less ($380) at Butterfly Photo, an online merchant with which I'm unfamiliar. Even after shipping, which I later found would cost $39, it was still a better deal than Best Buy. But I'd want to know more about Butterfly Photo's reputation before placing an online order.
- Scanbuy Shopper also found a 6-foot HDMI cable from Monster Cable, $96.99 at Best Buy, for $81.81 on Amazon. Too bad it could not alert the consumer to the absurdity of paying so much, from any merchant, for a digital audio-video cable that typically connects an upconverting DVD player to an HDTV. A comparable 6-foot HDMI cable costs as little as $5 elsewhere (monoprice.com).
Scanbuy Shopper was a lot more fun at Target where, out of curiosity, I punched in the code for an eight-piece set of pots and pans from Kitchen Essentials by Calphalon. The Target price ($149.99) matched the best online price from Amazon, but Scanbuy Shopper also offered enough user comments ("not durable," "don't bother" and "non-stick coating wears off") to convince any shopper that this wasn't such a hot deal.
Other free software, like NextCode's Connexto (www.connexto.com) and NeoMedia's PaperClick (www.paperclick.com) also offers comparison prices. GPShopper (www.gpshopper.com) and its Slifter (www.slifter.com) technology even maintains a shopping list on a cell phone, updating with local and online prices.
Any of these might help the impulse buyer, but there's no substitute for old-fashioned research when buying a big-ticket item. Know what you want, what it does and compare prices before going to the store. Use the Scanbuy Shopper as a consultant, not your guide.
----------
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Tribune Newspapers
Published September 10, 2006
I just got back from a mock shopping trip with a real expert -- a cell phone.
This Nokia S60 with Scanbuy Shopper software, a free download from Scanbuy of New York (www.scanbuy.com), gathers price comparisons, reviews and product information from the Web.
Whether you're pricing a jug of Tide detergent or an LCD television, Scanbuy Shopper consults PriceGrabber.com, Shopping.com and Amazon.com, among others, before displaying information on your cell phone's screen.
All you do is activate the Scanbuy Shopper program, then use the phone's touch pad to enter the product's eight-digit bar code found on the desired item's box. It works only with Java-enabled services from providers T-Mobile, Cingular and Sprint. (Depending on the plan, each call will cost about 25 cents. Consult Scanbuy's Web site for a list of compatible phones.)
Future Scanbuy versions will do it paparazzi style, entering the digits automatically after you take a picture of the bar code with the phone's built-in camera.
Fortunately, this was only an impulse-buying drill. It's scary how many of us wake up, decide we're going to buy a plasma TV and walk into a store, uninformed and unwitting, clutching a credit card.
On this trip to a local Best Buy, Scanbuy Shopper was only as good as the available bar codes. It could not save an impulse buyer from paying too much for that plasma set because most electronics stores like Best Buy do not leave boxed, big-screen televisions (and their bar codes) on the showroom floor. They'll display one of each TV model, then leave the remaining, ready-to-buy sets in an adjacent storeroom.
To use Scanbuy Shopper, the customer must have access to a boxed item with the manufacturer's eight-digit bar code, also known as a Universal Product Code. Don't confuse the 20-digit store bar code for the Universal Product Code.
So I took the Nokia phone around the store to various smaller items with boxed, bar-coded stock available on the shelves, from a $500 home-theater speaker system to a $100 HDMI cable. Most times, Best Buy prices were competitive with online prices.
- A Samsung virtual-surround sound system with two speakers and a subwoofer cost $499.99 at Best Buy, but Scanbuy Shopper found a better price, $474.99, at Sears via Yahoo! Shopping. There happened to be a Sears at the other end of the shopping plaza, so if I were actually buying the system, I could have saved $25 with a short walk.
- A Sony DVD player that cost $68.99 at Best Buy showed up on Yahoo! Shopping at $59.99 from J&R Electronics in New York. But the search did not show the cost of shipping. When I checked later, it would cost $10 to deliver it to my house, wiping out the savings (and then some).
- A Toshiba 15-inch LCD television with a built-in DVD player that cost $499.99 at Best Buy, though, was substantially less ($380) at Butterfly Photo, an online merchant with which I'm unfamiliar. Even after shipping, which I later found would cost $39, it was still a better deal than Best Buy. But I'd want to know more about Butterfly Photo's reputation before placing an online order.
- Scanbuy Shopper also found a 6-foot HDMI cable from Monster Cable, $96.99 at Best Buy, for $81.81 on Amazon. Too bad it could not alert the consumer to the absurdity of paying so much, from any merchant, for a digital audio-video cable that typically connects an upconverting DVD player to an HDTV. A comparable 6-foot HDMI cable costs as little as $5 elsewhere (monoprice.com).
Scanbuy Shopper was a lot more fun at Target where, out of curiosity, I punched in the code for an eight-piece set of pots and pans from Kitchen Essentials by Calphalon. The Target price ($149.99) matched the best online price from Amazon, but Scanbuy Shopper also offered enough user comments ("not durable," "don't bother" and "non-stick coating wears off") to convince any shopper that this wasn't such a hot deal.
Other free software, like NextCode's Connexto (www.connexto.com) and NeoMedia's PaperClick (www.paperclick.com) also offers comparison prices. GPShopper (www.gpshopper.com) and its Slifter (www.slifter.com) technology even maintains a shopping list on a cell phone, updating with local and online prices.
Any of these might help the impulse buyer, but there's no substitute for old-fashioned research when buying a big-ticket item. Know what you want, what it does and compare prices before going to the store. Use the Scanbuy Shopper as a consultant, not your guide.
----------
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Friday, September 08, 2006
home theater speaker: Klipsch speakers get iPod in the iGroove
BY KEVIN HUNT
Hartford Courant
The Klipsch family has been making loudspeakers for 60 years, but they're just getting the hang of all this iPod business.
The basic get-rich-quick iPod plan goes like this:
Design a docking station/speaker system; call it iWhateveryouwant (the prefix, however, must be lowercase, just like the iPod); color it basic iPod white or black; and elevate the price to iPod territory, $250 to $350.
Late last year, Klipsch waded into the iPod market with the iGroove speaker system and got two parts of the formula right. It aced the lowercase-i part and hit the sweet spot in pricing, $280. But the silver iGroove, though a match for popular "lifestyle" home-theater speaker systems, clearly violated the iPod code.
Now, Klipsch returns with the new iGroove HG in shiny Darth Vader black — it's HG, as in high gloss — with a new price ($250) that puts it distinctly below Apple's own iPod Hi-Fi ($349) and the Bose SoundDock ($299).
However it's dressed, named or priced, the iGroove gets the business that matters most — sound — dead right. That should have been expected from the company that popularized horn-loaded speakers. The horn (an alternative to the conventional tweeter, which reproduces high-frequency signals in a loudspeaker) works much like a megaphone. You know how wide, and how loud, a voice sounds through a megaphone? That's the Klipsch horn principle.
For the iGroove, Klipsch (www. klipsch.com) uses a hybrid design it calls MicroTractrix, horn-loaded tweeters that position a traditional 1-inch dome tweeter at the short end of a megaphone-shaped horn. Klipsch mounted one of these tweeters above a 2.5-inch midbass driver on each side of the iGroove. In the middle, the iPod dock sits like a throne for your favorite digital music player.
The iGroove, only 16 inches wide, is gently arced and tilted back slightly, which angles sound up and outward into a room. Combined with the horns, which broaden the soundstage, the iGroove plays much bigger than its size. It also plays surprisingly loud. A small port on the back releases energy produced by the midbass drivers, allowing the iGroove to play lower notes louder and slightly deeper with less distortion.
Klipsch includes adapters for the iPod Nano and iPod Mini. A separate contraption called a J-Cup snaps into the iGroove dock, then becomes a dock itself for non-iPod music players or, with an extension cable, other devices like a DVD player, TV or computer. It worked perfectly, for example, as a home for the Pioneer Inno, which combines an XM Satellite Radio with an iPod-style music player.
The iGroove has two volume controls and an on/off button. Those functions and additional controls for play and forward/back are also accessible with a too-tiny remote control that didn't always obey my commands.
The iGroove and my black Nano made a very handsome couple. It sounded extremely good, tapered obviously at both extremes of the sonic spectrum so it might play louder with less listener fatigue. It handled the driving jazz of guitarist John Scofield's "Works for Me," the unlikely Afro-Celtic fusion of Baka Beyond's "East to West," the authentically Celtic duo Pipeline's self-titled debut and anything else stocked on the Nano.
The iGroove is a serious, if diminutive, sound system that deserves some iPod action.
In addition, if you're paying 99 cents a pop tune, the digital music library sitting on your computer's hard drive soon becomes more valuable than the iPod it's feeding.
Your library needs a safe house like an external hard drive. Western Digital's My Book external hard drives store all of your music — they're available from 160 to 500 gigabytes —with dignity. My Book, in fact, looks like one. Sure, it's a little mechanical-looking, but the 500-gigabyte Premium Edition ($349) holds 125,000 songs stored as MP3 files or 12,000 songs as uncompressed, CD-quality files.
It also could be used to store high-definition video (up to 60 hours), digital photos (up to 142,000) or anything else digital worth saving. Information: www.westerndigital.com.
Hartford Courant
The Klipsch family has been making loudspeakers for 60 years, but they're just getting the hang of all this iPod business.
The basic get-rich-quick iPod plan goes like this:
Design a docking station/speaker system; call it iWhateveryouwant (the prefix, however, must be lowercase, just like the iPod); color it basic iPod white or black; and elevate the price to iPod territory, $250 to $350.
Late last year, Klipsch waded into the iPod market with the iGroove speaker system and got two parts of the formula right. It aced the lowercase-i part and hit the sweet spot in pricing, $280. But the silver iGroove, though a match for popular "lifestyle" home-theater speaker systems, clearly violated the iPod code.
Now, Klipsch returns with the new iGroove HG in shiny Darth Vader black — it's HG, as in high gloss — with a new price ($250) that puts it distinctly below Apple's own iPod Hi-Fi ($349) and the Bose SoundDock ($299).
However it's dressed, named or priced, the iGroove gets the business that matters most — sound — dead right. That should have been expected from the company that popularized horn-loaded speakers. The horn (an alternative to the conventional tweeter, which reproduces high-frequency signals in a loudspeaker) works much like a megaphone. You know how wide, and how loud, a voice sounds through a megaphone? That's the Klipsch horn principle.
For the iGroove, Klipsch (www. klipsch.com) uses a hybrid design it calls MicroTractrix, horn-loaded tweeters that position a traditional 1-inch dome tweeter at the short end of a megaphone-shaped horn. Klipsch mounted one of these tweeters above a 2.5-inch midbass driver on each side of the iGroove. In the middle, the iPod dock sits like a throne for your favorite digital music player.
The iGroove, only 16 inches wide, is gently arced and tilted back slightly, which angles sound up and outward into a room. Combined with the horns, which broaden the soundstage, the iGroove plays much bigger than its size. It also plays surprisingly loud. A small port on the back releases energy produced by the midbass drivers, allowing the iGroove to play lower notes louder and slightly deeper with less distortion.
Klipsch includes adapters for the iPod Nano and iPod Mini. A separate contraption called a J-Cup snaps into the iGroove dock, then becomes a dock itself for non-iPod music players or, with an extension cable, other devices like a DVD player, TV or computer. It worked perfectly, for example, as a home for the Pioneer Inno, which combines an XM Satellite Radio with an iPod-style music player.
The iGroove has two volume controls and an on/off button. Those functions and additional controls for play and forward/back are also accessible with a too-tiny remote control that didn't always obey my commands.
The iGroove and my black Nano made a very handsome couple. It sounded extremely good, tapered obviously at both extremes of the sonic spectrum so it might play louder with less listener fatigue. It handled the driving jazz of guitarist John Scofield's "Works for Me," the unlikely Afro-Celtic fusion of Baka Beyond's "East to West," the authentically Celtic duo Pipeline's self-titled debut and anything else stocked on the Nano.
The iGroove is a serious, if diminutive, sound system that deserves some iPod action.
In addition, if you're paying 99 cents a pop tune, the digital music library sitting on your computer's hard drive soon becomes more valuable than the iPod it's feeding.
Your library needs a safe house like an external hard drive. Western Digital's My Book external hard drives store all of your music — they're available from 160 to 500 gigabytes —with dignity. My Book, in fact, looks like one. Sure, it's a little mechanical-looking, but the 500-gigabyte Premium Edition ($349) holds 125,000 songs stored as MP3 files or 12,000 songs as uncompressed, CD-quality files.
It also could be used to store high-definition video (up to 60 hours), digital photos (up to 142,000) or anything else digital worth saving. Information: www.westerndigital.com.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
home theater speaker: Onkyo Releases New 1080p HDMI-Capable Home Theater Receivers
By GSPR Press Release
Onkyo has introduced two mid-priced home theater receivers with features previously available only in much more expensive models. The Onkyo TX-SR674 and TX-SR604 are capable of integrating with the most recent advances in display and source technology, including HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc formats.
Both models feature advanced HDMI switching with built-in repeaters to allow the receivers to switch digital video up to 1080p while still processing digital audio signals through the same HDMI connection. The TX-SR604 is believed to be the least expensive AV receiver with this feature. Additionally the TX-SR674 also converts analog video signals to HDMI, allowing use of a single cable for modern digital video displays. Each receiver provides a full suite of 7.1-channel surround processing as well as 7.1 multichannel inputs to ensure compatibility with newly emerging formats, such as the HD and lossless audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) that are part of the new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc technologies.
These receivers also include the highly regarded Audyssey 2EQ system for automatic acoustic calibration, making it simple to tailor performance to individual listening rooms. Each is XM satellite radio ready, and they are designed to integrate with Onkyo's iPod docking stations. Extensive multi-zone, multi-room connection options make these receivers ideal tools for custom AV Systems installers. The receivers' amplifiers employ Onkyo's classic wide range amplifier technology (WRAT) to provide the high power needed for demanding home theater speaker sound tracks.
"Home audio and video entertainment is changing at a dramatic pace right now, and the job of making all these technologies work together falls on the A/V receiver," comments Onkyo Marketing Manager Paul Wasek. "By implementing high end features like HDMI switching, video transcoding, automatic speaker calibration, and XM satellite radio tuning into our mid-priced models, Onkyo is giving consumers the control and performance they need without the sticker shock that cutting edge products often inflict on them."
Onkyo TX-SR604
Onkyo's TX-SR604 A/V receiver has switching for two HDMI source components and Audyssey 2EQ automatic room calibration to the already impressive list of features from the best-selling TX-SR603X model it replaces. The new model features 7 x 90 watts of power, analog component video upconversion with time base correction (TBC), and is currently available in black or silver finishes at a suggested retail price of $599.
Onkyo TX-SR674
Onkyo's TX-SR674 is a new model in the company's A/V receiver line that delivers 7x95 watts of power, and a comprehensive suite of audio and video switching capabilities that includes transcoding of all video source material to HDMI for single-cable connection to properly equipped HDTV displays. It is currently available in black or silver finishes at a suggested retail price of $799.
Last Updated: Tue, 05 Sep 2006 - 14:45:34
© 2005-2006 Big Picture Big Sound. No use or reprinting of content without permission.
Onkyo has introduced two mid-priced home theater receivers with features previously available only in much more expensive models. The Onkyo TX-SR674 and TX-SR604 are capable of integrating with the most recent advances in display and source technology, including HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc formats.
Both models feature advanced HDMI switching with built-in repeaters to allow the receivers to switch digital video up to 1080p while still processing digital audio signals through the same HDMI connection. The TX-SR604 is believed to be the least expensive AV receiver with this feature. Additionally the TX-SR674 also converts analog video signals to HDMI, allowing use of a single cable for modern digital video displays. Each receiver provides a full suite of 7.1-channel surround processing as well as 7.1 multichannel inputs to ensure compatibility with newly emerging formats, such as the HD and lossless audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) that are part of the new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc technologies.
These receivers also include the highly regarded Audyssey 2EQ system for automatic acoustic calibration, making it simple to tailor performance to individual listening rooms. Each is XM satellite radio ready, and they are designed to integrate with Onkyo's iPod docking stations. Extensive multi-zone, multi-room connection options make these receivers ideal tools for custom AV Systems installers. The receivers' amplifiers employ Onkyo's classic wide range amplifier technology (WRAT) to provide the high power needed for demanding home theater speaker sound tracks.
"Home audio and video entertainment is changing at a dramatic pace right now, and the job of making all these technologies work together falls on the A/V receiver," comments Onkyo Marketing Manager Paul Wasek. "By implementing high end features like HDMI switching, video transcoding, automatic speaker calibration, and XM satellite radio tuning into our mid-priced models, Onkyo is giving consumers the control and performance they need without the sticker shock that cutting edge products often inflict on them."
Onkyo TX-SR604
Onkyo's TX-SR604 A/V receiver has switching for two HDMI source components and Audyssey 2EQ automatic room calibration to the already impressive list of features from the best-selling TX-SR603X model it replaces. The new model features 7 x 90 watts of power, analog component video upconversion with time base correction (TBC), and is currently available in black or silver finishes at a suggested retail price of $599.
Onkyo TX-SR674
Onkyo's TX-SR674 is a new model in the company's A/V receiver line that delivers 7x95 watts of power, and a comprehensive suite of audio and video switching capabilities that includes transcoding of all video source material to HDMI for single-cable connection to properly equipped HDTV displays. It is currently available in black or silver finishes at a suggested retail price of $799.
Last Updated: Tue, 05 Sep 2006 - 14:45:34
© 2005-2006 Big Picture Big Sound. No use or reprinting of content without permission.
Monday, September 04, 2006
home theater speaker: Logitech Redefines PC Speakers with Z-10 2.0 Speaker System
By Daniel Lim
FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 28, 2006 -- Logitech introduced the Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System, the newest member of Logitech´s line of Advanced Peripherals, featuring a groundbreaking design that will change how people think about and use PC speakers. With built-in touch-sensitive controls and a backlighted display that shows digital-music track information, a clock, volume and more, these trophy speakers are meant to be touched and seen — in addition to filling a room with studio-quality sound.
“Until now, PC speakers have simply delivered sound,” said Jef Holove, Logitech´s vice president of product marketing for audio. “The Z-10 speakers aim to incite more of the senses — sight, touch and sound — with their media display, touch-sensitive controls and premium audio. And beyond that, these speakers are simply stunning, adding a level of design sophistication to their breakthrough digital music capabilities.”
The past few years have witnessed the explosion of digital music. The use of Internet radio has also spiked noticeably. According to a recent worldwide survey by analyst firm Parks Associates, 40 percent of online households play music files on their PC and 33 percent listen to Internet radio streams. The Z-10 speakers reflect the growing importance of the PC as a hub for digital music, and the accompanying value of superior speakers to complete the experience. The speaker satellites´ polished acrylic faces offer clean, minimalist facades accented by the digital display and each speaker´s two metal mesh grills. Perfect for use with either a desktop PC or notebook PC, the powerful speakers deliver rich audio without using a separate space-consuming subwoofer.
By putting touch-sensitive controls on the face of the Z-10 speakers, Logitech has eliminated the need for people to toggle between applications to control their music on their computer monitor. People can continue to work or surf the Web, or even turn their monitor off and use the integrated speaker controls to adjust volume, treble and bass, and navigate music tracks with play, pause, skip forward and back buttons — just as they would with a portable music player or a traditional stereo system. Using USB technology and sophisticated software, the speakers can display track information from popular media players, including iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, and Musicmatch®. The digital display also reveals a clock, volume levels and other system information from the PC.
The Logitech Z-10 speakers also have four Internet radio preset buttons located on the speakers´ touch sensitive panel. When touched, the convenient preset buttons let users quickly save and recall their favorite Internet radio stations and playlists.
With integrated 1-inch tweeters and 3-inch woofers on each satellite, the Logitech Z-10 speakers offer a full range of clear, rich audio with amazing bass for their compact size. The built-in amplifier splits the high and low frequencies — called bi-amplification — directing the high-range signals to the tweeters and the low-range signals to the woofers — an approach that´s typically used only in performance home-theater speakers.
Taking up minimal space — each satellite is 9.7-inches tall, 4.5-inches wide and 4.7-inches deep — the Z-10 speakers make an elegant addition to a desk, tabletop, or any other place where people might use a PC. A single USB cable provides both a digital audio signal and the information for the LCD, making it very easy to set up. The speakers also include a convenient headphone jack that enables private listening, and a 3.5 mm auxiliary input that can connect to MP3 players or other audio devices.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System will be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in September. Its suggested retail price in the U.S. is $149.99. More information about the Z-10 speakers is available at the Advanced Peripherals section of Logitech´s Web site, www.logitech.com/advanced.
FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 28, 2006 -- Logitech introduced the Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System, the newest member of Logitech´s line of Advanced Peripherals, featuring a groundbreaking design that will change how people think about and use PC speakers. With built-in touch-sensitive controls and a backlighted display that shows digital-music track information, a clock, volume and more, these trophy speakers are meant to be touched and seen — in addition to filling a room with studio-quality sound.
“Until now, PC speakers have simply delivered sound,” said Jef Holove, Logitech´s vice president of product marketing for audio. “The Z-10 speakers aim to incite more of the senses — sight, touch and sound — with their media display, touch-sensitive controls and premium audio. And beyond that, these speakers are simply stunning, adding a level of design sophistication to their breakthrough digital music capabilities.”
The past few years have witnessed the explosion of digital music. The use of Internet radio has also spiked noticeably. According to a recent worldwide survey by analyst firm Parks Associates, 40 percent of online households play music files on their PC and 33 percent listen to Internet radio streams. The Z-10 speakers reflect the growing importance of the PC as a hub for digital music, and the accompanying value of superior speakers to complete the experience. The speaker satellites´ polished acrylic faces offer clean, minimalist facades accented by the digital display and each speaker´s two metal mesh grills. Perfect for use with either a desktop PC or notebook PC, the powerful speakers deliver rich audio without using a separate space-consuming subwoofer.
By putting touch-sensitive controls on the face of the Z-10 speakers, Logitech has eliminated the need for people to toggle between applications to control their music on their computer monitor. People can continue to work or surf the Web, or even turn their monitor off and use the integrated speaker controls to adjust volume, treble and bass, and navigate music tracks with play, pause, skip forward and back buttons — just as they would with a portable music player or a traditional stereo system. Using USB technology and sophisticated software, the speakers can display track information from popular media players, including iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, and Musicmatch®. The digital display also reveals a clock, volume levels and other system information from the PC.
The Logitech Z-10 speakers also have four Internet radio preset buttons located on the speakers´ touch sensitive panel. When touched, the convenient preset buttons let users quickly save and recall their favorite Internet radio stations and playlists.
With integrated 1-inch tweeters and 3-inch woofers on each satellite, the Logitech Z-10 speakers offer a full range of clear, rich audio with amazing bass for their compact size. The built-in amplifier splits the high and low frequencies — called bi-amplification — directing the high-range signals to the tweeters and the low-range signals to the woofers — an approach that´s typically used only in performance home-theater speakers.
Taking up minimal space — each satellite is 9.7-inches tall, 4.5-inches wide and 4.7-inches deep — the Z-10 speakers make an elegant addition to a desk, tabletop, or any other place where people might use a PC. A single USB cable provides both a digital audio signal and the information for the LCD, making it very easy to set up. The speakers also include a convenient headphone jack that enables private listening, and a 3.5 mm auxiliary input that can connect to MP3 players or other audio devices.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Z-10 Interactive 2.0 Speaker System will be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in September. Its suggested retail price in the U.S. is $149.99. More information about the Z-10 speakers is available at the Advanced Peripherals section of Logitech´s Web site, www.logitech.com/advanced.
Monday, August 14, 2006
home theater speaker: Top Bookshelf Speakers for Under $100
By Scott Kessman
Aug 11 2006 09:19AM
We all want to hear good quality, crystal-clear audio from our stereo systems, but we don't want to have to purchase giant speakers or spend a large sum of money. The good news is, unless you are extremely particular about your audio to the point of being an audio fanatic, you don't have to worry about size or pricing. You can find a good set of bookshelf speakers that produce great sounding audio but are compact enough to sit comfortably on a shelf, out of the way.
There are a number of good sets of bookshelf speakers for under $100, capable of delivering astounding audio at a minimal cost, and superbly powerful despite their smaller size. Bookshelf speakers are not intended to be the equivalent of a top-of-the-line, full-on audio experience that will leave you breathless, but they are capable of producing excellent sound, even at a rather small size and moderate cost. Perfect for dorm rooms, small apartments, offices, or for anyone who simply doesn't want to clutter their home with large speakers, bookshelf speakers are an ideal option.
Be sure to visit the websites of the following manufacturers for more precise technical details regarding the bookshelf speakers. Prices may be better at online stores rather than traditional retailers.
The Sony SS-MB350H Bookshelf Speakers manages to achieve excellent audio with its 3-way acoustic suspension speakers, which pack 120 watts of power. Clean and crisp, the audio also manages to convey a proper bass without sounding too booming or distorted, and the high and low frequencies of sound are accurately represented. Offering a full range of sound, the Sony Bookshelf Speakers are a little larger than most bookshelf speakers, but not too large to be subtly placed in the corners of a room if desired and still be out of the way and unobtrusive.
They also work great as an inexpensive alternative to a full set of surround sound speakers, or most notably as the rear pair of surround sound speakers. The three-way format helps to spread the sound evenly throughout the room, providing a very enjoyable listening experience. An additional subwoofer is also available for purchase.
Another great set are the POLK AUDIO R15 Bookshelf Loudspeakers. Capable of delivering home theatre performance at a fraction of the cost of a home theater speaker system, the high-quality of the Polk Audio Bookshelf Speakers are ideal when paired with a subwoofer for the complete surround sound package.
Offering impressive wide frequencies with low distortion, the Polk Audio Bookshelf Speakers fill the room with high performance audio, with sharp details and clear vocals.
The Polk Audio Bookshelf Speakers can be set on the floor or a shelf, or they come with a variety of hook-up options for mounting or hanging. Use them separately or add them to an already existing speaker system as an accompaniment.
The JBL Northridge E20 2-Way 5-Inch Bookshelf Speakers are impressively small, and deliver outstanding audio performance. Loud, clear, and absent of distortion, the JBL Bookshelf Speakers are the ultimate in compact quality audio, and is available in a number of finishes to better match the decor of your room, such as Black Ash, Beech, or Cherry. The exquisite craftsmanship coupled with a vast assortment of high-technology features combine to form a harmonious pairing of sound and function.
With the JBL E20 Bookshelf Speakers, you can easily afford that stunning JBL quality and design. Paired with a subwoofer or existing speakers, they will enhance your audio to the extreme, filling the room with sharp, clear sound, but as a separate set, the JBL speakers still do a fine job of bringing out the subtle tones of audio that would otherwise be lost on lesser speakers.
Aug 11 2006 09:19AM
We all want to hear good quality, crystal-clear audio from our stereo systems, but we don't want to have to purchase giant speakers or spend a large sum of money. The good news is, unless you are extremely particular about your audio to the point of being an audio fanatic, you don't have to worry about size or pricing. You can find a good set of bookshelf speakers that produce great sounding audio but are compact enough to sit comfortably on a shelf, out of the way.
There are a number of good sets of bookshelf speakers for under $100, capable of delivering astounding audio at a minimal cost, and superbly powerful despite their smaller size. Bookshelf speakers are not intended to be the equivalent of a top-of-the-line, full-on audio experience that will leave you breathless, but they are capable of producing excellent sound, even at a rather small size and moderate cost. Perfect for dorm rooms, small apartments, offices, or for anyone who simply doesn't want to clutter their home with large speakers, bookshelf speakers are an ideal option.
Be sure to visit the websites of the following manufacturers for more precise technical details regarding the bookshelf speakers. Prices may be better at online stores rather than traditional retailers.
The Sony SS-MB350H Bookshelf Speakers manages to achieve excellent audio with its 3-way acoustic suspension speakers, which pack 120 watts of power. Clean and crisp, the audio also manages to convey a proper bass without sounding too booming or distorted, and the high and low frequencies of sound are accurately represented. Offering a full range of sound, the Sony Bookshelf Speakers are a little larger than most bookshelf speakers, but not too large to be subtly placed in the corners of a room if desired and still be out of the way and unobtrusive.
They also work great as an inexpensive alternative to a full set of surround sound speakers, or most notably as the rear pair of surround sound speakers. The three-way format helps to spread the sound evenly throughout the room, providing a very enjoyable listening experience. An additional subwoofer is also available for purchase.
Another great set are the POLK AUDIO R15 Bookshelf Loudspeakers. Capable of delivering home theatre performance at a fraction of the cost of a home theater speaker system, the high-quality of the Polk Audio Bookshelf Speakers are ideal when paired with a subwoofer for the complete surround sound package.
Offering impressive wide frequencies with low distortion, the Polk Audio Bookshelf Speakers fill the room with high performance audio, with sharp details and clear vocals.
The Polk Audio Bookshelf Speakers can be set on the floor or a shelf, or they come with a variety of hook-up options for mounting or hanging. Use them separately or add them to an already existing speaker system as an accompaniment.
The JBL Northridge E20 2-Way 5-Inch Bookshelf Speakers are impressively small, and deliver outstanding audio performance. Loud, clear, and absent of distortion, the JBL Bookshelf Speakers are the ultimate in compact quality audio, and is available in a number of finishes to better match the decor of your room, such as Black Ash, Beech, or Cherry. The exquisite craftsmanship coupled with a vast assortment of high-technology features combine to form a harmonious pairing of sound and function.
With the JBL E20 Bookshelf Speakers, you can easily afford that stunning JBL quality and design. Paired with a subwoofer or existing speakers, they will enhance your audio to the extreme, filling the room with sharp, clear sound, but as a separate set, the JBL speakers still do a fine job of bringing out the subtle tones of audio that would otherwise be lost on lesser speakers.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
home theater speaker: A Genius Act: KYE-Tirupati Tie-Up
EFY News Network
(Friday, July 14, 2006 2:19:05 PM)
Tirupati to distribute KYE’s Genius brand of products in India.
Friday, July 14, 2006: New Delhi: KYE Systems, a Taiwan-based IT and consumer electronics company, has inked a distribution relationship with Kolkata-based Tirupati Enterprises to expand its Genius brand of product lines in India. This is the second distribution engagement by KYE in India, after the one with Transtek Infoways.
In India, Tirupati will distribute KYE’s Genius range of products, which include MP3 players, speakers and headphones for digital audio, remote controls and home theater speaker system for home entertainment, webcams for Internet video calling, headset for mobile phone, Internet talking, gaming and laser mice, and keyboards. But KYE has made it clear that Tirupati will offer different products than what is being offered by Transtek, KYE’s existing partner in India, to ensure that no conflict of product arises due to the new distribution tie-up.
"No doubt Transtek Infoways is doing a wonderful job for Genius in India and we appreciate their efforts in building up the brand; however, the geography of the country is so vast, so is our product basket, that it requires one more partner to tap the entire potential in the cut-throat competition," said Sandeep Ramani, country manager, KYE Systems (India) Corp.
Abhishek Kejriwal, GM, Tirupati Enterprises, said, "We are excited about our tie-up with Genius as it is a new line of business for us.” Genius being one of the top three brands in key boards, mice etc., we will definitely try to put focus and increase their market share in India.”
KYE is targeting, at least, a 100-per cent growth over the next 9-12 months.
(Friday, July 14, 2006 2:19:05 PM)
Tirupati to distribute KYE’s Genius brand of products in India.
Friday, July 14, 2006: New Delhi: KYE Systems, a Taiwan-based IT and consumer electronics company, has inked a distribution relationship with Kolkata-based Tirupati Enterprises to expand its Genius brand of product lines in India. This is the second distribution engagement by KYE in India, after the one with Transtek Infoways.
In India, Tirupati will distribute KYE’s Genius range of products, which include MP3 players, speakers and headphones for digital audio, remote controls and home theater speaker system for home entertainment, webcams for Internet video calling, headset for mobile phone, Internet talking, gaming and laser mice, and keyboards. But KYE has made it clear that Tirupati will offer different products than what is being offered by Transtek, KYE’s existing partner in India, to ensure that no conflict of product arises due to the new distribution tie-up.
"No doubt Transtek Infoways is doing a wonderful job for Genius in India and we appreciate their efforts in building up the brand; however, the geography of the country is so vast, so is our product basket, that it requires one more partner to tap the entire potential in the cut-throat competition," said Sandeep Ramani, country manager, KYE Systems (India) Corp.
Abhishek Kejriwal, GM, Tirupati Enterprises, said, "We are excited about our tie-up with Genius as it is a new line of business for us.” Genius being one of the top three brands in key boards, mice etc., we will definitely try to put focus and increase their market share in India.”
KYE is targeting, at least, a 100-per cent growth over the next 9-12 months.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
home theater speaker: LTB Audio Systems Promotes Low Cost Home Theater Sound System People Wear on Their Heads
LTB Audio systems is promoting the world’s only true 5.1 wireless sound system that sits comfortably on a person's head. The LTB-WR-5.1 Wireless Headphone system is the only one of it’s kind to offer true, non-compressed digital wireless 5.1 surround sound audio in a comfortable, lightweight headset.
Teterboro, NJ (PRWEB) August 3, 2006 -- LTB Audio Systems, the leading manufacturer of true digital 5.1 headphone technology, is promoting true 5.1 wireless headphones for home theater speaker enthusiasts who don’t want to shell out big bucks for surround sound. Since their introduction this year, the Cinema 1 wireless 5.1 headphones have become very popular with movie and console gaming enthusiasts. LTB has been promoting its true 5.1 headphone technology through retailers that sell HDTV products from 26–50 inches. The Cinema 1 headphone system offers customers with minimal budgets the ability to take full advantage of 5.1 audio offered in today’s HDTV broadcasts.
“With LTB true 5.1 headphones you don’t need to focus speakers to a central point in a room, because you wear them, you can move about or sit anywhere and you can have private control over the volume as well,” said Jon Miller VP of Marketing for LTB.
The latest addition to the LTB 5.1 lineup, the Cinema 1 True 5.1 2.4GHz RF wireless is a unique example of combined audio technologies that have been overlooked by other audio manufacturers. As in other LTB 5.1 Headphone products, the Cinema 1 series sports six independently chambered emitters that are pre-balanced to offer true Dolby 5.1 Center, Left, Right, Rear and Sub channel separation. LTB also believes in safe headphone usage: its safebass™ technology represents a true effort to limit problems from extensive headphone use by limited bass levels below 90db.
LTB Audio Systems technology is widely recognized as the true leader in 5.1 headphone technology. While other manufacturers may offer multiple speaker headphones, none can claim the true fidelity of LTB patented ISC (Independent Sound Chamber) technology or the safe functionality of Safebass. LTB Audio Systems has provided Vivendi Universal Games with true 5.1 headphones to be used exclusively to demonstrate the latest PC Gaming titles at this year’s 2006 E3 Expo in Los Angeles. LTB offers several wired 5.1 headphone systems that meet a variety of applications. LTB will release a new series for computer users based on their current Platinum pro series early this fall called Magnum 5.1. LTB True 5.1 Digital headphones are available from a variety of on-line vendors like
Radioshack.com, staples.com, techdepot.com, skymall.com, smarthome.com, buy.com, qvc.com, hsn.com and more.
About LTB Audio Systems
LTB, which stands for Listen To Believe, represents a product line focused on providing leading-edge audio and multimedia headphones designed to meet the optimal demands of the latest digital media in games and movies as well as music and hi-def audio. LTB controls various key technology patents that have made them an upcoming leading manufacturer of true surround sound technology products. For more information visit LTB at www.ltbaudio.com.
Teterboro, NJ (PRWEB) August 3, 2006 -- LTB Audio Systems, the leading manufacturer of true digital 5.1 headphone technology, is promoting true 5.1 wireless headphones for home theater speaker enthusiasts who don’t want to shell out big bucks for surround sound. Since their introduction this year, the Cinema 1 wireless 5.1 headphones have become very popular with movie and console gaming enthusiasts. LTB has been promoting its true 5.1 headphone technology through retailers that sell HDTV products from 26–50 inches. The Cinema 1 headphone system offers customers with minimal budgets the ability to take full advantage of 5.1 audio offered in today’s HDTV broadcasts.
“With LTB true 5.1 headphones you don’t need to focus speakers to a central point in a room, because you wear them, you can move about or sit anywhere and you can have private control over the volume as well,” said Jon Miller VP of Marketing for LTB.
The latest addition to the LTB 5.1 lineup, the Cinema 1 True 5.1 2.4GHz RF wireless is a unique example of combined audio technologies that have been overlooked by other audio manufacturers. As in other LTB 5.1 Headphone products, the Cinema 1 series sports six independently chambered emitters that are pre-balanced to offer true Dolby 5.1 Center, Left, Right, Rear and Sub channel separation. LTB also believes in safe headphone usage: its safebass™ technology represents a true effort to limit problems from extensive headphone use by limited bass levels below 90db.
LTB Audio Systems technology is widely recognized as the true leader in 5.1 headphone technology. While other manufacturers may offer multiple speaker headphones, none can claim the true fidelity of LTB patented ISC (Independent Sound Chamber) technology or the safe functionality of Safebass. LTB Audio Systems has provided Vivendi Universal Games with true 5.1 headphones to be used exclusively to demonstrate the latest PC Gaming titles at this year’s 2006 E3 Expo in Los Angeles. LTB offers several wired 5.1 headphone systems that meet a variety of applications. LTB will release a new series for computer users based on their current Platinum pro series early this fall called Magnum 5.1. LTB True 5.1 Digital headphones are available from a variety of on-line vendors like
Radioshack.com, staples.com, techdepot.com, skymall.com, smarthome.com, buy.com, qvc.com, hsn.com and more.
About LTB Audio Systems
LTB, which stands for Listen To Believe, represents a product line focused on providing leading-edge audio and multimedia headphones designed to meet the optimal demands of the latest digital media in games and movies as well as music and hi-def audio. LTB controls various key technology patents that have made them an upcoming leading manufacturer of true surround sound technology products. For more information visit LTB at www.ltbaudio.com.
Monday, August 07, 2006
home theater speaker: Genius appoints Tirupati Enterprises as its second disty
Genius spreads its wings to capture indian marketplace
New Delhi, New Delhi, India, 2006-07-14 (IndiaPRwire.com) -- Taiwan based Genius, one of the leading IT and Consumer Electronics brand across the globe, extends its distribution relationship with Kolkata based Tirupati Enterprises. This is their second distribution engagement in India as the first one is with Transtek Infoways.
"No doubt Transtek Infoways is doing wonderful job for Genius in India and we appreciate their efforts in building up the brand-GENIUS, however, the geography of country is so vast so is our Product Basket that it requires one more partner to tap the entire potential in the cut throat competition," says Mr. Sandeep Ramani, Country Manager, KYE Systems (India) Corp., and both the distributors would surely work in synergy with each other to achieve the company's objective.
Mr. Abhishek Kejriwal, GM, Tirupati Enterprises says, "We are excited about our tie-up with Genius as it is a new line of business for us". Genius being the top three brands in KeyBoards, Mice etc, we will definitely try to put focus and increase the market share in India.
Genius products basket comprises wide variety of products including MP3 players, Speakers and Headphones for digital audio, Remote Controls and Home Theater Speaker system for home entertainment, Webcams for Internet video calling, Headset for mobile phone, Internet talking, gaming and laser mice and keyboards to name a few.
Mr. Ramani further added, "Genius has a huge family of products with several variations, hence we require more partners to help us expand our reach with different products other than what is offered by Transtek. Tirupati will be offering different products than what is being offered by Transtek to the market thus ensuring that no conflict of product arises due to the new distribution tie-up, and we believe that multiple partners will only compliment each other and in turn, it would help everybody grow at a much faster pace. We are targeting to become a significant player in the Indian marketplace and we are looking for at least 100% growth in next 9-12 months period".
About Genius: Genius is the brand name of KYE Systems, a US$ 353 million Taiwan, Taipei based company. In 1985, KYE launched the brand Genius, which stands for technology and trust. Headquartered in Taiwan Taipei, KYE has three manufacturing units at Dongguan, China and the fourth plant is under construction, which emphasizes in the manufacturing of products with excellent Industrial & Mechanical design, Environmental Protection Application & Lead-Free Technology Selection, and with a light, slim, short and small look. KYE has been awarded with ISO 9001 Quality systems certification in 1994 and ISO 14001 in 1996. It has been traded in Taiwan Stock exchange since 1997. KYE has received many an accolades from various quarters i.e. National Golden Award of Excellence, Good Design Award in Japan etc.
About Tirupati Enterprises: Tirupati Enterprises is a leading importer and distributor of computer parts and peripherals with channels spreading throughout the territory of India. Based in Kolkata, its partners are located in all major cities across the country. Tirupati's major product lines include Genius, MSI, Ge-cube Graphic Cards, Corsair Memory Products, etc.
About Alliance PR
Alliance PR is a leading PR firm that specialises in communications and networking with a nationwide geographical spread to offer its services across India.
For more information, Please contact:
Sanjeev Kant
Manager, Alliance PR
011-416 4699
kant@proalliancepr.com
You can also visit www.proalliancepr.com for more information.
New Delhi, New Delhi, India, 2006-07-14 (IndiaPRwire.com) -- Taiwan based Genius, one of the leading IT and Consumer Electronics brand across the globe, extends its distribution relationship with Kolkata based Tirupati Enterprises. This is their second distribution engagement in India as the first one is with Transtek Infoways.
"No doubt Transtek Infoways is doing wonderful job for Genius in India and we appreciate their efforts in building up the brand-GENIUS, however, the geography of country is so vast so is our Product Basket that it requires one more partner to tap the entire potential in the cut throat competition," says Mr. Sandeep Ramani, Country Manager, KYE Systems (India) Corp., and both the distributors would surely work in synergy with each other to achieve the company's objective.
Mr. Abhishek Kejriwal, GM, Tirupati Enterprises says, "We are excited about our tie-up with Genius as it is a new line of business for us". Genius being the top three brands in KeyBoards, Mice etc, we will definitely try to put focus and increase the market share in India.
Genius products basket comprises wide variety of products including MP3 players, Speakers and Headphones for digital audio, Remote Controls and Home Theater Speaker system for home entertainment, Webcams for Internet video calling, Headset for mobile phone, Internet talking, gaming and laser mice and keyboards to name a few.
Mr. Ramani further added, "Genius has a huge family of products with several variations, hence we require more partners to help us expand our reach with different products other than what is offered by Transtek. Tirupati will be offering different products than what is being offered by Transtek to the market thus ensuring that no conflict of product arises due to the new distribution tie-up, and we believe that multiple partners will only compliment each other and in turn, it would help everybody grow at a much faster pace. We are targeting to become a significant player in the Indian marketplace and we are looking for at least 100% growth in next 9-12 months period".
About Genius: Genius is the brand name of KYE Systems, a US$ 353 million Taiwan, Taipei based company. In 1985, KYE launched the brand Genius, which stands for technology and trust. Headquartered in Taiwan Taipei, KYE has three manufacturing units at Dongguan, China and the fourth plant is under construction, which emphasizes in the manufacturing of products with excellent Industrial & Mechanical design, Environmental Protection Application & Lead-Free Technology Selection, and with a light, slim, short and small look. KYE has been awarded with ISO 9001 Quality systems certification in 1994 and ISO 14001 in 1996. It has been traded in Taiwan Stock exchange since 1997. KYE has received many an accolades from various quarters i.e. National Golden Award of Excellence, Good Design Award in Japan etc.
About Tirupati Enterprises: Tirupati Enterprises is a leading importer and distributor of computer parts and peripherals with channels spreading throughout the territory of India. Based in Kolkata, its partners are located in all major cities across the country. Tirupati's major product lines include Genius, MSI, Ge-cube Graphic Cards, Corsair Memory Products, etc.
About Alliance PR
Alliance PR is a leading PR firm that specialises in communications and networking with a nationwide geographical spread to offer its services across India.
For more information, Please contact:
Sanjeev Kant
Manager, Alliance PR
011-416 4699
kant@proalliancepr.com
You can also visit www.proalliancepr.com for more information.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
home theater speaker: Horizontally or Vertically, KEF’s HTB2 Sub Is A Powerful Winner
MARLBORO, NJ – July 25, 2006 – KEF, the British manufacturer of world-class home theater speakers, has added another award to its roster of accolades with the 2006 Electronic House “Product of the Year” Award. KEF was recognized for its unique HTB2 high-powered subwoofer, part of the dynamic KHT3000 Series 5.1 home cinema speaker system.
“We are truly honored to have received this recognition from Electronic House magazine,” said Alec Chanin, president of KEF America. “The HTB2 is a tremendously exciting product and continues our tradition of offering innovative, sophisticated, and décor-friendly solutions that deliver the 3D sound and stunning bass realism that are our trademarks.”
The HTB2 sports a radical new design that complements modern décor, and uses a 10-inch bass driver along with a 10-inch Auxiliary Bass Radiator. The ultra long-throw design and all-new 250 watt amplifier produce deep, defined bass with a tight response, and SmartBass ‘connect and go’ functionality means that set-up is quick and simple. The subwoofer also features an acoustically inert ABS-molded enclosure and its two-position phase switch and three-position bass boost switch lets users easily adjust sound at any time.
The HTB2 gives home theater enthusiasts complete placement flexibility. After careful research with consumers, KEF designed the HTB2 for either vertical or horizontal placement. This is achieved by simply removing the factory fitted base-foot (for vertical) and fixing the additional three feet to the rim of the driver (for horizontal). No matter how the sub is positioned, the control panel and connections are easily accessible.
The KEF Home Theatre 3000 Series builds on the huge success of the popular KHT2005.2 system, resulting in a 5.1 system that delivers the dialogue and sound effects of today’s digital soundtracks, as well as the streamlined looks design-conscious consumers demand. Currently available, the system comprised of 4 satellites, 1 center channel and the HTB2 subwoofer, retails at an MSRP of $1,500. To match a variety of home interiors, KEF offers the 3000 series in high-gloss silver or in a stunningly new high-gloss black finish. A la carté, the HTB2 retails at $799.
Winning products were selected by Electronic House editors based on reviews released throughout the year, product demos, installer feedback, innovative features and overall value. The winning products will be featured in the September issue of Electronic House and on www.electronichouse.com.
Talking Points:
- KEF’s HTB2 high-powered subwoofer wins Electronic House Magazine’s 2006 Product of the Year Award.
- The HTB2 sports a radical, ultra long-throw design featuring a 10” bass driver along with a 10” Auxiliary Bass Radiator.
- All-new 250 watt amplifier produces deep, defined bass with a tight response.
- Acoustically inert enclosure is shaped to eliminate internal standing waves for extreme bass realism.
- SmartBass™ ‘connect and go’ functionality makes setup a breeze.
- Two-position phase switch and three-position bass boost switch lets users easily adjust sound at any time.
- Complete placement flexibility allows for vertical or horizontal subwoofer placement depending on space requirements or taste.
- Part of KEF’s KHT3000 Series 5.1 home cinema speaker system comprised of 4 satellites, 1 center channel and HTB2 subwoofer. The complete system retails at an MSRP of $1,500.
- A la carté, the HTB2 retails at $799.
- Winning products were selected by Electronic House editors based on reviews released throughout the year, product demos, installer feedback, innovative features and overall value.
About KEF Audio
KEF, a division of GP Acoustics, is a UK based company that has earned a reputation as the premier manufacturer of stunning, audiophile-quality speakers for modern home cinema, hi-fi and custom installation applications. KEF products which are distributed around the globe, have won awards from both sides of the Atlantic, as KEF is a brand name long associated with style, quality and technical innovation.
Founded in 1961 by a British electrical engineer named Raymond Cooke on the banks of the River Medway, KEF is driven by a passionate belief in the power of new materials, new technologies and design ingenuity. Still occupying the same riverbank site, KEF passionately remains true to its patented, proven technologies such as Uni-Q® and ACE®. These characteristics, traditions and above all sound quality, secure KEF's world-class reputation.
About KEF, Inc.
KEF, a division of GP Acoustics, offers loyal North American audiophiles a stream of innovative speakers and components unmatched in the industry. Headquartered in Marlboro, New Jersey, KEF America shares the same guiding principles as its British counterpart: ground-breaking design, exceptional sound and an unshakeable commitment to excellence.
For additional information about KEF America and its award-winning products, please visit www.kef.com.
“We are truly honored to have received this recognition from Electronic House magazine,” said Alec Chanin, president of KEF America. “The HTB2 is a tremendously exciting product and continues our tradition of offering innovative, sophisticated, and décor-friendly solutions that deliver the 3D sound and stunning bass realism that are our trademarks.”
The HTB2 sports a radical new design that complements modern décor, and uses a 10-inch bass driver along with a 10-inch Auxiliary Bass Radiator. The ultra long-throw design and all-new 250 watt amplifier produce deep, defined bass with a tight response, and SmartBass ‘connect and go’ functionality means that set-up is quick and simple. The subwoofer also features an acoustically inert ABS-molded enclosure and its two-position phase switch and three-position bass boost switch lets users easily adjust sound at any time.
The HTB2 gives home theater enthusiasts complete placement flexibility. After careful research with consumers, KEF designed the HTB2 for either vertical or horizontal placement. This is achieved by simply removing the factory fitted base-foot (for vertical) and fixing the additional three feet to the rim of the driver (for horizontal). No matter how the sub is positioned, the control panel and connections are easily accessible.
The KEF Home Theatre 3000 Series builds on the huge success of the popular KHT2005.2 system, resulting in a 5.1 system that delivers the dialogue and sound effects of today’s digital soundtracks, as well as the streamlined looks design-conscious consumers demand. Currently available, the system comprised of 4 satellites, 1 center channel and the HTB2 subwoofer, retails at an MSRP of $1,500. To match a variety of home interiors, KEF offers the 3000 series in high-gloss silver or in a stunningly new high-gloss black finish. A la carté, the HTB2 retails at $799.
Winning products were selected by Electronic House editors based on reviews released throughout the year, product demos, installer feedback, innovative features and overall value. The winning products will be featured in the September issue of Electronic House and on www.electronichouse.com.
Talking Points:
- KEF’s HTB2 high-powered subwoofer wins Electronic House Magazine’s 2006 Product of the Year Award.
- The HTB2 sports a radical, ultra long-throw design featuring a 10” bass driver along with a 10” Auxiliary Bass Radiator.
- All-new 250 watt amplifier produces deep, defined bass with a tight response.
- Acoustically inert enclosure is shaped to eliminate internal standing waves for extreme bass realism.
- SmartBass™ ‘connect and go’ functionality makes setup a breeze.
- Two-position phase switch and three-position bass boost switch lets users easily adjust sound at any time.
- Complete placement flexibility allows for vertical or horizontal subwoofer placement depending on space requirements or taste.
- Part of KEF’s KHT3000 Series 5.1 home cinema speaker system comprised of 4 satellites, 1 center channel and HTB2 subwoofer. The complete system retails at an MSRP of $1,500.
- A la carté, the HTB2 retails at $799.
- Winning products were selected by Electronic House editors based on reviews released throughout the year, product demos, installer feedback, innovative features and overall value.
About KEF Audio
KEF, a division of GP Acoustics, is a UK based company that has earned a reputation as the premier manufacturer of stunning, audiophile-quality speakers for modern home cinema, hi-fi and custom installation applications. KEF products which are distributed around the globe, have won awards from both sides of the Atlantic, as KEF is a brand name long associated with style, quality and technical innovation.
Founded in 1961 by a British electrical engineer named Raymond Cooke on the banks of the River Medway, KEF is driven by a passionate belief in the power of new materials, new technologies and design ingenuity. Still occupying the same riverbank site, KEF passionately remains true to its patented, proven technologies such as Uni-Q® and ACE®. These characteristics, traditions and above all sound quality, secure KEF's world-class reputation.
About KEF, Inc.
KEF, a division of GP Acoustics, offers loyal North American audiophiles a stream of innovative speakers and components unmatched in the industry. Headquartered in Marlboro, New Jersey, KEF America shares the same guiding principles as its British counterpart: ground-breaking design, exceptional sound and an unshakeable commitment to excellence.
For additional information about KEF America and its award-winning products, please visit www.kef.com.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
home theater speaker: Top 12 User Rated Home Theater Surround Sound Systems
By Guy Wright
There are three main components to consider when building a home theater – a big screen TV, some content to watch (from a DVD player, VCR, cable, satellite, or broadcast source), and a surround sound system.
Not too long ago ‘Home Theater in a Box’ surround sound systems were notoriously poor quality, but in recent years these systems have improved dramatically. We scouted around and found an even dozen of the highest user rated home theater surround sound systems – rated by users who actually own them.
At the heart of any surround sound system is the receiver – sometimes it is a separate, stand-alone unit and sometimes the receiver is built into a DVD player. The receiver ‘decodes’ the specially encoded surround signals (Dolby, DTS, THX, etc.) into different channels, amplifies each of these channels, and sends them to the multiple surround speakers. Early surround systems had three speakers (left, right, and center) but today most surround systems have at least six speakers (left, right, center, two surround speakers, and a sub-woofer). Since many surround encoding schemes don’t actually have a discreet sub-woofer signal the receiver has to ‘synthesize’ the sub-woofer channel based on the other five signals which is why a six speaker surround sound system will have the designation 5.1 (the ‘dot one’ refers to the sub-woofer). These days there are 6.1 systems, 7.1 systems, and some with even more speakers (although you’d be hard pressed to find any content that is encoded for anything above 7.1).
Now you could go out and buy a surround sound receiver and cobble together an assortment of home stereo speakers from different manufacturers but the odds are you’d be disappointed with the results. That’s because it’s important for all the speakers in a surround sound setup to be ‘matched’ – in other words they should all have the same acoustic profiles. That is why manufactures started offering complete systems with receivers and sets of matched speakers.
There are three main components to consider when building a home theater – a big screen TV, some content to watch (from a DVD player, VCR, cable, satellite, or broadcast source), and a surround sound system.
Not too long ago ‘Home Theater in a Box’ surround sound systems were notoriously poor quality, but in recent years these systems have improved dramatically. We scouted around and found an even dozen of the highest user rated home theater surround sound systems – rated by users who actually own them.
At the heart of any surround sound system is the receiver – sometimes it is a separate, stand-alone unit and sometimes the receiver is built into a DVD player. The receiver ‘decodes’ the specially encoded surround signals (Dolby, DTS, THX, etc.) into different channels, amplifies each of these channels, and sends them to the multiple surround speakers. Early surround systems had three speakers (left, right, and center) but today most surround systems have at least six speakers (left, right, center, two surround speakers, and a sub-woofer). Since many surround encoding schemes don’t actually have a discreet sub-woofer signal the receiver has to ‘synthesize’ the sub-woofer channel based on the other five signals which is why a six speaker surround sound system will have the designation 5.1 (the ‘dot one’ refers to the sub-woofer). These days there are 6.1 systems, 7.1 systems, and some with even more speakers (although you’d be hard pressed to find any content that is encoded for anything above 7.1).
Now you could go out and buy a surround sound receiver and cobble together an assortment of home stereo speakers from different manufacturers but the odds are you’d be disappointed with the results. That’s because it’s important for all the speakers in a surround sound setup to be ‘matched’ – in other words they should all have the same acoustic profiles. That is why manufactures started offering complete systems with receivers and sets of matched speakers.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
home theater speaker: iGroove, My Book Clearly Speak To iPodders
July 28, 2006
The Klipsch family has been making loudspeakers for 60 years, but they're just getting the hang of all this iPod business.
The basic get-rich-quick iPod plan goes like this:
Design a docking station/speaker system; call it i-Whateveryouwant (the prefix, however, must be lowercase, just like the iPod); color it basic iPod white or black; and elevate the price to iPod territory, $250 to $350.
Late last year, Klipsch waded into the iPod market with the iGroove speaker system and got two parts of the formula right. It aced the lowercase-i part and hit the sweet spot in pricing, $280. But the silver iGroove, though a match for popular "lifestyle" home-theater speaker systems, clearly violated the iPod code.
Now Klipsch returns with the new iGroove HG in shiny Darth Vader black - it's HG, as in high gloss - with a new price ($250) that puts it distinctly below Apple's own iPod Hi-Fi ($349) and the Bose SoundDock ($299).
However it's dressed, named or priced, the iGroove gets the business that matters most - sound - dead right. That should have been expected from the company that popularized horn-loaded speakers. The horn (an alternative to the conventional tweeter, which reproduces high-frequency signals in a loudspeaker) works much like a megaphone. You know how wide, and how loud, a voice sounds through a megaphone? That's the Klipsch horn principle.
For the iGroove, Klipsch (www.klipsch.com) uses a hybrid design it calls MicroTractrix, horn-loaded tweeters that position a traditional 1-inch dome tweeter at the short end of a megaphone-shaped horn. Klipsch mounted one of these tweeters above a 2.5-inch midbass driver on each side of the iGroove. In the middle, the iPod dock sits like a throne for your favorite digital music player.
The iGroove, only 16 inches wide, is gently arced and tilted back slightly, which angles sound up, and outward, into a room. Combined with the horns, which broadens the soundstage, the iGroove plays much bigger than its size. It also plays surprisingly loud. A small port on the back side releases energy produced by the midbass drivers, allowing the iGroove to play lower notes louder and slightly deeper with less distortion.
Klipsch includes adapters for the iPod Nano and iPod Mini. A separate contraption called a J-Cup snaps into the iGroove dock, then becomes a dock itself for non-iPod music players or, with an extension cable, other devices like a DVD player, TV or computer. It worked perfectly, for example, as a home for the Pioneer Inno, which combines an XM Satellite Radio with an iPod-style music player.
The iGroove has two volume controls and an on/off button. Those functions and additional controls for play and forward/back are also accessible with a too-tiny remote control that didn't always obey my commands.
The iGroove and my black Nano made a very handsome couple, but I almost gagged at the thought that here sat almost $500 in electronic equipment. Shouldn't that buy something more substantial - like surround-sound for a home theater?
But it sounded extremely good, tapered obviously at both extremes of the sonic spectrum so that it might player louder, with less listener fatigue. It handled the driving jazz of guitarist John Scofield's "Works for Me," the unlikely Afro-Celtic fusion of Baka Beyond's "East to West," the authentically Celtic duo Pipeline's self-titled debut and anything else stocked on the Nano.
The iGroove is a serious, if diminutive, sound system that deserves some iPod action.
What's so wrong about silver, anyway?
Song Book
If you're paying 99 cents a pop tune, the digital music library sitting on your computer's hard drive soon becomes more valuable than the iPod it's feeding.
Your library needs a safe house like an external hard drive. Western Digital's My Book external hard drives not only store all of your music - they're available from 160 to 500 gigabytes - but do it with dignity. My Book, in fact, looks like one. If the Xbox 360 were a reader, this might be the type of volume on its shelf. Sure, it's a little mechanical- looking, but the 500-gigabyte Premium Edition ($349) holds 125,000 songs stored as MP3 files or 12,000 songs as uncompressed, CD-quality files.
It also could be used to store high-definition video (up to 60 hours), digital photos (up to 142,000) or anything else digital worth saving. Information: www.westerndigital.com.
Kevin Hunt, The Courant's consumer electronics columnist, wrote this for the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at hunt@courant.com.
E-mail: hunt@courant.com
The Klipsch family has been making loudspeakers for 60 years, but they're just getting the hang of all this iPod business.
The basic get-rich-quick iPod plan goes like this:
Design a docking station/speaker system; call it i-Whateveryouwant (the prefix, however, must be lowercase, just like the iPod); color it basic iPod white or black; and elevate the price to iPod territory, $250 to $350.
Late last year, Klipsch waded into the iPod market with the iGroove speaker system and got two parts of the formula right. It aced the lowercase-i part and hit the sweet spot in pricing, $280. But the silver iGroove, though a match for popular "lifestyle" home-theater speaker systems, clearly violated the iPod code.
Now Klipsch returns with the new iGroove HG in shiny Darth Vader black - it's HG, as in high gloss - with a new price ($250) that puts it distinctly below Apple's own iPod Hi-Fi ($349) and the Bose SoundDock ($299).
However it's dressed, named or priced, the iGroove gets the business that matters most - sound - dead right. That should have been expected from the company that popularized horn-loaded speakers. The horn (an alternative to the conventional tweeter, which reproduces high-frequency signals in a loudspeaker) works much like a megaphone. You know how wide, and how loud, a voice sounds through a megaphone? That's the Klipsch horn principle.
For the iGroove, Klipsch (www.klipsch.com) uses a hybrid design it calls MicroTractrix, horn-loaded tweeters that position a traditional 1-inch dome tweeter at the short end of a megaphone-shaped horn. Klipsch mounted one of these tweeters above a 2.5-inch midbass driver on each side of the iGroove. In the middle, the iPod dock sits like a throne for your favorite digital music player.
The iGroove, only 16 inches wide, is gently arced and tilted back slightly, which angles sound up, and outward, into a room. Combined with the horns, which broadens the soundstage, the iGroove plays much bigger than its size. It also plays surprisingly loud. A small port on the back side releases energy produced by the midbass drivers, allowing the iGroove to play lower notes louder and slightly deeper with less distortion.
Klipsch includes adapters for the iPod Nano and iPod Mini. A separate contraption called a J-Cup snaps into the iGroove dock, then becomes a dock itself for non-iPod music players or, with an extension cable, other devices like a DVD player, TV or computer. It worked perfectly, for example, as a home for the Pioneer Inno, which combines an XM Satellite Radio with an iPod-style music player.
The iGroove has two volume controls and an on/off button. Those functions and additional controls for play and forward/back are also accessible with a too-tiny remote control that didn't always obey my commands.
The iGroove and my black Nano made a very handsome couple, but I almost gagged at the thought that here sat almost $500 in electronic equipment. Shouldn't that buy something more substantial - like surround-sound for a home theater?
But it sounded extremely good, tapered obviously at both extremes of the sonic spectrum so that it might player louder, with less listener fatigue. It handled the driving jazz of guitarist John Scofield's "Works for Me," the unlikely Afro-Celtic fusion of Baka Beyond's "East to West," the authentically Celtic duo Pipeline's self-titled debut and anything else stocked on the Nano.
The iGroove is a serious, if diminutive, sound system that deserves some iPod action.
What's so wrong about silver, anyway?
Song Book
If you're paying 99 cents a pop tune, the digital music library sitting on your computer's hard drive soon becomes more valuable than the iPod it's feeding.
Your library needs a safe house like an external hard drive. Western Digital's My Book external hard drives not only store all of your music - they're available from 160 to 500 gigabytes - but do it with dignity. My Book, in fact, looks like one. If the Xbox 360 were a reader, this might be the type of volume on its shelf. Sure, it's a little mechanical- looking, but the 500-gigabyte Premium Edition ($349) holds 125,000 songs stored as MP3 files or 12,000 songs as uncompressed, CD-quality files.
It also could be used to store high-definition video (up to 60 hours), digital photos (up to 142,000) or anything else digital worth saving. Information: www.westerndigital.com.
Kevin Hunt, The Courant's consumer electronics columnist, wrote this for the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at hunt@courant.com.
E-mail: hunt@courant.com
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