Ultimate AV Staff

Thomas J. Norton lights up the groundbreaking <A HREF="/videoprojectors/504sony">Sony QUALIA 004 SXRD projector</A> to see the latest evolution of LCoS technology. TJN reports from his "daily diary recounting my experiences with the QUALIA&mdash;a close-up-and-personal whirlwind affair with the current state of Sony's art in home-theater projectors."

Peter Putman reviews the <A HREF="/videoprojectors/604panasonic">Panasonic PT-AE500U front LCD projector</A>, noting that this product "comes with a great deal of buzz about its color and image quality&mdash;at least from those who saw a preview of it at last year's CEDIA expo." PP tests to see if the buzz was on target.

Fred Manteghian goes flat out to review the <A HREF="/speakersystems/704magnepan">Magnepan MG 3.6, MG 1.6, and CC3 surround speaker system</A>. FM ponders, "A long-gone pair of Maggies was my first true audio love. But could these new Maggies sustain me?"

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<LI>Price: $4,699</LI>
<LI>Output channels: 7.1-channels, single-ended and balanced</LI>
<LI>Decoding: DD, DD EX, ProLogic IIx, DTS, DTS-ES Discrete/Matrix/Neo:6</LI>
<LI>Ins and outs: Seven coax and three toslink digital audio, one AES/EBU, four HDMI and four component video, one 5.1-channel analog, RS-232, eight S-Video, three 12V triggers</LI>
<LI>Highlights: HDMI switching with Gennum video processing with transcoding of composite and S-Video and component video to HDMI, 24/96 A-D and 24/192 D-A conversion, automated setup and EQ with integrated microphone, AV sync delay, multi-source/multi-zone, learning remote (not backlit!).</LI>
</UL>
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