Audio Video News

Home theater isn't a huge draw at Alexis Park, home of Specialty Audio exhibits, but some manufacturers have video and surround-sound demos going here. Martin-Logan had one of the best-sounding multichannel rooms we have visited so far, with a "Theater" center channel beneath a Runco PL-50C plasma display, a pair of "Ascents" front left and right, a pair of "Scripts" for the side/rears, a "Cinema" in center rear, and a prototype subwoofer handling low bass duties.

With several big installations under its belt, PBN Audio made a major move into upscale home theater systems this past year. At Alexis Park, the San Diego–based company is showing its flagship Montana WAS loudspeakers on either side of a screen showing music videos provided by an Infocus DLP projector. A large custom-made coffee table hides an 18" subwoofer, with surround sound from entry-level Montana DP speakers. Incredible dynamics are delivered by an array of Sierra Audio Denali amplifiers

Houston's Nova Audio introduced the $15,000/pair Applause S, a stand-mounted self-powered loudspeaker intended for the recording studio market, but ideal for home theater systems where minimal equipment clutter is a priority.

Another engineering myth busted: Transparent Audio is conducting a baffling demonstration of its video cables' capabilities. Using a broadcast quality monitor, visitors can switch between two simultaneous S-video feeds to compare differences between cables: one a competitor's and the other a Transparent High Performance model ($100/meter). We had a difficult time telling the two apart, which was the whole point of the exercise: the competitor's cable is only one meter long, but Transparent's is over sixty feet long with no apparent signal loss.