AT A GLANCE Plus
Striking front panel display
Excellent sound quality
Effective Dirac Live room correction
Future-ready MDC chassis
Minus
No analog video inputs
HDMI Out 2 only supports 1080p
THE VERDICT
Those who value sound quality will find much to love about the T 778, which features BluOS multiroom music streaming and Dirac Live room correction, along with an upgradeable chassis to prevent obsolescence.
While entry-level surround systems move increasingly toward less complicated designs that pair soundbars with wireless speakers and subs, the A/V receiver remains the steadfast workhorse of the media room. As such, it is arguably the most important component in your system, handling all audio/video switching, amplification, audio and room correction processing, and often much more. And as systems move from 5.1- to 11.2-channels-plus, the AVR is being called on to do even more.
One highlight of Sound & Vision’s CES 2020 TV coverage was LG’s 48-inch CX series 4K OLED TV, a model the company touts as a desktop monitor option for gamers, as well as viewers with limited living space. LG has been gradually rolling out its new OLED line this spring, including the 65-inch GX series model that recently earned our Top Pick, but there’s been no sight yet of its new baby OLED. That situation changes in late June, when LG will ship the 48CX in the U.S. following release in select European and Asian markets.
Back in early January we reported that The Quest Group, California-based owner of AudioQuest, had purchased speaker maker GoldenEar Technology. The following week, I met with GoldenEar co-founder Sandy Gross in the AudioQuest suite at CES and was happy to learn he would be continuing in his old role at the new company for the time being. Well, that time is now up: Gross has announced he is leaving The Quest Group in order to pursue his “many interests.”
Well the first thing you know ol' Jed's a millionaire. Kinfolk said, "Jed move away from there." Said, "Californy is the place you ought to be." So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools. Movie stars. Corona virus.
Enthralling in every way a movie can be, George Lucas' Star Wars (retconned as Episode IV: A New Hopein 1981) is simply one of the greatest achievements to ever hit the screen. A wildly imaginative yet classically inspired adventure, it has been entertaining audiences—and spawning prequels, sequels and spinoffs—since 1977.
Sure, we’ve been home for the past few months, and some of us are just starting to make our first tentative forays into the outside world. The problem is, we’ve become completely addicted to watching TV in the interim and are now going to need bigscreen sets in our backyards as well. All of which makes Samsung’s announcement of its first outdoor TV and soundbar especially timely.
The inimitable Robin Williams once said, “Spring is nature’s way of saying let’s party.” Living in the Northeast, I couldn’t agree more. Summer’s just around the corner and lockdown rules are finally being loosened to allow parks, beaches, and businesses to open. But the thing is, your backyard never closed. And what better time to take the music and other entertainment you enjoy inside your home to the great outdoors.
One thing our ongoing pandemic lockdown continues to remind many of us music lovers of on a daily basis is just how much we all miss attending live concert events.
It has been months since we could go out to the movies with friends and family, but there still are ways to view movies with friends during this time of safe social distancing. At a basic level, you could coordinate a movie start time while having a FaceTime conversation on your phones. You could also start a movie and share your screen in Zoom, Discord, or Microsoft Teams. But a better option is to install a web browser extension that synchronizes the viewing experience alongside video-chat or text messaging.