AV Education on RHT How I Tuned My Own (Difficult) Room – Without Blocking The View of The Golden Gate Bridge By Bob Hodas Last time we looked at a room that needed help but was not a big challenge. So as promised, now we get to look at my mess. I’ve been in this house for about 13 years and the system has evolved from large stereo speakers to small, stand mounted stereo speakers, to a 5.1 setup with five Meyer Sound Labs HD-1s and two Revel B-15s for the LFE channel. While I like to watch movies, my primary focus is music. So for me, the speaker placement took precedent over everything else. It was important to have a setup that conformed to the same standards by which I tune studios. At the same time, when my girlfriend moved in, I had to figure out a way to make some compromises ...

title: How to Integrate Digital High-Resolution Multi-Channel Playback Into Your High-End Two-Channel Sound System Without Compromise category: Feature Articles review date: February 2003 reviewed by: Jerry Del Colliano How to Integrate Digital High-Resolution Multi-Channel Playback Into Your High-End Two-Channel Sound System Without Compromise With two new high-resolution formats causing all sorts of controversy, audiophiles and music enthusiasts alike are getting increasingly curious about how one or both of these formats will work into their lofty stereo systems. As many of us having tens (or in some cases hundreds) of thousands of dollars invested in stereo gear, the decision to make sweeping changes to a finely tuned high-performance stereo music playback system cannot be taken lightly.

title: How To Pick A Video Screen For Digital Projectors category: Feature Article review date: April 2002 reviewed by: Jerry Del Colliano How To Pick A Video Screen For Digital Projectors Some of the most exciting advances being made in the world of audio/video involve the new, smaller, lower-priced projectors, especially fixed-pixel digital devices such as DLP and D-ILA video projectors. For ultimate picture quality, the traditional CRT projectors, especially the most expensive nine-inch CRT projectors, are still the best in absolute terms. In more real-world applications, D-ILA and DLP projectors offer the ability to reproduce a far larger and far brighter picture by means of a less expensive, physically smaller projector that needs very little maintenance. With all of these advantages, there are still issues that you need to consider in order to get the biggest and best picture for your video setup.

As a dedicated music and car enthusiast, I must admit there is quite a buzz involved in having the right tunes blasting as you rip through sweeping curves on Pacific Coast Highway in a spirited car with a stellar music system. Properly mixed with the growling intonations of a sporty exhaust, a tasteful car audio system can take you places that your home system simply can’t. Considering how much time most of us spend behind the wheel, as opposed to sitting in front of our AV system at home, one can see why mobile entertainment has become the fastest-growing segment of the multi-billion-dollar consumer electronics industry. When I worked as an audio/video salesman in Philadelphia in the early 1990’s, car audio was a purely aftermarket luxury that many of the older salesmen wouldn’t even discuss with prospective clients. I loved it ...

Sharing files for free on the Internet is now a fact of life and no matter how hard the major record labels and movie studios try to suppress this practice, computer programmers will always be at least one step ahead of them. The number of people who are downloading music is growing exponentially. In a number of recent polls of college students, a majority of those who regularly download music said they would be willing to pay a subscription fee to legally use a service such as Napster. This of course would result in a multi-billion dollar industry, but the major media companies may have missed the boat completely, since programmers have now figured out new ways to anonymously trade files. The RIAA has been focusing on putting the brakes on Napster, but all the while, a host of alternatives ...