Bruce Fordyce

In-Wall Speaker Reviews
It Came From Above
Bruce Fordyce  |  Oct 28, 2000  |  Published: Oct 29, 2000
Installing a multiroom in-ceiling speaker system. Let's face it, gang: Many of us spend our lives swinging through the work week like modern-day Jedi Knights, slicing through red tape and stupidity only to languish for 45 minutes inching through vicious gridlock to get home. The only thing keeping yours truly from eating the business end of a Browning pistol is knowing that, when I get home to my suburban stucco castle, I can slip into a nice sixer of Harp lager and listen to the soothing melodies of classic Dead Kennedys.
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AV Receiver Reviews
Denon AVR-4800 Receiver
Bruce Fordyce  |  Sep 03, 2000  |  Published: Sep 04, 2000
Denon's AVR-4800 receiver is the one-box key to home theater nirvana. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in your living room, the consumer electronics industry has come up with yet another home theater surround scheme: THX Surround EX. If excess truly is the path to the palace of wisdom, then it will be home theater products, not those retro hippie Gingko brain supplements, that make us all smart really quick. Wisdom will, however, probably have to take a back seat to confusion before all is said and done. Nonetheless, THX Surround EX is here, although its entrance was not celebrated with the carnival-like fanfare that heralded the entrance of Dolby Digital and DTS.
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Other Source Component Reviews
Sony DVP-CX850D 200-Disc DVD/CD Changer
Bruce Fordyce  |  Apr 28, 2000  |  Published: Apr 29, 2000
Finally, you can store all your movies in one tidy, little box— Sony's DVP-CX850D 200-disc changer. Among DVD's grand promises are not just CD-quality sound and 500-line picture resolution but the ability to finally store all your movies in one small, tidy box. Such is the accomplishment of the Sony DVP-CX850D 200-disc DVD/CD changer. Imagine being able to hold 200 movies within a 7.5- by 17- by 19-inch package. The equivalent stack of VHS tapes makes for a 16-foot skyscraper that's neither practical nor elegant. For the average suburban home-movie enthusiast, the ability to store a complete studio of movie (and music) software in a rack-mountable changer goes a long way toward promoting marital (or cohabitant) bliss...or at least a defendable détente. If you're a big-time collector and have more than 200 disc titles, the DVP-CX850D can be daisy-chained to another appropriately equipped changer. Priced at $899, the DVP-CX850D is lavished with so many technical features that filtering it down to a 1,200-word review is an exercise in minimalism, but here goes.
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