LATEST ADDITIONS

Audio Video News
Try-Before-You-Buy Service Adds Audio
SV Staff  |  Apr 27, 2016
San Francisco-based startup Lumoid has added headphones and portable Bluetooth speakers to its try-before-you-buy service, which lets you effectively rent photography and video gear, drones, and wearable fitness trackers for two weeks before making a purchase.
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Headphone Reviews
Oppo PM-2 Headphone Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 26, 2016

Performance
Build Quality
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $699

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Planar diaphragms
Smooth, sweet, high-res sound
Long and short cables supplied
Minus
Not as airy as some competitive ’phones

THE VERDICT
Planar headphones don’t come cheap, but the Oppo PM-2 is a relatively affordable specimen that sounds beautiful with a variety of content and signal sources.

Planar magnetic headphones have potential advantages over conventional dynamic headphones. Their flat diaphragms have magnets evenly spread across them, driving the entire surface, as opposed to a single coil driving the center of a diaphragm. The result can be greater resolution and phase coherence. But that potential performance edge comes at a price. So headphone fans rejoiced when Oppo—which won positive reviews for its $1,099 PM-1—introduced the PM-2, with some of the same features, at a more affordable price of $699, followed by the even more affordable PM-3 ($399). I’ve been spending much of the past year or so listening to the PM-2.

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Audio Video News
Cord Trimming Accelerates
Mark Fleischmann  |  Apr 26, 2016
Seventy-nine percent of U.S. consumers still subscribe to pay TV, but that number is dwindling as cord-trimmers, cord-cutters, and cord-nevers cut into the base. That’s the news from PricewaterhouseCoopers in its report “Videoquake 3.0: The Evolution of TV’s Revolution.”
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Onkyo Unveils Atmos-Ready Home Theater in a Box
SV Staff  |  Apr 26, 2016
And you thought home theater in a box was dead… Not only is HTiB not dead, Onkyo has announced plans to introduce a Dolby Atmos-equipped 5.1.2-channel home theater box system in May.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Marantz Announces Low-Profile Atmos AV Receiver
SV Staff  |  Apr 26, 2016
Marantz is kicking off its 2016 home theater line-up with an affordable, low-profile 7.2-channel network AV receiver aimed at design- and space-conscious enthusiasts who don’t want to compromise on performance.
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Signals
President Obama Wants to Liberate Your Cable Box
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 26, 2016
Quick. What's the company everyone loves to hate? The cable company, of course. The aggravating installation, the inexplicable outtages, the maddening programming bundles, and the fees. Oh yes, the fees. But there's hope, and possibly change. President Obama has endorsed a proposal that would eliminate perhaps the most annoying cable TV fee. That's good, right?

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Ask S&V
Should I Put My Center Speaker Above or Below the TV Screen?
Al Griffin  |  Apr 25, 2016
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I am coordinating the install of my new home theater system with a floating entertainment unit and a 75-inch Sony TV. The system will use three MartinLogan SLM XL speakers for the front channels. My dilemma is whether to position the center-channel speaker above or below the TV. The bottom location is closer to ear level but will require mounting the TV 6 inches higher than I’d like (because of the floating entertainment unit). My idea is to locate the center channel above the TV instead, which also isn’t ideal, but I feel that my ears will be able to adjust better to the configuration than my eyes. What do you think? —Fred Bredemeyer / via e-mail

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Audio Video News
Universal to Release Movies on 4K UHD Blu-ray
SV Staff  |  Apr 25, 2016
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has announced plans to progressively roll out a “broad selection” of films on 4K Ultra HD (UHD) Blu-ray and in UHD digital formats beginning this summer, helping to push the total number of UHD titles expected to be released in 2016 to more than 100.
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Tech2
Earth Day Electronics Tune-up
Lauren Dragan  |  Apr 22, 2016
It’s Earth Day! While you may not have the chance to plant a tree today, you can take a second to do a quick check-in on your green tech savvy. Here’s a few simple ways you can give your home a tuneup. (And maybe even justify buying a few cool new things.)
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Mission: Impossible--Rogue Nation
Chris Chiarella  |  Apr 22, 2016
Picture
Sound
Extras
As if their world-saving missions weren’t hard enough already, the entire Impossible Mission Force is shut down by an overzealous CIA director, and the IMF’s best agent, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), is now an international fugitive. Of course, those setbacks don’t stop him from continuing his search for the Syndicate. The Syndicate is ruthless, frighteningly effective, and worst of all, the CIA refuses to believe that it even exists, so the pursuit is uphill all the way.
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