Introduction There are a number of very successful and highly respected loudspeaker designers and manufacturers who can trace their origins to the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. Although Paradigm no longer uses the NRC testing facilities, their design philosophies have their roots in the groundbreaking research performed at the NRC in the 1980s, dealing with listener preferences and their relationships with various loudspeaker measurements and traits. The highly successful Paradigm Electronics Inc. is now one of the largest speaker manufacturers in the Western Hemisphere, with some of the most advanced and extensive test facilities anywhere. In the summer of 2003, Paradigm introduced the third iteration of their popular and acclaimed Reference Studio series, appropriately dubbed v.3. The complete home theater loudspeaker system reviewed here utilizes the Studio 100s ($2,200 per pair) as the cornerstone main loudspeakers, a single Studio CC-570 ($800 each) center channel, and a pair of Studio ADP-470 ($950 per pair) as rear surround ...

Introduction I have always considered Nelson Pass one of the founding figures in high-end audio. He has a long history of innovative amplifier and preamplifier designs, dating back to the ‘70s with one of the first successful high-end corporations, Threshold. I am very familiar with Pass’ amplifiers, and have owned a variety of Threshold components through the years. I have also kept an eye on his very active DIY career, which includes informative design articles and numerous DIY projects. Not having any exposure yet to any of the products from his latest company, Pass Laboratories, I was very curious and enthusiastic about auditioning the subject of this review, the X150.5 stereo power amplifier, and indeed I had high expectations to meet. Although the X150.5 is the baby in the current X series of amplifiers, it is by no means small in any way, specified at 150 watts per channel into eight ohms, and priced at ...

Introduction Many people make their first step into the world of budget home theater via pre-packaged “theater in a box” systems, which usually consist of a low-end receiver, a CD/DVD player, woefully inadequate speakers and a weak subwoofer. Electronics aside, if you are the owner of one of these lower-end systems and are looking to move up to a higher-performance audio/home theater speaker system that isn’t going to require you to take out a second mortgage, Paradigm has created the Monitor series of speakers. Priced under Paradigm’s top-end Reference series, the Monitor Series (not to be confused with Monitor Audio speakers from the U.K.) features a full line of floor-standing towers and bookshelf speakers available in several wood finishes, as well as a center channel and two-way surrounds, both available in only black. Paradigm manufactures a number of subwoofers, but there is no subwoofer in the Monitor line. Consisting of the Monitor 9 floor-standing speakers, ...

Introduction Up until a couple of years ago, the biggest picture that you could get, short of spending the equivalent of the average college tuition, was a 50-65-inch rear projection “big screen” TV. While the picture on a big screen was huge compared to tube sets of the past (never larger than 40 inches), the resolution was never fantastic, the sets were physically deep and could get really expensive at the 60 to 70 inch category. Today, someone trying to live the bigger is better mantra though their TV has exciting new possibilities (without surgery, pills, pumps or weights). Projection systems were once a toy for the very rich, but with the invention of two new projection technologies (Texas Instrument’s DLP and JVC’s D-ILA), large-scale video systems are available to the masses with less maintenance, more brightness and a gigantic picture. Plus Vision Corporation created quite a stir when it introduced the HE-3100 DLP projector in ...

Introduction Parasound has been producing high-quality audio components at a reasonable price for over 20 years. The new HALO line represents a dramatic improvement in both appearance and performance for Parasound. The HALO series represents a departure from Parasound’s traditional black box styling and is clad in a silver brushed metal finish. Each component in the series has a groove, forming an accent line across the bottom portion of each unit. The end caps of each front panel are slightly off-color from the panel itself. Each of the HALO components has a red "P" at the top center that lights up when power is present. I give the front panel the utter coolness award for its faint blue light emanating from behind the buttons which forms like its namesake -- a halo effect. The T 3 retails for $600 and is a full-featured tuner, measuring 17" inches, by four-and-one-eighth inches in height, 13" inches ...