Sometimes good things appear in big packages. So it was when Federal Express arrived at my door with two huge boxes that happen to house one Opera Seconda loudspeaker each. Opera manufactures its loudspeakers in Italy and is sister company to Unison Research, whose two brilliant tubed CD players, the glorious Unico CDE and CDPrimo, I reviewed -- I was taken both by the beautiful build quality and gorgeous sound of both units, especially the CDE. Like the Unison Research line of products, Opera speakers offer plenty of choices, and are all made in the Treviso, Italy factory. Also, like Unison, Opera covers most price points, offering unique products at even at the entry level.  After my extremely positive experience with the Unison CD players and one of their hybrid integrated amps, I was quite excited to hear an Opera ...

AVRev Readers know it is no secret I am an admirer of Paradigm for their reasonably priced, great sounding loudspeakers. Their product line is extremely deep, with state of the art statement speakers at the top, as well as “lifestyle”, compact, yet highly engineered and attractive looking monitors and subwoofers.  I was offered a chance to review Paradigm’s newish MilleniaOne series speakers, which consist of two MilleniaOne front left and right satellites, one MilleniaOne Center Channel speaker, and two MilleniaOne Surrounds. There is a matching sub available, but I received a Special Edition (SE) subwoofer (which usually pairs with the previously reviewed SE 1 Monitors), along with the Paradigm  PBK-1 (Pefect Bass Kit) to use with the system.The speakers are small, measuring 7.75" tall, 4.5" wide and 5.75" deep. They feature a die-cast aluminum enclosure with a high gloss finish ...

You just can’t get away from the iPod.  It dominates the mobile audio space and everyone seems to have one these days either in iPhone form or the standard iPod Touch.  While Apple’s perfected the personal experience of music with their portable line of iPods, they have left the sharing of music up to 3rd part manufactures.  The iPods’s internal speakers certainly don’t cut it, so companies like Altec Lansing have developed solutions for music lovers that want to share what they are listening to with family and friends.  But what do you do with multiple devices iPods or iPhones in the mix?  Fighting over the stereo system can be avoided with a dual dock device, such as the Octiv Duo (MSRP $99.99).  Altec Lansing takes that concept a step further by introducing a way to mix the tracks between ...

I'm a dog lover. I have two English Springer Spaniels, 7 years apart in age, and both are my favorites. I would hate to choose between the two and don't think I could. In the same respect, it's hard to separate my thoughts of Mordaunt-Short's Mezzo speakers from Cambridge Audio's Azur 650R AV Receiver. I lived with both for several months, and the pairing took my living room/entertainment room to a new level. The Mordaunt-Short Mezzo lineup includes six speakers, four of which feature in this review: a pair of Mezzo 2 stand-mount speakers ($795), a pair of Mezzo 6 floorstanders ($1,495), one Mezzo 5 center speaker ($595) and the Mezzo 9 subwoofer ($1,295). Design & SpecsThe Mezzos all feature curved cabinets, which according to Mordaunt-Short, “discourages the build up of standing waves for a cleaner and more realistic sound.” ...

Every speaker design represents a mix of advantages and compromises. Achieving good reproduction across the frequency range from low to high often involves employing drivers of different sizes linked with a crossover network. The large majority of loudspeakers feature such designs. Yet, it's possible for a speaker to approach full-range response without a dedicated woofer and tweeter (or other arrangement) connected by a crossover network. Instead, several drivers of the same size can be employed by using an equalizer to shape response and boost the bottom end. The most famous such design is the Bose 901. This speaker, first introduced in 1968, relied on nine 4.5-inch cone drivers for an “omnidirectional” sound to simulate the sound of a live performance. The 901 cabinet featured an angled back containing eight of the nine drivers, while the front panel housed a single ...