Chances are if you're reading this you're careful about setting up and configuring your loudspeakers. But if you're new to this game, perhaps you're not. The average consumer may unpack those new speakers carefully, but then simply plunk them down wherever they happen to fit. We've heard stories of surround speakers being placed up front near the mains because it was too inconvenient to run wires to the back of the room! That's certainly understandable, but then why even bother; such placement will almost certainly make the sound worse than simply leaving the surrounds in their box.
I have bad news for you. Really bad news. The TeslaMic is sold out. I know – it is soul crushing. Your dreams of karaoke world domination have been shattered.
Ian Anderson has never taken his foot off the creative gas when it comes to both producing new music and harvesting the wealth of catalog material from Jethro Tull, the groundbreaking prog/folk hybrid band he co-founded in 1967. That said, considering just how active an artist Anderson has been over the past six-plus decades, it might surprise you to learn the stalwart British collective's latest release, The Zealot Gene (InsideOut Music) is in fact the first new Tull studio album in more than 19 years.
Welcome one and all to the inaugural weekly installment of Spatial Audio File. Some people call me the Spatial Audiophile—some people call me Maurice, though I advise against it—but at any rate, each Friday in this space, I will be reviewing select Spatial Audio releases on Apple Music by vetting and recommending key individual tracks and (occasionally) full albums via listening sessions on my home system and headphones alike.
AT A GLANCE Plus
Impressive bass output
Plays loudly without stress
Matching center, surround, and Atmos speakers available
Minus
No wood finish option
Needs to be pulled out into the room for best sound
THE VERDICT
Canton’s Chrono 70 tower speaker delivers powerful sound with ease and represents a great value at its $2K price.
Canton may be a speaker brand that's relatively unknown in North America—no doubt due to the company's products not being available in these parts for the past decade—but the German outfit has been doing business for almost 50 years. Headquartered about 25 miles north of Frankfurt, Canton is one of Germany's largest loudspeaker manufacturers, offering a truly breathtaking spread of models across several product ranges.
Over the last two years, social media has faced increased scrutiny for the information posted on its platforms. In response, Twitter and Facebook started either including links for more information on a subject or removing posts with false information. This past month, the same focus has turned to entertainment streaming platforms via Spotify.
It’s been a long time coming but turntable specialist Pro-Ject Audio Systems USA yesterday announced the availability of its first fully automatic turntable.
Once the Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format showed that it had legs, one question I found myself regularly being asked was, "When is The Criterion Collection going 4K?" The esteemed boutique label certainly didn't rush in, but by the end of 2021, fans and collectors were offered four premiere releases: Citizen Kane, Menace II Society, Mulholland Dr., and Uncut Gems.
Sound & Vision has long been an advocate for surround sound music. Back in the SACD and DVD-Audio disc heyday, we regularly reviewed multichannel music releases in those formats, and when they eventually ground to a halt, we moved on to music-only Blu-ray audio discs and then Deluxe Edition box sets. The latter now serves as the most common outlet for surround music on disc, most often presented on Blu-ray in the immersive Dolby Atmos sound format.