AudioRevolution.com's "Best Of 2002" List
The Best High-Performance Audio/Video Equipment You Can Buy
Accessories
Apogee Digital Cables $50 and up
Apogee Digital’s $50 (and up) digital cable, despite its bright purple color, is about as good as it gets. Until you start looking at cables costing a few hundred dollars per meter, these suckers are the answer and can be configured for AES-EBU, COAX or otherwise.
ASC Tube Traps $250 per tube and up
Bryan Southard, Tim Hart and Brian Kahn swear by these magical acoustic cylinders. ASC Tube Traps come in a host of fabric finishes and right a variety or acoustic maladies like first order reflections and absorption for standing waves. Prices range from about $250 per tube – depending on size.
Better Cables Component Video Cable About $99.95
First off, component video cables kick ass for DVD, HDTV and other higher-resolution video sources. Cheap component cables will rob you of video quality without question. BetterCables.com’s factory-direct cables are worth every penny for anyone with a DVD player that didn’t come from Costco and actually has component outputs.
Home Depot Brand AC Ground Floater 49 cents AC ground hum is an evil mutha that needs to be attacked with reckless abandon. Before you clip the third prong from the AC power plug on the offending component – try a 49 cent ground floater from Home Depot. Any good installer will tell you, they can be a life saver and a hum killer.
Lutron Grafik Eye Around $1,000 depending on configuration The Lutron Grafik Eye lighting control is the system of champions. For around $1,000 depending on configuration, you can have total control over four or more lighting scenarios in your room.
Middle Atlantic equipment racks
$500 and up Some audiophiles get scared of rack-mounting gear, but it really is better for performance and results in a far sexier look. You do need to consider cooling issues before you rack ‘em, stack ‘em and pack ‘em. When you are done, you’ll wonder how you lived without ‘em.
Outlaw Audio ICBM $249
Nearly every SACD and DVD-Audio player to date has limited bass management and the ICBM deals with this omission swimmingly. Richard Elen argues that if you don’t have great bass management in your player or AV preamp, you simply NEED an ICBM.
SAS Checkpoint
$200 Lots of guys think they can set up speakers like a pro. They’re normally wrong. You need the right tools. The SAS Checkpoint is used by the best pro installers out there. With a laser mechanism, the Checkpoint uses charts, graphs and laser pointing to help you calculate - not guess at - the best placement for your speakers in your room.
Transparent Reference Audio and Video Cables There is a good reason why nearly every AudioRevolution.com reviewer uses Transparent Reference Cable in their systems. While ungodly expentsive, they are the best. Even pro audio gurus who normally scoff at such foo-foo consumer audio goodies have adopted these networked cables into their mastering and recording systems.
Upcoming reviews for 2002: Terk HTDV antenna
Delisted: GE blacklight, Cobalt Cable Component Video
