Thomas J. Norton

Subwoofer ReviewsSurround Sound System ReviewsTower Speaker Reviews
Paradigm Premier 700F Speaker System Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 31, 2019

Premier 700F Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value

Defiance X-12 subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $4,700 (as tested)

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Crisp detail
Big, powerful sound
Minus
Tower unstable on thick carpet
Poorly designed grilles

THE VERDICT
The Premier range is far from the most expensive in Paradigm's speaker lineup, but the performance and build quality that it offers lets it compete with speakers twice the price.

The other day a friend who's neither a videophile nor an audiophile dropped by my home to watch a movie. A pair of loudspeakers I had just finished reviewing for Stereophile, our sister publication, were sitting in a corner, waiting to be packed up. When I told him their price—$6,000/pair—he appeared shocked. Even Paradigm's affordable new 700F speakers, then as now serving as the left/right channels in my system, are pricier than he would like were he to invest in a system of his own (unlikely!).

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A/V Veteran
TV at CES 2019, The Sequel
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 29, 2019
With apologies to Samsung and a few others who haven’t made the OLED plunge, and show no signs of doing so, OLED remains today’s hottest flat screen technology. But the battle continues as UHDTV manufacturers scramble to take the next big technological leap. That will likely be Micro LED...
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A/V Veteran
CES and All its Many New TVs...Without the Sore Feet
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 15, 2019
A reported 180,000 eager retailers, custom installers, press, and assorted hangers-on descended on Las Vegas last week for the annual, trade-only CES. Even though I wasn’t one of them, I will still offer up my 2 cents on the many TVs introduced at last week's show.
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Blu-ray Movie ReviewsUltra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Incredibles 2
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 21, 2018
Picture
Sound
Extras
When we last left our intrepid superheroes (in 2004's The Incredibles) they had defeated the nasty villain Syndrome. The new film opens with the Incredibles battling the Underminer, the same villain they had encountered at the end of the previous film. They win the day with the help of their superhero buddy Frozone, but the resulting chaos puts the Incredibles back in the doghouse with the law and the public.
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A/V Veteran
Double Feature: The Lion King (1994) and Prometheus (2012)
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 18, 2018
An odd but strangely rewarding pairing of two movies on 4K Blu-ray, one of which left my jaw on the floor.
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Other TechA/V Veteran
How I Put Audyssey Room Correction to Work for Me
Thomas J. Norton  |  Dec 05, 2018  |  Published: Dec 04, 2018
Room correction is a process by which you eliminate (or I should say, attempt to eliminate) the nasty acoustic qualities of a small room. Many variables are at play, not the least of which are the acoustic characteristics of your room, but today’s room correction systems can be very helpful in improving room response. Here I share my recent experience with one of these systems.
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Projector Reviews
Sony VPL-VW295ES 4K Video Projector Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 28, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $5,000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent resolution
Good HDR brightness
Quiet
Minus
Middling black level
Limited BT.2020 and P3 color coverage
No 10-point white balance adjustment

THE VERDICT
Sony’s VPL-VW295ES isn’t significantly different than last year’s VPL-VW285ES, but it’s still a tempting entry in the limited world of affordable true 4K home projectors.

Until recently, most home 4K projectors used lower-than-4K-resolution imaging chips and employed various types of time-offset pixel shifting to display a 4K image on a screen. Such projectors are affordable and widely available, and they can be remarkably effective. True, full 4K projection, on the other hand, has remained something of a golden goose, priced out of the range of mere mortals.

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A/V Veteran
Black Friday Cometh
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 20, 2018
I have little experience with Black Friday mania, having studiously avoided any contact with Best Buy, Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, or Targea on that frenzied day. Black Friday doesn’t mean a day of mourning, but is rather named for the day of the year when retailers anticipate their annual sales will finally go positive—out of the red and into the black.

And there’s no denying it to be an important day to people with plastic and a yearning for good stuff at fire-sale prices. For them it’s a Holy Day of Obligation. They line up outside at closing time on Thanksgiving (the day before the main event) to spend a cold night bundled up outside hoping to score that new flat screen TV (though Black Friday Vigil sales late on Turkey Day are now a thing)...

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A/V Veteran
Made in China: What it Means for AV Gear
Thomas J. Norton  |  Nov 06, 2018
I don’t know if you’ve noticed (though how could you not) that a lot of the stuff we buy these days is made in China. It ranges from the remarkably cheap (like the lightweight, pleated jacket I bought last year in Walmart (for less than the price of a CD or Blu-ray) to the very expensive (such as Buick’s new Envision SUV—yes, that’s made in the PRC as well, the first U.S. car made there, by GM Shanghai). It’s difficult to buy anything today without encountering a product made in China as the only viable alternative. And even if it’s manufactured in the U.S., many of its individual pieces were likely sourced in China...
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4K TV ReviewsLCD TV ReviewsTV Reviews
Vizio PQ65-F1 LCD Ultra HDTV Review
Thomas J. Norton  |  Oct 31, 2018

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $2,100

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Exceptional Value
Effective full array local dimming
Brilliant HDR
Minus
Limited off-center viewing angle
So-so sound

THE VERDICT
Three years ago, Vizio’s flagship 65-inch Ultra HD set carried a $6,000 MSRP. Today’s P-Series Quantum, the most advanced and highest-performing model in the company’s lineup, retails for $2,100. That’s a boon for consumers—and a serious throwdown to the competition.

Founded in 2002, Vizio is an American company headquartered in California that aims to offer top-quality TVs at prices appealing to a wide range of consumers. Vizio came close to being bought out by Chinese company LeEco in 2017. But that purchase fell through for a number of reasons and the company remains American-owned. HDTVs and UHDTVs remain its primary focus, but Vizio also markets a competitively-priced lineup of soundbars.

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