LATEST ADDITIONS

Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

A Here’s a question that has probably been asked and answered a thousand times. I plan to upgrade my system from a 7.1-channel to a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos configuration. Should I replace my current dipole surround speakers with direct-radiating speakers? Also, which 11.2-channel AV receivers should I consider buying? —Dave Brown / via e-mail

Thinking about hiring a custom installation professional? CEDIA, a.k.a. the Custom Electronics Design and Industry Association, has announced the finalists for its Home Technology Professional Awards competition honoring the “best projects” completed by members in the past year.

Delta flyers in first and business classes are in for a treat. The airline has upgraded their headphones to a version of the LSTN Sound Co.’s Troubadour, a full-size over-the-ear model with wooden earcups and noise cancellation. Similar (but not identical) products sell on the LSTN website starting at $149. The partnership will support the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which has provided ear care and hearing aids to 22,000 people around the world.

Believe it or not, even Little Steven—Bruce Springsteen’s longtime guitar foil and songwriting soundboard in The E Street Band, and the decorated Godfather of the Underground Garage and Outlaw Country radio formats—feels the need to recharge the creative batteries every now and then. “This record turned out to be a really wonderful reset, reintroduction, and rebirth of myself,” Little Steven admits about his first solo album in 18 years, Soulfire (Wicked Cool/UMe). “It was a wonderful opportunity to start again, and really show my roots in a way I had never done before. I mean, I never put a blues song on a record before, I never did a doo-wop song before, and I never did a cover of anybody before I did this thing!”