Scandinavian design is often highly unusual. Case in pointthe Helsinki 1.5 speaker from Finnish Gradient, which made the cover of the August 2010 issue of Stereophile.
Over a year ago, I profiled the amazing 101 X-treme speaker system from MBL. If you don't have a quarter-million dollars or a floor capable of supporting its 3600-pound bulk, consider the newly refined 101E Mk II.
Over a year ago, I profiled the amazing 101 X-treme speaker system from MBL. If you don't have a quarter-million dollars or a floor capable of supporting its 3600-pound bulk, consider the newly refined 101E Mk II.
With his magical hammer Mjöllnir, the Norse god Thor is said to have produced thunder. So there is no more appropriate name than Thor's Hammer for the ultimate subwoofer from Wilson Audio. In fact, this monster might have put Thor himself to shame, since it can reproduce frequencies even lower than natural thunder.
Wilson Audio is well known for ultra-high-end speakers, but most of its products are designed for 2-channel listening. To create a full surround system, all you need do is mate any of Wilson's superlative L/R models with a center, surrounds, subwoofer, and controller from the WATCH (Wilson Audio Theater Comes Home) lineup.
Traffic on the San Diego Freeway and surrounding surface streets was among the worst I've seen in many years as Tom Norton and I slowly made our way to Sony's big 3D launch event yesterday at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. We finally got past the accidentafter a medevac helicopter landed right next to us on the freewayand arrived shortly before Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer said, "Thanks for coming!"
Diamonds Are a Light's Best Friend I am installing a new home theater, starting with a Panasonic PT-AE4000U projector, and I wonder about which screen to use. I would like a 16:9 or 2.35:1 screen. The room has some ambient light, but it can be made totally dark. What do you think of the Screen Innovations Black Diamond II? I have seen some YouTube videos about it, and it really looks great, but I wonder if it's worth the high price?
As I was looking for products to profile in this blog, I came across something astonishing - a tube-based monoblock power amp that costs $350,000/pair! Hand-built by Japanese boutique maker Wavac Audio Lab, the SH-833 isn't new - it was reviewed in Stereophile in 2004 - but when I saw that price tag, I knew I had to include it here.
When I ran across the Ultimate II speaker from Magico, I knew I had to profile it here - hey, the name says it all! This 5-way, horn-loaded monster stands 7.5 feet tall and weighs 800 pounds, and from all reports I've read, it sounds just as impressive as it looks.
The inimitable Michael Fremer, senior contributing editor for Stereophile and contrinbuting editor for Home Theater, waxes rhapsodic about the value of vinyl records, his work as soundtrack supervisor on the original Tron movie, answers to listener questions, and more.