Introduction Let me begin by coming clean about probably being one of the bigger nerds at AVRev.com when it comes to the home theater techno-toys. I jumped at the opportunity to review an all-in-one media manager and the Escient DVDM-552 did not disappoint. Escient is not new to the arena of the music management category of home theater. With several management devices already successfully on the market, Escient was primed for a big splash when it released the DVDM-552 in early 2006. Escient is a division of D&M Holdings, which also owns familiar names such as Marantz, Denon, Boston Acoustics and McIntosh, none of them wimps in the home theater industry. The $5,999 DVDM-552 is a multi-zone music and movie manager targeted for use in a home theater. It slices, it dices and it purées all your media into one conveniently organized interface. It combines DVDs, Internet radio, SACDs, CDs and MP3s into three neatly ...

Introduction The Escient FireBall DVDM-100 retails for $1,995 and is a high-tech solution to the ever-growing problem of AV media management. The FireBall unit is best described as the brain or control center for up to 1200 CDs and/or DVDs. The Escient unit itself does not hold any discs, nor does it have an internal hard drive to store data (like the insanely overpriced Kalidescape products). Instead, these discs are housed in up to three of Sony or Kenwood’s 400-disc changers. The FireBall then acts as a switcher and controller for the external changers. The FireBall also thoughtfully has a built-in Internet radio receiver. For those of you with large MP3 libraries, the FireBall, when connected to a hard drive-based music storage system from Escient or another manufacturer, can access and manage playback of MP3 encoded music as well. The unit itself measures 17-3/8 inches wide by four-and-five-eighths inches high and 11-7/8 inches deep, about the size ...