This Month's Featured Equipment Reviews |
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Accessories
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
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Written by
AVRev.com
Introduction
Like many of you, I have a plethora of electronic gear that I carry around. I typically have a cell phone, Blackberry, iPod and laptop with me on most days. Despite my efforts to protect all of my equipment from drops and other damage, I don’t think a week goes by without something hitting the deck. Otterbox provides a whole slew of cases to protect your gear, which range in price from approximately $10 to $200 dollars. The majority of Otterbox cases are made specifically for the product being protected. A perusal of their online catalogue shows that most of today’s popular devices are covered. In addition to the custom fit cases, Otterbox also offers general use cases in a variety of sizes.
Two of Otterbox’s more popular lines are the Defender and Armor series.
The Defender series offers less protection ...
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Sunday, 01 October 2006
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Written by
Brian Kahn
Introduction
It
is not often that a product comes along that can either make a complex
process one button simple or provide the tweaker with nearly unlimited
adjustments in the pursuit of perfect sound but the Velodyne SMS-1 does
just that. A couple of years ago Velodyne launched their Digital Drive
series of subwoofers which included a digital signal processor,
microphone, parametric equalizer and digital servo controlled
subwoofer. The Digital Drive subwoofers received rave reviews including
from AVRev.com’s own Christopher Zell.
The
Velodyne SMS-1 at $749 incorporates many of the features of the Digital
Drive series, except of course the servo controlled subwoofer. The
Subwoofer Management System features a full suite of controls housed in
a svelte 1 rack unit high black box. The unit itself measures 2 inches
high by 16.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep and weighs 17 pounds and is
rack mountable. The front panel features an LCD in the center and ...
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Saturday, 01 July 2006
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Written by
Bryan Southard
Introduction
The
consumer headphone market has evolved considerably over the last 30
years. Headphones have been used for better than a half-century as an
integral tool in the studio for recording and mastering due to their
accuracy and immediacy. As a teen, I owned a pair of higher-end
headphones that I used to defy my music curfew. They allowed me to
listen to my raucous music at concert volumes without disturbing or,
better yet, even alerting the rest of the household. Although the sonic
pureness of headphones has rarely been in question, the fact remains
that headphones, regardless of size, have always been plagued with the
reputation of being fatiguing to both wear and listen to for extended
periods of time. Additionally, there has been resistance from many
audiophiles, who place huge stock in soundstage accuracy and instrument
placement.
Sennheiser is no newcomer to the world of headphones.
In fact, most recognize Sennheiser as the world ...
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Wednesday, 01 February 2006
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Written by
Matthew Evert
Introduction
Satellite
radio has been gaining lots of attention the past few years, as
millions upon millions of consumers continue to discover its benefits
over traditional radio broadcasts. Nationwide availability,
commercial-free music stations and vast amounts of talk shows are just
part of satellite radio’s attraction. XM and Sirius are the two major
companies providing satellite radio content for a combined population
of nearly nine million subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Many of the satellite radio products have been focused on portable and
car deployments of the technology until recently, when Polk introduced
one of the first home audio systems. Antex Electronics saw this vacancy
in the growing satellite radio portfolio and produced a high fidelity
XM radio receiver of its own.
Based in Torrance, CA,
Antex is no stranger to the audio industry, boasting over 20 years of
experience. In fact, Antex introduced the world’s first PC soundcard
with 16-bit stereo CD quality sound ...
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Tuesday, 01 March 2005
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Written by
Matthew Evert
Introduction
Satellite
television has been at the epicenter of the home theater boom for more
than a decade and now enjoys over 20,000,000 subscribers between the
two major services. Satellite radio is banking on following in DirecTV
and Dish Network’s path. Anyone who watches Wall Street or has been to
a car dealer lately now knows XM and Sirius are the two primary players
in the satellite radio market. XM reports having over three million
subscribers. Sirius recently topped one million. Many car radios
support one of the two satellite radio services, if not both. Portable
XM radio players, as small as the size of a deck of cards, are
available to consumers at all sorts of mass market consumer electronics
locations. With the unquestioned boom in satellite radio, the consumers
who have been forgotten are the serious audio enthusiasts. Until now.
Polk Audio has been a lauded brand name in home and ...
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