Thomas J. Norton

Pioneer Elite DV-05 DVD player
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 03, 1999  |  0 comments

When we reviewed Pioneer's flagship Elite DV-09 DVD player in our September 1998 issue, it blew us away so much that it garnered an Editors' Choice award (see the February 1999 issue) as the best DVD player we had reviewed up to that time. This opinion has not changed in the intervening months, but at $2000, the DV-09 is more than many home-theater fans can afford (or justify) for a DVD player. The Elite DV-05, introduced earlier this year, provides many of the features and most of performance capabilities of the DV-09 at a more affordable price.

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Pioneer Elite DV-09 DVD player
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 03, 1999  |  0 comments

The new DV-09 is Pioneer's first DVD player in its Elite line. More than simply an upscale version of a standard Pioneer DVD player, the DV-09 was built from the ground up to be a flagship product. It's also the first DVD player I've seen to have been certified under THX's DVD-player certification program (see sidebar, "THX DVD Players").

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Tower Speaker Reviews
Pioneer Elite Reference loudspeaker system
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 03, 1999  |  1 comments

When Pioneer commissioned Allen Boothroyd, a British industrial designer best known for his work with Meridian Audio, to come up with a unique appearance for its new surround-sound speaker system, they apparently knew what they <I>didn't</I> want: another boring set of square boxes. Nor did they want a speaker system that would blend into Ethan Allen surroundings.

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Tower Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Revel Home Theater
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jul 03, 1998  |  0 comments

R<I>evel</I>. Interesting name for a new speaker company. The most apt definition of the word from my old dictionary is "to take much pleasure; delight." Or perhaps those who chose the name were intrigued by the wordplay they could make with "revel-ation."

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Tower Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Vandersteen Music-and-Cinema loudspeaker system
Thomas J. Norton  |  Aug 03, 1995  |  0 comments

The Vandersteen 3A is a higher-end variation on the theme established by the company's first loudspeaker, the 2C. The latter is still available, though much updated into the current, highly popular 2Ce. A four-way design, the 3A has separate sub-enclosures for each drive unit; the whole affair is covered with a knit grille-cloth "sock" with wood trim end pieces. A rear-mounted metal brace allows the user to vary the tiltback&mdash;an important consideration for best performance with this loudspeaker.

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