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Audio Video NewsNew Products
New LG Speakers Boast Meridian Audio Processing, Dolby Atmos
SV Staff  |  Jun 19, 2018
LG today introduced a series of soundbars and portable Bluetooth speakers featuring audio processing from U.K.’s Meridian Audio.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Optoma Smart Projector Now Speaks Google and Alexa
SV Staff  |  Jun 19, 2018
Optoma has added Google Assistant voice control to the first-of-its-kind Alexa-enabled projector it shipped in May.
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Signals
We Are Miserable, Slothful Creatures. Can Technology Save Us From Ourselves?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 19, 2018
With all due respect to sloths (arboreal mammals that hang upside down from trees) we (humans) are total sloths (ie. reluctant to work or make an effort; lazy). To prove my point, your Honor, I submit Exhibit A, those red Netflix mail-in envelopes.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Yamaha Updates Best Selling DTS Virtual:X Soundbar
SV Staff  |  Jun 18, 2018
Yamaha today announced a “reimagined” version of its best-selling soundbar, the YAS-107, the model just below the Top Pick-designated YAS-207 we reviewed last fall.
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Audio Video NewsNew Products
Revel Unveils PerformaBe Speaker Series
SV Staff  |  Jun 18, 2018
Revel has unveiled the PerformaBe speaker series born out of the desire to “create a loudspeaker that redefines performance expectations.”
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Grace Notes
Beyoncé and Jay-Z Making Waves at Tidal
Leslie Shapiro  |  Jun 18, 2018
The Carters, better known as Jay-Z and Beyoncé, have just released Everything is Love, their first joint album, exclusively on Tidal. Jay-Z owns Tidal, and Mrs. Carter is a large shareholder in the music streaming company. While Tidal is facing accusations of late royalty payments, unreliable subscription counts and inflated streaming numbers, the power couple takes a hard stab at Spotify in the new album.

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Audio Video News
HBO: ‘Barry’ Now Available for Download, GoT Music in the Works
SV Staff  |  Jun 18, 2018
HBO is releasing Season 1 of the critically acclaimed dark comedy series, Barry for digital download today.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Darkest Hour
Tom Norton  |  Jun 15, 2018
Picture
Sound
Extras
Darkest Hour shows the other side of the 1940 events depicted in 2017’s equally superb Dunkirk. The latter showed the evacuations that enabled the British army to survive, the former depicted how Churchill, taking the office of Prime Minister almost by default, navigated around the pacifists in his cabinet who wanted to negotiate a settlement with Hitler’s Nazi Germany. In doing so he cemented his status as arguably the most important national leader of the 20th century.
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Soundbar Reviews
Q Acoustics M2 Soundbase Review
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jun 15, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $350

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Even coverage from unusual drivers
Down-firing bass driver
Minus
No Dolby or DTS decoding
Limited EQ options

THE VERDICT
The Q Acoustics M2 soundbase is a well-built and well-voiced product whose cleverly constructed flat-diaphragm drivers provide wide dispersion and excellent overall sound.

I will never forget my first flat-panel TV. Its substantial metal chassis included large side-mounted speakers that sounded, by TV standards, pretty good. Sure, I used my surround system for movies, but it never would have occurred to me to use an external audio system just to watch the news. My next flat-panel TV was flatter, though not in any way that especially benefitted me, and its back-firing speakers were too awful to survive more than a single newscast. I hooked up a good pair of powered speakers and called it a day. Since then, TV enclosures have only gotten slimmer and flimsier. With rare exceptions, their speakers sound worse than ever. That’s an opportunity for companies like Q Acoustics, which offers two soundbars and the new M2 soundbase ($350), reviewed here.

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Audio Video NewsNew Products
New MartinLogan Subwoofers Boast Wireless Control
SV Staff  |  Jun 14, 2018
MartinLogan has expanded its Dynamo Series of subwoofers with five models ranging in price from $400 to $1,700. Four of the five new models feature app-based control via Bluetooth as well as wireless room correction...
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