Podcast #29A: Ultimate Home Theater in a Box for 2014

There are so many cheap Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) systems out there, most of which cost less than the price of a single good speaker! And none of them include a TV. You have to wonder how good a system that cheap can actually be? We thought, why not design a complete system, that anyone would be proud to show off but wouldn’t break the bank. Our Home Theater in a Box(es) would actually look and sound really good! Minimum components for our system are a HDTV, Blu-ray Player, Receiver, and 7.1 speakers.

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Podcast #664: Receiver Buying Guide 2014

It is that time of year where we get to spend your money again! This week we concentrate on receivers. Our goal with these guides is not necessarily about getting the latest product. Its about getting a good product at a great price so you may see some of last year’s gear on the list. All these receivers are readily available online or at a big box store. Just like the HDTV Buying Guide, we’re going to skip the budget categories jump right to our top picks. We each pick three receivers and one ‘money is no object’ / ‘dare to dream’ receiver for you to consider.

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Podcast #660: Jack Sharkey of KEF on Dolby Atmos

A few listeners have written and asked us what our take on Dolby Atmos is. Since we don’t have any gear capable of decoding Atmos we thought we’d enlist Kef’s own Jack Sharkey (Internet Marketing & Event Coordinator) to discuss this technology. Kef has announced the R50 Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers which will help bring this technology to life.

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Podcast #644: Pioneer VSX-44 Elite 7.2 Home Theater Receiver

Back in May of 2013 we reviewed one of Pioneer’s entry Elite models the VSX-70. At that time we were impressed with the sound quality but the MSRP of $750 may have been a barrier for some. Now Pioneer has introduced two new entry Elites (VSX-80 MSRP $700 and VSX-44 MSRP $500) that have more capability and lower prices. We take a closer look at the VSX-44.

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Podcast #633: Use an AVR for Pre/Pro or a PreAmp?

We recently reviewed the NuForce AVP-18 all-digital HT dedicated preamp/processor (MSRP $1095) paired with the NuForce MCA-20 multi-channel amplifier (MSRP $1995). Our goal was to compare the performance of separates with the performance of a high quality AVR to see how they’d stack up. We used to hold the position that for just about everyone, the AVR would be more than good enough...

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Podcast #631: NuForce AVP-18 Processor and MCA-20 Amplifier

We don’t need to repeat ourselves, but we will anyways: Home Theater without surround sound isn’t really Home Theater at all. It’s only half of the experience. Without surround sound, you’re just watching moving pictures on the wall. But we’ve also stated that modern AV receivers are good enough and going the separate processor and amp route is overkill for most people. Today we put that theory to the test.

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