Scott Wilkinson

Premiere Design
NBS Universal Power Amplifier
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 18, 2010

<A href="http://www.nbscables.com">NBS</A> is perhaps best known for high-end cables&#151;its URL is nbscables.com, after all&#151;but this American boutique audio company also makes a few unusual speakers and electronic components. I'm especially intrigued by the Universal Power Amplifier (UPA), a unique monoblock that is truly universal in design and operation.

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Audio Video News
No More Analog High Def from Blu-ray
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 17, 2010

<A href="http://www.cepro.com/article/say_goodbye_to_analog_ports_on_blu_ray_play... Pro reported yesterday</A> that Blu-ray players made after December 31, 2010, will be required to downconvert high-def content to 480i or 576i for their component-video outputs. Who has the authority to require this? The <A href="http://www.aacsla.com/home">AACS Licensing Administrator</A>, that's who. This industry-wide organization develops and maintains the Advanced Access Content System, a critical element in the effort to combat piracy by managing how content can be viewed and copied.

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Ask S&V
Older AVR, Surround Placement, Audiophile Debate
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 17, 2010
HDMI-less
My father-in-law had a home-theater system installed a couple of years ago and would like to add a Blu-ray player. He asked me to hook it up, but I'm running into a problem with his system. The receiver is a Yamaha RX-V659, which only has component-video switching. I want to avoid running a separate HDMI cable to the TV and having him switch sources on the TV and receiver separately. Will connecting a Blu-ray player via component video cause the player to downconvert copy-protected disks to 480i? Do the majority of Blu-ray titles have HDCP?
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Premiere Design
Naim Ovator S-600 Speaker
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 16, 2010

<A href="http://www.naim-audio.com">Naim</A> is a name well known to audiophiles. This British high-end company makes virtually all types of audio products, from CD players and hard-disk servers to preamps, power amps, speakers, and everything in between (except cables). New to Naim's speaker lineup is the flagship Ovator S-600, which has taken three years to bring to market and features some innovative elements.

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The Big Picture
Panasonic's Black Eye
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 12, 2010

It's been a bad week for Panasonic. A report of suddenly rising black levels in its 2008 and '09 plasmas gained some serious traction throughout the A/V community over the past few days, even though it's been brewing since July 31, 2009, when AVS Forum member Orta (who I assume is male) <A href="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1167339">posted that his TC-P50G10 doubled its black level literally overnight, with measurements to prove it</A>. As you might imagine, this led to a flurry of concern, to which Panasonic finally responded with this official statement:

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Premiere Design
Neuromonics Tinnitus Breakthrough?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 11, 2010

Among the maladies to which music lovers are especially susceptible, hearing damage caused by prolonged exposure to loud sounds is perhaps the most pernicious. When you're young, you normally don't think about the consequences of cranking up the volume, but if you do that routinely, you are sure to suffer some form of hearing deficit in your later&#151;or, in some cases, not so later&#151;years.

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Ask S&V
RPTVs, Speakers, Aspect Ratios
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 10, 2010
Defending RPTV
I think you're a little harsh on rear-projection HDTVs. They've changed. For instance, the 67-inch Samsung I bought last year has no lamp and no color wheel. It's lit by three LEDs that fire their color beams directly at the DLP chip. No lamp to replace, no mechanical troublemaker. Also, the picture fully retains its brightness within an arc that is realistic for most home viewing.
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Premiere Design
Glass Act
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 10, 2010

Glass isn't the first thing I would think of as an ideal material for speaker cabinets, but French manufacturer <A href="http://www.waterfallaudio.com">Waterfall Audio</A> disagrees. Its new flagship Niagara is a thing of crystalline beauty that boasts impressive specs.

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Home Theater Geeks Podcast
Podcast 9: Mark Waldrep
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 09, 2010  |  Published: Feb 10, 2010
AIX Records and iTrax.com founder Mark Waldrep talks about what high-definition audio really means, multichannel music, Blu-ray as an audio medium, discs vs. downloads, digital vs. analog, and more.

Run Time: 1:12:11

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Desktop Speaker Reviews
B&W Zeppelin and Zeppelin Mini iPod Sound Systems
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 09, 2010
When I profiled the B&W Zeppelin and Zeppelin Mini iPod sound systems in my Ultimate Gear blog, I got several requests for a real review. So I contacted B&W, which sent me both units to play with, and I'm happy to report that they both live up to the company's considerable reputation—once you get the settings right.
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