Daniel Kumin

Other Source Component Reviews
Samsung SIR-S4120R TiVo DirecTV DVR
Daniel Kumin  |  Jan 19, 2004  |  0 comments

Photos by Tony Cordoza Samsung's SIR-S4120R neatly combines two of the coolest products in today's pantheon of A/V wonders - digital satellite TV receivers and TiVo video hard-disk recorders (HDRs) - in one trim component that looks more or less like an ordinary DirecTV receiver.

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AV Receiver Reviews
Open Receivers
Daniel Kumin  |  Nov 17, 2003  |  0 comments
Long ago, I used to sell audio/video gear for a living (not a very good living, I might add).
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Tower Speaker Reviews
Athena Audition Series Home Theater Speakers
Daniel Kumin  |  Nov 09, 2003  |  0 comments

Photos by Tony Cordoza As I unpacked Athena Technologies' Audition Series home theater speakers, I recalled that Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, reason, and purity. Was it wise and reasonable, I wondered, to expect purity of sound from a six-piece system that costs less than $1,500? If anyone could make such a system, though, I figured Athena could.

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Surround Processor Reviews
Rotel RSP-1098 A/V Preamp/Processor
Daniel Kumin  |  Oct 13, 2003  |  0 comments

Photos by Tony Cordoza Not too long ago, a loyal Sound & Vision reader wrote complaining that the "audio/video" preamps and receivers we regularly review are really just plain-audio components with a few video inputs and switching thrown in. Point taken. So here's an A/V component with some actual video: the Rotel RSP-1098.

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AV Receiver Buying Tips
Giving Receivers
Daniel Kumin  |  Jun 28, 2003  |  2 comments
Homepage photo, remotes, and back panels by Tony Cordoza Sure, when it comes to A/V receivers, the $4,000 flagships get most of the attention in our fantasy lives, and the $399 loss-leaders get most of the play in the Sunday-paper circulars.
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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
B&W DM600 Series 3 Home Theater Speakers
Daniel Kumin  |  Apr 09, 2003  |  0 comments
Photos by Tony Cordoza For half a century, British speaker maker B&W has been very successful following a strategy of incrementally improving its designs year after year. Building on solid foundations is hard to argue with.
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AV Receiver Reviews
Sunfire Ultimate Digital Surround Receiver
Daniel Kumin  |  Feb 23, 2003  |  0 comments
Photos by Tony Cordoza Naming your company's very first A/V receiver "Ultimate" is a pretty bold move, but Sunfire founder Bob Carver has never been the shy and retiring type.
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Other Tech
Hard-Drive Dreamin'
Daniel Kumin  |  Jan 27, 2003  |  0 comments
(Photos by Tony Cordoza) Let me tell you about my very first hard-disk drive. It was about the size of a VCR and made as much noise as a small refrigerator. It cost about as much as a refrigerator, too-but who cared?
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Other Tech
May We Serve You?
Daniel Kumin  |  Apr 18, 2002  |  0 comments

There once was a time when audio/video components didn't have USB or Ethernet ports. When "kilobits per second" was not a hi-fi term. When a kid who stumbled over a stack of LPs in a dumpster actually knew what they were.

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