LATEST ADDITIONS

New Products
November 2014 New Gear
Bob Ankosko  |  Nov 10, 2014
An ultra-quiet motorized projection screen, six-way Roku-ready HDMI switcher, audiophile CD player/music streamer, and more.
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Surround Sound System ReviewsBookshelf Speaker Reviews
Silverline Audio Minuet Supreme Plus Speaker System
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 08, 2014  |  First Published: Nov 07, 2014

Performance
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,748

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Versatile with movies and music
Superb build quality
Addictively listenable
Minus
Needs sub reinforcement

THE VERDICT
Like David in a world of Goliaths, Silverline Audio’s Minuet Supreme Plus is the kind of small speaker that makes listening to music an addictive pleasure.

Every January, I find myself walking down a hotel corridor lined with audio exhibitors. Sounds like the dream sequence from an audiophile movie, doesn’t it? I’m talking, of course, about the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Pretty much every year, I pay a visit to Silverline Audio, and pretty much every year, the reward is sweet, involving sound. This year, that sound was coming from Silverline’s Minuet Supreme Plus. Remarkably, it was powered by one of those tiny Class T amps you can buy on Amazon for $30. Having reviewed the original Minuet in 2008—and having loved it—I was eager to hear what its successor would sound like in my system with a better amp.

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Tech2
Ultimate Ears: An Inside Look at the Making of In-Ear Monitors
Lauren Dragan  |  Nov 07, 2014
In-ear custom monitors are generally considered the gold standard for performers and audio professionals. And it makes sense; monitors are one of the only pieces of equipment that are made just for your anatomy and nobody else’s. The process of going from fitting to final product has remained largely unchanged for years: a painstaking, labor-intensive process.

Ultimate Ears is working on streamlining their workflow with the addition of 3D scanning, editing and printing. It’s working: what used to take three weeks, now can be done in one. But monitors at Ultimate Ears  still take a shocking amount of craftsmanship and skill to make, and I got to take a tour of their facility in southern California to see just how it’s all done. Wanna see? Check this out!
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Ears On
Meet the New Dolby Surround
Mark Fleischmann  |  Nov 07, 2014
Dolby Atmos is hitting surround audiophiles like a succession of giant waves crashing on the beach. The first wave is Dolby Atmos in movie theaters. The second wave is Atmos in Atmos-enabled speakers and surround receivers. But what about that third wave, the one nobody's discussing? That's the quiet incorporation of another totally new technology into the Atmos technology bundle. I'm talking about Dolby Surround.

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Headphone Reviews
V-Moda XS Headphone
Steve Guttenberg  |  Nov 06, 2014

Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
PRICE $199

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Wowie-zowie style
Nearly indestructible
High-impact sound
Minus
Over-40 crowd might feel awkward wearing something as hip as the XS

THE VERDICT
With the XS, V-Moda somehow made a bassy headphone even an audiophile could love.

Val Kolton started V-Moda ten years ago, but I didn’t meet the man until 2011. I thought he was their sales guy; he definitely didn’t look like an owner of an audio company, at least not like any I’ve met before. He’s a young, skinny, rock-star type, decked out in black leather and long, jet-black hair. Get him started, and Kolton will talk a mile a minute about music and headphones, but then again, so do I.

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SmartStream
First Look at CBS All Access and CBSN Live Streaming News Channel
Barb Gonzalez  |  Nov 06, 2014
CBS is offering a stand-alone streaming service for network TV programming and launching a 24/7 streaming live news service. Here are the details and a first look at how the streaming website and apps work.
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Audio Video News
Elite Offers Two Versions of Motorized Screen
SV Staff  |  Nov 06, 2014
Elite Screens has announced that that its Saker motorized projection screen is now available in two versions: with side tension cords or with a fiberglass backing, both designed to provide a flat projection surface.
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Ask S&V
Should I Put a Bias Light Behind My Flat Panel TV?
Al Griffin  |  Nov 06, 2014
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q Is there any benefit to using a bias light behind a flat-panel HDTV? —Mike Hassold

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Under the Skin
David Vaughn  |  Nov 05, 2014
Picture
Sound
Extras
An alien being comes to Earth and assumes the form of a gorgeous and seductive young woman and proceeds to drive around Scotland in a cargo van trying to lure unsuspecting male victims back to her lair. Once there, she begins to strip onto an inky-black floor walking backwards into the room. Hypnotized by her beauty, the men strip as they slowly sink into a black pool of death so their bodies can be harvested for some unexplained nefarious purpose. As the film progresses, our alien vixen begins to change and wants to explore what being human is about and is introduced to an Earthly phenomenon known as karma.
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Audio Video News
RIP: Crestron Founder George Feldstein
SV Staff  |  Nov 05, 2014
George Feldstein, chairman and founder of home automation powerhouse Crestron, has died. He was 73.
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