Introduction There's a new contender on the mini-home theater block, the Mirage AVS-Series MicroSystem. This young, up-and-coming lightweight delivers a great combination and has the wherewithal to go the distance for a mere $500 for the five-piece system. Throw in an extra $300 for the active subwoofer and you're in the 5.1 game for $800. And now for the introductions. The AVS-200 is the loudspeaker used to cover the front and rear of your listening arena. A total of four AVS-200s are included on this fight card. The tale of the tape is as follows: Two-way high-performance acoustic suspension enclosure including a 1 inch textile dome tweeter and a 3+1/2 inch woofer with polypropylene cone. The physical dimensions are 7 inch (h) x 4 1/8 inch (w) x 5 inch (d). The enclosure utilizes a revolutionary crosscutting and crimping technique allowing a single piece of wood to be molded seamlessly, greatly reducing resonance and defraction. ...

Introduction I am not your stereotypical high end audio reviewer. I am a self employed physician who's interest in high performance audio stems from a love of performing and listening to music. My current reference system consists (working backwards) the Wilson Watt Puppy system 5.1, the Mark Levinson No. 332 amplifier, the Mark Levinson No. 39 CD processor and Transparent Reference cabling. Since I am a physician and a musician (trained in classical and jazz piano) and not an electrical engineer, I will not pretend that I have a technical superiority over anyone. I will therefore concentrate my reviews on the emotional content and quality of the music playback associated with a particular system or component. The Mark Levinson No. 39 CD Processor... A new trend The integration of CD transport, digital to analog converter, and preamp has recently developed as a new trend. Wadia, Madrigal and others have recently released integrated CD/preamp products. When I first ...

Introduction The Scenario is the latest offering from Martin-Logan, the electrostatic technology speaker company, as the company refers to itself. The design goal for the Scenario was to position it just below the Aerius, which is now available only in bi-wire guise, in price and sonics. With feedback from dealers, interior designers and the like, some felt the Aerius was just a little too tall for certain applications, so with a mating of the electrostatic panel from the wall-mount Script model and the woofer from the bi-wire Aerius model, the $1,995 per pair Scenario was born. Measuring in at 48 inches high with a very small 10 by 14-inch footprint, the Scenario is about ten inches shorter than the Aerius and gives up a little to bass response as the cabinet, which houses an 8 inch woofer, is smaller, as well. Martin-Logan has big plans for the Scenario as use with an all Martin-Logan ...

Introduction A huge sound in a small package solidly sums up the performance of the Monitor Audio Silver 4 speakers ($849 a pair) and ASW 210 subwoofer ($999). The small 15.5-inch by eight-inch main speakers, coupled with the 200-watt self-powered subwoofer, were a welcome surprise. Sat/sub speaker systems are a dime a dozen these days and that’s what a lot of them are worth. Just as in my past experiences with Monitor Audio products, I was not disappointed in the least. The patented cone material for all drivers, C-CAM (Ceramic Coated Aluminum Magnesium alloy), is light and rigid. The Silver 4’s are a two-way design, front-ported, with a 6.5-inch mid-bass driver and a gold dome tweeter. There are two sets of sturdy, gold-plated binding posts on each speaker for bi-wiring. The subwoofer is outfitted with two 10-inch drivers, one downfiring and the other forward-firing. While the Silver 4’s are small and capable of sitting comfortably on ...

Introduction A huge sound in a small package solidly sums up the performance of the Monitor Audio Silver 4 speakers ($849 a pair) and ASW 210 subwoofer ($999). The small 15.5-inch by eight-inch main speakers, coupled with the 200-watt self-powered subwoofer, were a welcome surprise. Sat/sub speaker systems are a dime a dozen these days and that’s what a lot of them are worth. Just as in my past experiences with Monitor Audio products, I was not disappointed in the least. The patented cone material for all drivers, C-CAM (Ceramic Coated Aluminum Magnesium alloy), is light and rigid. The Silver 4’s are a two-way design, front-ported, with a 6.5-inch mid-bass driver and a gold dome tweeter. There are two sets of sturdy, gold-plated binding posts on each speaker for bi-wiring. The subwoofer is outfitted with two 10-inch drivers, one downfiring and the other forward-firing. While the Silver 4’s are small and capable of sitting comfortably on ...