LATEST ADDITIONS

The name says it all.

It's funny to me that so many people try to convince you that the high end is a relatively insignificant factor in the grand scheme of all things audio. Admittedly, if you put the sales figures of one large, mass-market manufacturer next to those of even several high-end manufacturers combined, the former will dwarf the latter every time. But when has audio ever been about sales figures? I certainly don't have space here to elaborate on everything that high-end audio companies do for the middle and lower ends, both tangibly and intangibly. However, one of those benefits is particularly relevant here: the issue of perception. It's hard to overstate the significance of high-end manufacturers getting into the receiver business. Certainly, high-end manufacturers have raised the receiver bar in terms of performance, the quality of internal componentry, and features, but they've also had a tremendous impact on the way that people look at receivers, legitimizing a form that many people consider to be inherently compromised for the sake of convenience and price.

From the early 1950s through the mid-'60s, almost every doctor, lawyer, and chief audio enthusiast had McIntosh products in their home-entertainment systems. Together with Marantz, McIntosh ruled the American high-end audio market.

Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) is the latest twist on venerable LCD technology, and the latest twist in rear projection televisions. Claimed by some home theater fans to be easier on the eyes for long-term viewing than plasma display panels, LCoS offers flicker-free high resolution images without a visible pixel grid.

<A HREF="http://www.sim2.com">SIM2 USA, Inc.</A> has announced the addition of a second generation remote "DigiOptic" Image Processor (DOIP) to the new HT300 LINK DLP front projector to provide greater installation flexibility and a wider choice of inputs. The advanced technical solution is said to provide quality connections to video sources up to 1600 feet away.