Best Buys Home Theatre Winter 2011 by nextmedia Pty Ltd

2011

BUMPER BIANNUAL REVIEW SPECIAL FROM WINTER 2011 $8.95

N.Z. $9.90 (INC. GST)

AWESOME AUDIO

Don’t tolerate flat sound with your flatscreen!

TOP BRANDS FC bbht_winter2011.indd 1

REVIEWED & RATED

HIGH-DEF 3D PROJECTORS AUDIO-VISUAL RECEIVERS FULL SYSTEM SOLUTIONS HI-FI STEREO SPEAKERS DIGITAL MEDIA  HEADPHONES SURROUND SOUND SPEAKER PACKS

9 780725 523374

Bigscreen movies – everything you need

PRODUCT TESTS 01

SCREEN DREAMS

ARCAM•DENON•KEF•JVC•MARANTZ•NAD•ONKYO•RICHTER•YAMAHA 17/06/2011 10:54:27 AM

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DAB+ Digital Radio Internet Radio Media Streaming Bluetooth connectivity Direct iPhone/iPod connection iTunes playback via Airplay

T H E P E R F ECT A D D - O N TO Y O U R EXIST IN G H O ME T HE AT R E O R ST E R EO S Y ST EM Extra USB input for uncompressed files

Optical and Coaxial inputs

RX101

The NA7004 is armed with an extensive list of cutting-edge features including Network Streaming, Internet Radio, a high-end Tuner with DAB+ Digital Radio (as well as AM/FM), a USB input with high-quality D/A conversion, iPhone/iPod direct access … all reflecting the same 57-year musical heritage as a Marantz’s award-winning stable of CD players. This is a no-compromise audio component with extensive use of audiophilegrade components, including high-speed voltage HDAMSA2 circuitry, a doublelayered bottom plate for extra chassis strength … and the fabulous CS4398 stereo DAC found in the $5,000 SA-KI Pearl SACD Player. Get the best from your music … whatever the format … and wherever it is … with the new Marantz NA7004.

FM / AM Radio Distributed in Australia by QualiFi Pty Ltd • (03) 8542 1111 • info@marantz.com.au

QLF530

For more information and closest demonstration centres, please visit: www.qualifi.com.au/product/NA7004

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

WINTER 2011

REVIEWS

SYSTEMS & SINGLE-PRODUCT SOLUTIONS VAF Soundwall speaker system ONKYO C-7000R, P-3000R and M-5000R CD/preamp/power amplifier SENNHEISER HD 800 stereo headphones NAD C 565BEE CD player and C 356BEE integrated amplifier REDEYE App-based universal remote control LUXSOUND LightSpeaker speaker system

24 46 48 77 96 98

TVs/DISPLAYS JVC DLA-X3 3D AV Projector EPSON EH-TW4500 AV projector MITSUBISHI HC9000D 3D AV projector BENQ W1100 AV projector

12 44 51 68

RUNCO LightStyle LS-5 AV projector

SOURCES CAMBRIDGE AUDIO NP30 Network Player BERKELEY AUDIO DESIGN Alpha DAC digital-to-analogue converter

21 40

AMPS/RECEIVERS ONKYO TX-NR579 AV receiver YAMAHA RX-A3000 AV receiver PRIMALUNA ProLogue Pre/Power amplifier package MOON Evolution 700i integrated amplifier MARANTZ AV7005 preamp and MM7055/MM7025 power amplifiers PRIMALUNA ProLogue Classic integrated amplifier DENON AVR4911 AV receiver NUFORCE Icon2 desktop DAC/amplifier ARCAM AVR400 AV receiver

14 27 36 42 57 72 81 84 90

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES KEF T-Series 5.1-channel speaker package CASTLE ACOUSTICS Richmond Anniversary stereo speakers HARMAN KARDON SB 16 2.1-channel active soundbar speaker system RICHTER Dragon 5.1-channel speaker package CURRENT AUDIO in-wall & in-ceiling loudspeakers Product Focus EPOS Epic stereo loudspeaker range VELODYNE DD-15+ subwoofer KRIX Volcanix subwoofer AARON HMF-600MkII stereo speakers BOSTON ACOUSTICS A Series 5.1-channel speaker package PARADIGM MilleniaSub subwoofer WHATMOUGH Performance Series P28-SE and Signature Series P15-SE

17 31 34 38 54 61 65 70 74 86 92 94

FOR A FULL ALPHABETICAL PRODUCT LISTING TURN TO PAGE SEVEN

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Introducing Yamaha’s NEW ’71 series AV Receivers…

With iPod/iPhone connectivity from the entry model, and control via Yamaha’s AV Controller App on higher-end models, Yamaha’s new ’71 series receivers offer simple operation and seamless integration with a range of other AV devices. To find out more about these exciting new AV Receivers, visit au.yamaha.com

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

ALPHABETICAL REVIEW INDEX

Aaron HMF-600MkII stereo speakers Arcam AVR400 receiver

74 90

Editor Jez Ford jford@next.com.au

BenQ W1100 AV projector Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC digital-to-analogue converter Boston Acoustics A Series 5.1-channel loudspeaker package

74 40 86

Cambridge Audio NP30 network audio player Castle Acoustics Richmond Anniversary stereo loudspeakers Current Audio in-wall and on-wall loudspeakers Product Focus

21 31 54

Divisional Manager & National Advertising Sales Manager Jim Preece jpreece@next.com.au

Denon AVR-4911 AV receiver

Production Manager Peter Ryman

Epos Epic stereo loudspeaker range Epson EH-TW4500 AV projector

61 44

Harman Kardon SB 16 Soundbar 2.1-channel active soundbar speaker system

JVC DLA-X3 3D AV projector

KEF T-Series 5.1-channel loudspeaker package Krix Volcanix subwoofer

17 70

Luxsound LightSpeaker loudspeakers

Marantz AV7005, MM7055 and MM7025 pre/receiver/amplifier package Mitsubishi HC9000D AV projector Moon Evolution 700i integrated amplifier

57 51 42

NAD C 565BEE and C 356BEE CD player and integrated amplifier package NuForce Icon2 integrated desktop amplifier

77 84

Onkyo TX-NR579 AV receiver Onkyo C7000R, P-3000R and M-5000R CD/pre/power amplifier package

14 46

Paradigm MilleniaSub subwoofer PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium pre-amplifier and stereo amplifier PrimaLuna ProLogue Classic integrated amplifier

92 36 72

RedEye universal remote control Richter Dragon 5.1-channel loudspeaker package Runco LightStyle LS-5 AV projector

96 38 88

Sennheiser HD 800 stereo headphones

VAF Soundwall loudspeaker system Velodyne DD-15+ subwoofer

24 65

Whatmough P28-SE and P15-SE loudspeakers

Yamaha RX-A3000 AV receiver

Art Director Kristian Hagen, Katrina du Sart Production Editor Edgar Kramer Contributing Editor Greg Borrowman Contributors Greg Borrowman, Stephen Dawson, Edgar Kramer, Jez Ford, Nic Tatham Advertising Sales Manager Lewis Preece Advertising Traffic Di Preece

Circulation Director Carole Jones

Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 Ph: 02 9901 6100 Fax: 02 9901 6198 www.nextmedia.com.au Chief Executive Officer David Gardiner Commercial Director Bruce Duncan COVER IMAGE from Reign of Assassins, courtesy Madman Entertainment Best Buys Home Theatre is published twice a year by nextmedia Pty Ltd, ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW, 2065 © 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed by CaxtonWeb, distributed in Australia by Network Services. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be taken, nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage, nor for loss or damage to material or products submitted for editorial review, advertising or any other purpose. Equipment or material supplied to this company should be covered by an insurance policy for the period that the item/s may be in transit to us, in our possession and in transit back to you or your warehouse. The submission of product or material for editorial inclusion in this publication signifies acceptance of the above mentioned conditions. The hidden word is “quandong”. While articles and advertisements on recording techniques may appear in Sound+Image magazine, readers should not construe this as authorising or inciting them to make recordings of copyright material. In all cases we suggest you contact the manufacturer and/or supplier of the recording to request permission to record material. Privacy Policy: We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Best Buys Home Theatre, this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our Privacy Officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bay 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590.

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

EDITORIAL

Flatscreen? Flat sound?

ur twice-a-year Best Buys Home Theatre magazine is always a good litmus test for the various directions in which AV and hi-fi are heading. As we gather together the 30+ products for testing in our bumper review-fest, the trends become clear. In recent years, for example, we have noticed a significant return of stereo gear, as new music fans were forged from the iPod generation. Or perhaps fewer people were prepared to withstand the aesthetic assault of multichannel speaker systems, and were happy to watch movies with a good two-channel sound system? Certainly for the ultimate in movie sound convenience, we have been reviewing at least one soundbar in each recent issue.

Or might it be that sound systems in general are getting a raw deal as a side-effect of the ongoing box-shifting of flatscreen televisions? Because we reckon this is getting to be a problem. For everyone. Here’s the thing. Not so very long ago, a large premium flatscreen plasma TV was quite a highticket item. Say $10,000 for a 50-incher. Yes, I know, you’re chuckling to yourself and glancing at the chainstore brochure on your coffee table which is advertising 50-inch TVs for $999. But you’re right — that’s where the flatscreen TV market has gone; there’s no margin in them for retailers, hardly any for manufacturers, and as a result some of the best brands have pulled out of Australia as an unprofitable market, or have even dropped TV production globally. That’s a double-edged thing — after all, I’m as delighted as the next consumer that we can go out and buy a pretty good and blooming great TV for a couple of grand. Of course such pricetickets make it harder for prestige TV brands to justify their prices, despite their attention to quality control and dramatic designer looks, but hopefully enough people will understand their approach to keep the upper end moving. But what about sound? Back when you spent $10,000 on your thrilling TV, it would seem reasonable to consider spending a similar amount, or a little less, even half the amount, on a sound system that would do justice to that

screen — after all, you need a big cinema sound to go with your big cinema picture. But if you’re spending $2000 for your smart TV with 3D into the bargain, how many buyers will be persuaded to even double that in order to get a good sound system? Not many, I fear. And the result is that people are buying flatscreens and living with flat sound. Dreadfully flat, in some cases, given that the trend towards ever slimmer TVs makes them ever less capable of including decent speakers. What can we do? Well for my part I can suggest you can spend more money on sound! Then on your part, you can invite people round and blast their ears with stunning cinema soundtracks and beautiful music, until they realise they should upgrade their audio too. It doesn’t have to mean putting speakers everywhere — it means some good amps and perhaps well-positioned satellites and a subwoofer; it might mean getting some good inwalls installed, or hell, why not have a dedicated room with a real solid surround system? And for hi-fi sound, go to hi-fi companies, not bundled TV surround systems (we say ‘Ugh’ to them). All that and I never mentioned the iPad. What kind of trend-watcher am I, eh? Cheers, Jez Ford, Editor www.twitter.com/jezford

HOME CINEMA SPEAKER SYSTEM $3000-$6000 AARON LOUDSPEAKERS HYPERBOLOID 300 PACKAGE

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29/10/2010 4:27:44 PM

The Next

Idea

LightSpeaker brings you MUSIC & LIGHT in ONE innovative unit. Nothing is more powerful than music. In a single note, music has the ability to make you laugh, cry, dance, even take you back to an exact moment in time. Now the magic of music blends with cutting edge technology to bring you a whole new way to experience the soundtrack of your life.

LightSpeaker System

AudioRock

SubWoofer

Capable of 2 sources of music & 2 zones. Expand up to 8 LightSpeakers per zone or mix & match for a custom experience

Fully wireless weatherproof outdoor single stereo rock speaker

Enhance your LightSpeaker System by adding Deep Bass

For more information on this award winning range, please contact Amber Technology on 1800 251 367 or visit www.ambertech.com.au

stay super slim with sanus

Low-profile appearance Fingertip tilt for easy adjustment Cable management guide Cutting-edge gliding system Decorative cover

Sanus introduces the VLF311, a Super Slim mount with full-motion movement. The VLF311 features innovative technologies like fingertip tilting and a cutting edge gliding system to ensure perfect placement, while placing your LCD, plasma or LED TV just 3.2cm from the wall. Works with TVs between 94 and 165cm. See this and other innovative products at www.sanus.com.au

Think innovation. Think Sanus.

Proudly distributed by Home Theatre Group Unit 6/96 Gardens Drive WILLAWONG QLD 4110 Telephone 07 3276 1355 Fax 07 3276 1366 www.htgroup.com.au

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PLATINUM SPONSOR

keep a low profile

Low-profile appearance Fingertip tilt for easy adjustment Cable management guide Cutting-edge gliding system Decorative cover

The Sanus VisionMount VMF308 offers the best of both worlds: a low-profile appearance with full-motion capabilities. Placing your ultra-thin or standard depth LCD, plasma or LED TV just 2.8cm from the wall, the VMF308 features innovative technologies like fingertip tilting and a cutting edge gliding system to ensure perfect placement. Works with 66â&#x20AC;&#x201C;120cm TVs. See this and other innovative products at www.sanus.com.au

Think innovation. Think Sanus.

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Proudly distributed by Home Theatre Group Unit 6/96 Gardens Drive WILLAWONG QLD 4110 Telephone 07 3276 1355 Fax 07 3276 1366 www.htgroup.com.au

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

TVs/DISPLAYS

JVC

DLA-X3

3D AV projector

t last, here is the means to watch 3D in a proper home cinema. The JVC DLA-X3 allows you to get an optimal 3D picture by the simple means of making it big. Because when a 3D cinematic event is created, it is made to be shown on a large screen. The angles of view for the different images delivered to each eye — necessary to achieve the 3D effect — are based on the screen occupying a very large portion of your field of vision. With a regular TV this can lead to sitting uncomfortably close to the TV. But with a front projector like this one, you can sit three to four metres away from a 100-inch (2.54 metre) projection screen and get truly cinema-like 3D performance.

Equipment The projector uses JVC’s D-ILA technology. This is the company’s own form of liquid-crystal-on-silicon panels. These reflect light from their surface rather than having it pass through them, allowing all the microscopic wiring to be placed behind the surface. This keeps the boundaries between individual pixels down to virtually invisible thicknesses. JVC uses three panels to handle the three primary colours. This technology has come a long way since its introduction a few years ago, and now JVC boasts a brightness level of 1300 lumens and a native contrast ratio of 50,000:1.

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Note, ‘native’ means not assisted by a dynamic iris or whatever. That contrast ratio figure is pretty extraordinary, and makes you wonder what the higher two models in JVC’s line-up are like. They offer 70,000:1 and 100,000:1! This last is for the $9999 DLA-X9. The projector has two HDMI inputs and a set of component video ones, but no composite or S-Video inputs. The projector has very flexible optics, with a 2.0-to-1 zoom range and both horizontal and vertical lens shift. This last gives you a bit of wiggle room in fitting it into your room, allowing it to be displaced from the optimum position somewhat without producing keystone distortion. The ‘natural’ position for the projector — the centre of the lens-shift range — would have the projector directly in line with the centre of the screen. The wide zoom range means that for a 100-inch (2.54 metre) screen, the projector needs to be at a distance range of between 3.01 and 6.13 metres. All these adjustments — zoom, focus, left and right lens shift — are powered. You use the remote control to set them, which has a key that invokes a backlight for about ten seconds. JVC rates that projector’s lamp life at 3000 hours in ‘Normal’ mode. As with many other

brands, ‘Normal’ is the new ‘Eco’. The other setting is ‘High’. For 3D, you’ll also need the glasses and transmitter, which are optional, so include these in your budgeting (see panel opposite).

Performance The projector mounted in our standard ceiling mount — just. If you are replacing an existing projector on a universal mount, check that it is actually ‘universal’ enough. The projector’s lens cover is a built-in sliding panel that automatically opens and closes as required. The motor that drove this did a particularly noisy bit of whirring, quite startling when switched on, but largely useful. Most projectors take several seconds to respond when you hit the ‘On’ key, so you stand there waiting, just in case you need to hit it again. With this one, the lens cover commences sliding immediately, giving assurance that your key-press has worked. Now, a word on this projector as a 2D projector. In fact just about one word will suffice: ‘Wow!’ It almost makes you wonder why you would want to spend more on the models further up the range. The black levels were superb, and the lack of a dynamic iris meant there was never any brightness pumping at all. The deep black levels provided excellent underpinning for the colour spectrum, allowing them to be deep and rich. The alignment of the three colours was perfect, right out to the extreme edges of the display. The video processing was generally very good — for one thing there is no ‘Overscan’ setting (which resizes the picture to a little over the physical display size). Instead there is a ‘Mask’ setting, which blanks out the edge pixels. There’s even a custom mode for this which allows you to remove the number of pixels you wish separately for each edge of the screen, though this setting is not one of those remembered under the three ‘User’ memories, which reduces its usefulness.

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TVs/DISPLAYS TVs/DISPLAYS

The projector uses the HQV Reon-VX video processor. This did a pretty good job on cadence detection, but was tricked by some ambiguous 1080i/50 and 576i/50 to apply video-mode deinterlacing incorrectly, rather than film mode. You can choose between ‘Auto’ and ‘Off ’ (i.e. forcevideo mode) for this, but not force-film mode. We’d suggest you use a high quality upscaling Blu-ray player and just feed the projector with a good 1080p signal. There are also a number of settings for ‘Clear Motion Drive’. Modes 1 and 2 muck around with subfield black frame insertion, and in some cases produced an irritating flicker. Modes 3 and 4 provided two levels of frame-interpolation motion smoothing. Mode 3 didn’t really do much for 1080p material, while Mode 4 did a bit too much, leaving noticeable ‘heat-haze’ processing artefacts. In general it was best to just leave this off. There’s also a 60 to 24 hertz reverse interpolation mode. Its quality was entirely dependent on the content with which it was fed.

And now, in 3D… Let’s move to the 3D performance. The IR sync transmitter for 3D plugs into a DIN-style socket on the back of the projector. At first this made no sense, because the cable was only a couple of metres long, so there was no way it could reach near the front of the room in order to beam its signal back towards the 3D glasses worn by the viewer. But it soon became apparent that the transmitter is plenty powerful enough to bounce its signal from the screen. On top of the ceilingmounted projector with its beam directed towards the screen, its operation was perfectly reliable. Before hitting the Blu-ray 3D button, we gave the projector the quick one-two with broadcast 3D TV (recorded from the trials last year). Or, we did so after a call to JVC. As it happens, the setting to manually invoke the processing to display side-by-side format in 3D was buried quite a way down in the HDMI menu. This should be

addressed in a future model because accessing a major function of the projector like this should not require eight keystrokes of the remote. The frame-packed format from Blu-ray 3D, though, was automatically detected, requiring no user interaction. So how was it? Actually, surprisingly good. As with all current-generation 3D display equipment, the one significant problem is crosstalk (or ghosting), in which material intended for the left eye breaks through and can be seen by the right, and vice versa. Different technologies seem to be better at some aspects of crosstalk than others. In general, LCD TVs tend to be a little better than plasma when it comes to light objects on dark backgrounds. Plasma tends to be significantly better than LCD for the far more common dark objects on light backgrounds. This projector was generally somewhere between the two. On Monsters vs Aliens, the pink (yes, that’s their colour in the movie!) structural members of the Golden Gate Bridge against the blue sky produced a little ghosting. But it was magically just below some peculiar threshold (probably different for each person) by which it was visible when looked for, but failed to be particularly noticeable when not directing attention that way. That also was the case with light items on dark backgrounds, such as the 3D effects on some closing credits. The result was that the 3D effect worked well. Computer-animated features are the hardest on 3D with the present level of development, but even so the results were extremely impressive with Monster House 3D. This is a little more naturalistic than Monsters vs Aliens, and ghosting was pretty much entirely absent, or at least below the threshold of drawing attention to itself (for me). With a live action movie — Piranha 3D — the projector was at its best: impressive 3D and just about no visible crosstalk. And all this was enhanced by the fact that the picture size was effectively the same size, in terms of angle of view, as it is at the cinema. Sitting 270cm from the 212cm projection screen, it simply looked magnificent. One of the picture mode settings is called ‘3D’. This doesn’t change the general processing, but bumps up brightness. In practice, the lower output settings were actually fine for our purposes, but a bigger screen might benefit from this mode. For those troubled by the various conditions darkly hinted at by the reams of warnings accompanying all 3D products, be warned that the 3D glasses here flickered a little when used with fluorescent lighting in the room.

Conclusion Whether in 2D or 3D mode, the JVC DLA-X3 is an excellent projector. And at well under $6000 (including the price of the transmitter and a set of glasses), it is also exceptional value for money.

3D ACCESSORIES The JVC projector is delivered ‘3D ready’. That means it supports 3D, but requires two optional accessories. The first is the active shutter glasses (JVC PK-AG1), with an RRP of $179 per pair, and of course, you may well want more than one set of these. These are powered by disposable button-style batteries. Rather than having the usual on-off switch, they automatically power up when they receive a sync signal. Nonetheless, JVC recommends that you keep them in their black cloth pouch when not in use, just in case some stray IR in your room repeatedly switches them on. The battery used is the very common and inexpensive CR2032 three-volt lithium cell. JVC says that one of these is good for 75 hours of operation. The other accessory required for 3D operation is the PK-EM1 IR 3D signal transmitter. This emits the necessary IR pulses received by the glasses in order to keep their shutter operation in sync with the left-right frame sequence produced by the projector. This plugs into a socket on the back of the projector and is mounted on a plastic stand that allows its angle of, well, signal projection to be set. A two-metre cable is provided. This unit has an RRP of $179, and only one is required.

JVC DLA-X3 3D projector Price: $5499 Warranty: One year (excluding lamp/filter) • • •

Well, duh, 3D of course! Extremely strong 2D performance Brilliant value

• • •

Manual 3D settings too deep No force-film mode for deinterlacing No user memories for screen masking

Resolution: 1920 by 1080 pixels Projection system: 3 x 17.78mm D-ILA (LCoS) panels Aspect ratio: 16:9 Lamp: 220W Ultra High Pressure Mercury Contrast ratio: 50,000:1 Light output: 1300 lumens Inputs: 2 x HDMI, 1 x component Other: 1 x RS-232C, 1 x remote control, 1 x trigger, 1 x 3D Sync Noise: 20dB in normal mode Dimensions (whd): 455 x 179 x 472mm Weight: 14.7kg Warranty: One year (excluding lamp and filter) Contact: Hagemeyer Brands Australia 1300 728 225 www.jvc-australia.com

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

Onkyo TX-NR579 AV receiver

here is a lot of judgement involved in releasing a budget home theatre receiver. Some design decisions will be driven by cost, of course, such as the power output. But often there is no difference in hardware cost between certain feature sets, simply because a particular integrated circuit often implements everything. Nonetheless, in order to distinguish cheaper from more expensive models, the temptation exists to actually switch off some of the features which would otherwise be available. Well, Onkyo’s new TX-NR579 home theatre receiver attests to a certain generosity of spirit by that company. It costs a dollar under a thousand, but the feature set is limited only by the omission of genuinely costly items. What is left is, well, everything that an audio fan would want.

Equipment It’s almost easier to outline the stuff that you might find in a high-end home theatre receiver that is missing here. There really isn’t a whole lot of it. What this receiver doesn’t include are system integration features, such as RS-232C. It doesn’t have any S-Video connectivity. It doesn’t support multichannel analogue audio input, or output (only an LFE output is provided). Nor does it have super high-end output amplifiers. And that’s about it. What it does have is quite respectable amplifiers rated at 80 watts per channel at high

fidelity specs into eight ohms. And it has seven of them, so that it supports all current audio formats, including the 7.1 channel versions of DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD. Dolby Pro Logic IIx (7.1 channel output, including two surround back channels) and Dolby Pro Logic IIz (7.1-channel output, including two front height channels) are also provided. Aren’t a fan of 7.1? Well, you can redirect the two extra channels to drive loudspeakers in a different zone, providing them with different content from that in the main room. Separate speaker terminals (spring clip only, unlike the proper binding posts for the rest) are provided for this purpose, allowing relatively easy switching between 7.1-channel operation, and 5.1 plus Zone 2. There are four HDMI inputs and a single HDMI output. The receiver supports signals from Blu-ray 3D along with the Audio Return Channel from compatible TVs. The receiver offers surprisingly advanced video processing, with upscaling not just to full HD, but to also to 4K (3840 by 2160 pixels). We have no display capable of handling that signal, so whether it is

well implemented or not we cannot say! But such displays we judge to be eventually inevitable, so this could prove to be a useful feature. There is also a ‘Universal Port’, which is Onkyo’s proprietary expansion port. Amongst the devices that work with this is an optional DAB+ radio tuner. The surprises for a sub-$1000 receiver are the inclusion of an Ethernet port on the back, and a USB port on the front. Both of these, as we shall see below, turn out to be highly specified when it comes to audio support. One other surprisingly high-end feature was the ability to relatively easily update the receiver’s firmware. Indeed, after we plugged it in for the first time we followed our routine and checked out this function. You can do it via the internet, or by downloading using a computer to a USB stick and plugging that into the unit. (There were other options involving its Universal Port, but these two should do the job nicely.) It turned out that a new firmware was available, and this smoothly downloaded and installed itself, probably taking about half an hour for the procedure to complete itself. What you see below is how the unit performed with firmware 1041-0600-00105102 installed.

Performance The receiver includes the full Audyssey 2EQ automatic set-up. In fact it has advanced a little since last year, since you now get a choice of two set-up profiles. You still plug in the supplied measurement microphone but the default profile only sets the speaker sizes, distances, levels and EQ. Or you can choose the ‘2EQ’ setting which requires three different measurement positions and thereby gathers additional data to make adjustments for room acoustics. We went with the latter, and

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we’d recommend that you do too. Why not take advantage of the clever engineering involved? It adds a couple of minutes, but this is a one-off. Now when it comes to home theatre performance, the only thing that you need to know about this receiver is that it will do absolutely everything that you need, with one possible exception. That exception is to do with its price, and the consequent audio capacity. The amplifier stage is very competent, but we’d nonetheless suggest that you stick with loudspeakers of average or better sensitivity with reasonable impedance curves. We certainly had no problems with the two different sets of loudspeakers that we employed with this receiver — one a sub/sat system, and the other with floorstanders for front left and right. But we can imagine some low sensitivity speakers, or models offering particularly exotic loads, that may be a bit beyond this receiver’s capacity. Hey, go

for that and expect to spend more than a thousand dollars to drive it! As for us, it worked perfectly well with all our content, including several high resolution Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio tracks. The unit of course accepted multichannel PCM down the HDMI cables, but it also worked nicely with Direct Stream Digital bitstreams from Super Audio CD. However, and we hope we aren’t getting too tedious here, but we’re going to say it yet again anyway: Onkyo really ought to reconsider the default sound mode for its receivers. It has chosen ‘All Channel Stereo’ for two-channel inputs. Regular stereo or Dolby Pro Logic would be far more sensible defaults. The video performance was quite respectable, although we simply left this on ‘Through’ for the most part. However when in ‘Mute’, the receiver kept us thoroughly informed of this fact by means of a banner across the TV picture. With many displays this doesn’t matter, but even the best plasma will eventually suffer some burn-in from this. If you have such a display and intend muting the receiver for an extended period, just turn down the volume to zero instead. On two occasions the receiver lost both video and audio input from the HDMI sockets. It still connected fine with the TV, but no incoming signals were received. On the first occasion everything was restored after leaving it (and all the other devices) switched off for a couple of hours while we did other stuff, and on the second occasion by resetting the unit to its factory default settings. We note that both occasions followed some extensive HDMI cable swapping (with the unit switched off, of course). This is not going to be the normal purchaser’s experience (we were actually testing HDMI cables) so we doubt that it will arise in normal use. Now let us look at the inclusion of Ethernet and USB support. These are both for audio only, not video. But, wow, what audio! Unlike many such facilities, you’re not limited to MP3 and WMA only. They also support AAC and Ogg Vorbis. For higher quality there is WMA Lossless, FLAC and WAV. Bit depths of up to 24 and sampling rates of up to 96kHz are supported on all those lossless formats. All the music on our test USB stick was, for once, fully supported.

AMPS RECEIVERS

The other USB function is for connecting an iPod or iPhone. This avoids the necessity for an iPod dock. Just use a regular iPod USB cable. The receiver will charge up the iPod while playing it back and displaying its listings of artist, genre, song etc., on your TV. And the same applies to the network facilities. Digital Living Natural Alliance audio content from your computer network is fully supported, as is internet radio via the vTuner portal. Also available are the subscription services Napster, Last.fm and Spotify, if you can get them working. If all that isn’t enough, we should note that navigation through all these new media capabilities is competent enough using the remote control, and even more so if you install the free Onkyo Remote app on your iPhone or iPad.

Conclusion We have just one word for this receiver: ridiculous. It is quite ridiculous that so much should be on offer from the Onkyo TX-NR579 for a sale price of under one thousand dollars. Unless you have difficult loudspeakers to which you’re particularly attached, this receiver is well worth close examination by anyone that wants wide access to pretty much everything, along with excellent support in all that’s current in home entertainment.

Onkyo TX-NR579 AV receiver Price: $999 Warranty: Three years • • •

Excellent value for money Good basic home theatre performance Amazing new media audio support

•

No upgrade path because no preamp outputs (aside from subwoofer) Silly ‘All Channel Stereo’ default surround mode ‘Mute’ OSD banner could possibly cause plasma burn-in

• •

Rated power: 7 x 80 watts, 8 ohms, 20-20,000Hz, 0.7% THD (two channels driven) Inputs: 4 x HDMI, 2 x component video, 0 x S-Video, 5 x composite video, 6 x analogue stereo, 0 x 7.1 analogue, 2 x optical digital, 2 x coaxial digital, 1 x USB, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x Onkyo Universal port Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 0 x S-Video, 2 x composite video, 1 x analogue stereo, 1 x subwoofer, 1 x 6.5mm headphone Zone: 1 x stereo audio, assignable amplifiers Other: 1 x R1 remote control, 1 x set-up mic Dimensions (whd): 435 x 174 x 328mm Weight: 9.5kg Contact: Amber Technology 1800 251 367 www.ambertech.com.au

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THE HI–FI HEADLINES NEWSLETTER No. 196

e have been big fans of the JVC D-ILA projectors for a long time now, and it appears that the rest of the industry has caught up, with the brand suddenly becoming the ‘go-to’ brand of projection. A large part of the success of the current series is the fact that they are 3D compatible, and let’s be honest, 3D makes a lot more sense in a projection environment than on a traditional TV. More importantly, they are first-class 2D projectors as well, outclassing all comers in their respective price categories. JVC’s D-ILA technology has proved to be superior to any of the other variations on the market. The top-of-the-range DLA-X9 has the best of everything, including 100,000:1 contrast (which is amazing to see in a projector), together with a high quality lens, lens shift adjustments, and lots more. At $9,999 the DLA-X9 should be the product of choice for anyone contemplating a serious Home Theatre system. There have been numerous positive reviews on this product, but the British ‘Trusted Reviews’ coverage at www. trustedreviews.com/JVC-DLA-X9_ Projector_review is probably the most comprehensive, and their conclusion (keeping in mind that the unit retails in the UK for a staggering £9,500) was:

“The X9 is a stunning tour de force from JVC that delivers the closest match yet – for under 10 grand, anyway – to the experience of actually going out to the cinema.” Len Wallis Audio Promotional Special!

nother very exciting product, particularly if you are looking to put together a high-end Home Theatre, is the Viva Utopia III speakers from Focal. These are very high quality speakers designed primarily for Home Theatre applications, but which will also work superbly with music. One look will tell you that this is a serious loudspeaker, and at $30,000 a pair (plus stands) I guess this is to be expected. There is also a matching centre channel – which sells for $15,000 (and weighs 57kg!) The Utopia III series from Focal is currently regarded by many to be the best range of high-end loudspeakers on the Australian market. The Viva is a worthy addition.

To make the DLA-X9 even more attractive, we have some exciting packages on offer at very special prices (not including installation) as follows: 1. JVC DLA-X9 3D D-ILA projector, with 2 pairs of 3D glasses and 1 emitter: $7,999. Save $2,507! 2. JVC DLA-X9, with the above, plus 110-inch fixed Screen Technics CinemaSnap screen, plus ceiling support: $8,999. Save $2,790! 3. JVC DLA-X9, with all the above, plus Yamaha RX-A1000 A/V receiver, Yamaha BD-A1000 Blu-ray player, Focal 716/CC700/SR700 front/centre/ rear speaker package and wireless Wi-Connect10 Velodyne subwoofer, with 2 x 1-metre and 1 x 7-metre HDMI cables, plus up to 30 metres of QED Silver Anniversary speaker cable: $15,699. Save $4,174!

64 Burns Bay Road Lane Cove NSW 2066 • Ph (02) 9427 6755 Fx (02) 9427 2490 • ABN 40 001 592 383 • sales@lenwallisaudio.com.au

www.lenwallisaudio.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

KEF Audio T305

5.1-channel speaker package

5.1-channel loudspeaker package can potentially occupy a good deal of floor space — indeed, with some systems, a noticeable proportion of the entire volume of a room. So it isn’t surprising that satellite loudspeaker/subwoofer systems enjoy some popularity. But of course they are highly variable in quality. Fortunately with a brand name like KEF, you can be fairly confident that your purchase of this T305 system will put you at the pleasing end of that spectrum of variability.

Equipment The KEF T305 system seems to have been designed to fit rather well with a large flat-panel screen. The

flat panel you can deduce from the sizes of the satellites, while the ‘large’ we assess from the fact that their performance turns out to be more than adequate for a properly large home cinema set-up. But more on that shortly. The flat-panel matching is, as we said, clear from their size. The five main speakers are designated model T301 (T301c for the centre channel). All are identical in their dimensions, at 140mm wide, 600mm tall and a mere 35mm deep. At 1.5kg each, they can be flexibly mounted. The centre channel differs from the other four only by the orientation of the KEF logo and the hardware included for physical installation. Finished in black, these slim speakers would look good screwed onto the wall around any high-quality plasma or LCD TV (obviously the surround ones will adopt their own places at the back of the room). Within each of these speakers there are three drivers: two 115mm midrange units and a single 25mm aluminium-dome tweeter. The tweeter is at the mid-point between the larger drivers. KEF says that these are configured into a ‘two-anda-half way’ arrangement. The satellite enclosures are of a sealed design. All five of these units are rated at a frequency response of 80 to 30,000Hz. KEF says their nominal impedance is eight ohms and that they are suitable for use with receivers rated at 10 to 150W per channel. It says that their sensitivity is 91dB (for 2.83 volts input, measured at one metre) when they are wall attached, and 88dB when free-standing. Which is all the more reason to attach them to a wall, of course.

KEF says that satellites are rated to produce up to 110 decibels of sound pressure level. Their grilles did not appear to be removable — we didn’t want to force the issue to the point of damage to make certain. Non-standard grub-screw-secured terminals were provided for wiring and these will accept a decent gauge of speaker cable. We loosened the grub screws and used regular banana plugs on our speaker cables with no problems. Allen keys are provided both for the grub screws and for the screws for attaching the stands. The supplied mounting hardware is generous. You get five ‘desktop’ stands, the centre-channel one being quite different in design from the four other speakers, because of their different orientation. All five allow their respective satellites to be set to a slightly upwards-firing angle, or to be directed straight ahead. There are five metal plates included, which can be screwed to the wall and to which the satellites can be clipped. Generally with satellite subwoofer systems the subwoofer is fairly small, but still chunky. With this system, the T-2 subwoofer is small, but very much unchunky. That’s because it is only 177mm thick, including the removable grille on front. There aren’t even any ‘protrusions’ on the back, because the connections and controls are underneath. The subwoofer is 370mm wide and 380mm tall. Yet despite the small dimensions, it packs a good-sized 250mm driver. This is driven by a 250W Class D amplifier — quite a bit of power is required, since the enclosure is so small and is

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES sealed, so just moving the cone requires a lot of energy. On the underside four rubber feet lift the subwoofer free from the floor, allowing its power cable and your signal cable to be attached in an inset. There are three slide switches for the main controls. One provides three level settings at 6dB intervals; one switches the phase between 0 and 180 degrees; and the third chooses between the subwoofer switching on automatically, or being on all the time. KEF says that this subwoofer’s frequency response is 30 to 250 hertz, ±3dB, and that it is capable of reaching output levels of 110dB SPL. Both the subwoofer and the satellite speakers are available only in ‘classic black’.

Performance Before getting into proper performance testing, we wanted to check something out. We were intrigued by the two and a half way designation, which is an unusual arrangement for speakers of this size. That would normally mean a tweeter, a mid-bass driver, and a bass-only driver. You have a single driver to take over duty from the tweeter for the frequencies below the crossover point (which is 1700Hz, says KEF), with a second driver adding its efforts when the workload increases down into the deeper bass regions. That would make sense here — the small enclosures could probably do with the bass reinforcement afforded by a second driver, and the use of only one driver for the midrange frequencies eliminates off-centre ‘lobing’ effects due to different path lengths for the sound. We covered up the tweeter of one of the satellites as best we could, and then measured the pink noise output of the other two drivers. It soon became clear that the larger driver at the top of the vertical satellites does handle frequencies up to the 1700Hz crossover point, whereas the bottom one actually starts rolling off around 700Hz. Yes, these are 2.5-way satellites.

Despite the stated extension to 80Hz, our receiver’s auto-installation system was a little aggressive and set the crossovers to a full 200Hz, the maximum it has available. To test more in accordance with KEF’s installation manual we changed this setting to 120Hz. We know that we said that this system was likely to work best with the satellites attached to a wall, but our office doesn’t permit that , so we ran them primarily as free standing, taking a slight hit in volume levels. As you will see, we found no problems resulting from this. One of our favourite test Blu-ray discs is the newly released TRON: Legacy. This has one of the best sound mixes presently available, with truly deep and powerful bass and a totally-surrounding sound field. Since we’d being playing with a $7000 subwoofer immediately prior to installing this system, we kind of expected to be a little disappointed by the bass performance. But as it turned out, while obviously there were some things this much smaller subwoofer simply could not do, it still did a very creditable job. The main difference was bass extension: the amount of truly deep compression and decompression of the air in our test room. KEF’s specification of 30Hz at the bottom end seemed roughly right to us; it may have even been a bit on the modest side. The subwoofer produced some genuinely deep content. It was just not capable of pulsating the room with infrasonic sound. (It would have been a real surprise if it had.) It certainly covered the normal musical ranges more than adequately, with good attack on kick drums and complete coverage of a bass guitar. Only our pipe organ and synthesiser recordings tended to lose a little at the bottom end. The satellite speakers belied their extremely shallow design in just about every way. They were smooth, and nicely uncoloured. We pulled out our SACD of the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto to enjoy in full surround sound. The articulation and spread of the orchestral elements was excellent.

But the satellites also had plenty of bite. The drum work on the DVD-Audio version of Deep Purple’s Machine Head, was nicely dynamic, jumping towards the front of the mix. Again, the whole system proved more that capable of delivering the intense musical performance at levels that we really loved. As suggested by listening to TRON: Legacy, the surround field was excellent, with well-defined imaging in the complete circle around the listening area. That’s a clear advantage of sat-sub systems: you don’t have the level of the bass changing as the sound proceeds in a circle, since it all emanates from a single device. But the entire surround field was delivered, including sounds seeming to come from overhead. Between loudspeaker sound was precisely and convincingly produced as well. And we turned the sound up to truly enjoyable — also known as ‘high’ — levels, with no stress at all from the satellites.

Conclusion This is a great little system. While it isn’t ‘invisible’, it is physically discreet, yet still produces excellent sound. That little T-2 subwoofer is especially good, since it combines solid performance with an ability to avoid drawing attention. This is a package that delivers just what it promises — excellent surround sound in a room-friendly package.

KEF Audio T305 speaker packag e Price: $3199 Warranty: Five years (one on sub)

• •

Excellent styling match for large panel displays Excellent sound Strong subwoofer performance

•

Quite expensive

•

T301 SATELLITES • Drivers: 2 x 115mm midrange; 1 x 25mm aluminium-dome tweeter • Frequency response: 80-30,000Hz • Nominal impedance: 8 ohms • Sensitivity: 91dB/W/m wall-attached, 88dB/W/ m freestanding • Dimensions: 140 x 600 x 35mm • Finish: Classic black T2 SUBWOOFER • Driver: 250mm (10-inch) • Quoted frequency response: 30Hz - 250Hz • Power: 250W Class-D • Weight: 13kg • Dimensions (whd): 370 x 380 x 177mm • Finish: Classic black Contact: Advance Audio Australia 02 9561 0799 www.advanceaudio.com.au

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16/06/2011 1:33:07 PM

AUTHENTIC JBL STUDIO MONITORS. GET BACK TO THE MUSIC

JBL 4429 Studio Monitors

JBL STUDIO MONITOR Series Drawing on the classic JBL professional studio speakers which set the standard for high performance monitors in the 1970s and 1980s, the two new 4429 and 4319 Studio Monitors effortlessly create listening experiences with all the richness and detail of the original performance. Offering impeccable handling of bass frequencies, a flawless midrange and the purest highs to produce a studio-grade playback at home, they reveal subtleties you may never before have experienced in recorded music, giving you the ultimate sonic performance. JBL 4319 Studio Monitors For more information on the JBL 4429 and 4319 Studio Monitors or any of the other exceptional speaker series from JBL, visit www.jbl.net.au or call Convoy International on 1800 817 787. ÂŠ 2010 Harman international industries, incorporated. all rights reserved. JBL is a trademark of Harman international industries, incorporated, registered in the united states and/or other countries.

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So stylish. So small. If it wasn’t for the huge sound, you wouldn’t even know it’s there. When it comes to sound, Cabasse knows what they’re talking about. Designed in Brittany, France and with over 50 years of acoustic heritage, Cabasse is renowned for unique design and big sound. The Alcyone 5.1 system is no exception. Featuring the most critical acoustic qualities of efficiency, transparency and stability of the sound stage, these miniature spheres deliver powerful sounds that resonate with clarity and linearity. This, along with versatile placement options and a distinctive style that will complement any décor, the Alcyone 5.1 System has got you covered.

“The Alcyone provides good, honest fidelity for smaller rooms while offering an unobtrusive, stylish solution over a traditional box speaker” – Sound & Vision

Alcyone 5.1 System includes: 5 x identical satellite speakers, 1 x Santorin 17 subwoofer + speaker and subwoofer cables * Speaker stands not included.

International Dynamics Australia • 1800 456 393 www.internationaldynamics.com.au

International Dynamics New Zealand • 0800 456 393 www.internationaldynamics.co.nz

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SOURCES

Cambridge Audio Sonata NP30 Network Player

he NP30 Network Player is part of the wider heralding of a new age for hi-fi sources. It’s blessed with the ability to access every piece of music you have stored on your system, while also heading out to the wide blue internet to bring you almost bewildering levels of online music, radio and podcasts. Being among the first generation of such devices, you might expect it to be slightly limited and rather expensive. We’re delighted to report that the NP30 is neither.

Equipment The NP30 is deeper than it is wide, so in terms of dimensions it better suits a micro separates stack (like Cambridge Audio’s Sonata system) than standard-width hi-fi. But it is certainly built with attention to quality — solid, robust and with goldplated RCA phono sockets for its audio outputs. Should you have an upmarket offboard DAC you can use its digital outputs, either optical or coaxial, again gold-plated. There’s an antenna for Wi-Fi, or an Ethernet socket for hard-wired broadband (which is of course, preferable for its speed, reliability, and lack of passwording). There are two USB sockets for local playback of files — one on the back, which is neat if you’re attaching a longterm hard-drive, the other on the front, handier if you’re switching out sticks. The front socket arrives with a neat rubber cover. Cambridge being generally friendly to home automation, there’s also a 12V trigger input. You get a substantial remote control, perhaps most useful if you have other Cambridge products; you’re likely never to use it if you have an iPad to hand, as we’ll see.

Performance First, before even powering it up, kudos to Cambridge Audio for the fine User’s Manual, which is large (A4), clear and well illustrated. Such things instil confidence as well as making things easier! And that confidence is justified. We connected audio outputs, Ethernet and power in, and powered it up — within seconds it had done its network handshaking and was off tuning itself to Radio Birdsong, whether out of sheer joy to be alive or because distributors Synergy had left it there, we know not. It also immediately offered a firmware update, which we took, so this review was conducted using version v265-d-254-a-269-a-096-a-185. After a firmware-induced restart, we were back to Radio Birdsong, and began exploring. The large knob shuttled us through the main offerings, via an on-screen interface which is reminiscent of digital/internet radios using the excellent Reciva modules within, but very neatly customised, clear and easy to navigate. Our first task was to access our local and nearby media. Under ‘UPnP Servers’ we found listed the three NAS drives (two WD, one Iomega) on our system, as well as the laptop on which we are typing this; it also showed a networked Elgato TV tuner which must have been waving its little IP address without actually offering anything useful to the Cambridge. While the NP30 didn’t pick up our iTunes playlists from a networked iMac, it was able to read all the artist folders from the iTunes Media folder, and pretty quickly too; it even generates (gradually) an alphabetical jump list down the right edge of the App screen. We were able to compare the Cambridge’s playback of these files directly against our standard Mac-into-DAC via USB set-up and it performed admirably, pretty much indistinguishable indeed, perhaps even slightly crisper than our reference at times.

You can plug USB drives and sticks directly into the NP30, so we gave it a USB stick with hi-res digital downloads from the increasingly jaw-dropping catalogue of HDtracks.com, as well as our usual folder of test tracks. It played a 24-bit/96kHz FLAC of McCartney’s Band on the Run spectacularly, and had no problem with AIFF, AAC including purchased (but not DRMd obviously), MP3 including VBR, WMA, and WAV. It passed on only two — Apple Lossless, which is a common omission, but more sadly also on 88.2kHz HD tracks, which Cambridge tells us only became a increasingly popular HD format after the specs were finalised, and can’t be corrected by firmware. (Entertainly it does actually play them, but at half-speed.) If you’re loading from a Mac, be aware the NP30 also displays all those Mac _shadow files seen by PC-based systems, so you have to navigate past them. A great start, then, before we moved on to the Streaming Services section, under which heading were four offerings — Aupeo!, Live365, MP3tunes, and lastly BBC iPlayer, which we

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SOURCES

tried first, expecting it to hide from our Australian IP address, at least for its archive of Listen Again content. But no, we could listen to all BBC radio stations live (WMA stream only, the AAC versions didn’t seem to work), as well as accessing BBC podcasts and all that Listen Again content. At that point our review ground to a halt, because we found a pair of hour-long BBC documentaries on Bob Dylan, so we took a long break and listened to those. That’s the problem with access to a whole wealth of superb online material, particularly the long-form audio we rarely enjoy through a computer — it’s addictive! While listening to tales of Bob, we logged on to Cambridge’s UuVol website, registered the NP30, and used the site to store eight of our favourite internet radio stations under presets. Then we pulled out our iPad 2 and loaded the UuVol iPad App. This immediately found our NP30 and gave us far simpler touchscreen access to all the NP30’s glories Aupeo! turns out to be a bit like Pandora. You can request music streamed based on a nominated artist, or a style of music, or a mood — “Melancholic World” anyone? This worked well and the quality (128k MP3) seemed good, even when playing solo piano through a full hi-fi system. We couldn’t activate Live365 — you need to link your account via the UuVol website, which simply didn’t give us the option under the Manage Services tab. Cambridge blames this on Live365 blocking the service to Australia, despite the basic service (not VIP) working fine here on our PC and Mac. MP3tunes was more successful, linking fine. This allows you to load up to 2GB of music into

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a cloud locker to be streamed back to the NP30. This is free, with more space available for a fee. Quite how useful this really is on a home-based product is debatable, but the service is free, so let’s not complain! UuVol’s own internet radio engine was excellent, browsing by location or genre, and with a good fast search function and rapid loading. A massive world of variable-quality radio awaits. How about the UuVol App itself? We used the App on an iPad 2, and would like to say all proceeded as slik as silk, but in fact the App behaved moderately flakily, occasionally crashing and regularly showing the wrong thing under the wrong heading, so BBC radio stations would show up under Aupeo, or UuVol internet radio menus under UPnP servers, each time requiring a reboot of the UuVol App to fix. The App also regularly dropped its link to the NP30 and had to resync. And loading those preset favourites lists we created online takes a tedious 10 seconds to load up. Still, that’s a million miles ahead of keying in alphanumerical characters with the remote control or the knob, and the App’s layout and menu structure is better than several rivals. Other daily issues include the volume levels being wildly variable between different sources of material (and there’s no volume control via the App, since the NP30’s output is fixed level to your amp); also that searching for more music to add to the queue can often cancel the current selection, a particular pain if you’re listening to a podcast or Listen Again radio show, many of which can only be restarted from the beginning.

Conclusion These are small and probably largely unavoidable issues within a marvellous product that successfully streamlines your access to ever more music, especially (and essentially, we’d say) in combination with the UuVol App. If your music is kept in iTunes, the App’s navigation of your own collection is less effective than iTunes Remote App or AirPlay, but the NP30 combines a solid DAC and audio output stage with a front-end that combines network streaming with HD FLAC playback (still a shocking hole in iTunes), and endless unexpected online hours of entertainment. Plus it is at the lower-end of pricing among the wave of such new media products from established hi-fi companies. We like it very much. Cambridge Audi o Sonata NP30 Ne tw

ork Player

Price: $699 Warranty: Two years • • •

Loadsamusic, and more Almost plug and play Sounds great

• •

App control almost essential No 88.2kHz support

DAC: Wolfson WM8728 24-bit/96kHz Dimensions (whd): 270 x 67 x 285mm Weight: 2.1kg Contact: Synergy Audio 03 9459 7474 www.synergyaudio.com

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REAL LIFE HIGH-DEF 3D (ON A JUMBO SCALE)

High definition 3D Home Entertainment just got a whole lot bigger. Introducing the exciting HC9000D. Amazingly clear, cinema-sized entertainment on a 100"+ screen. Crisp, rich colour and deep, true blacks are the result of superior contrast (up to 150,000:1) – all made possible with Mitsubishi Electric’s advanced auto-iris technology. Combine this with SXRD™ display panels, high-speed frame sequencing and active shutter glasses for a 3D home theatre experience on a massive scale. True home theatre. Only from Mitsubishi Electric.

To see our complete range visit www.mitsubishielectric.com.au Mitsubishi Electric Australia Pty Ltd. 348 Victoria Rd, Rydalmere NSW 2116

Tel: (02) 9684 7777

HOME THEATRE PROJECTORS

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

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SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

f you could start afresh, tabula rasa, and create your ideal loudspeaker, what priorities would you set? You would hopefully rate sound quality pretty high; we’d put it top of our list. But some people might put “invisible” almost as high; it’s hard to insert a large pair of box speakers, let alone a surround system, into today’s clean architectural lines and décor. That’s why in-ceiling and in-wall speakers have become increasingly popular, although the problem with them is that, in our humble opinion, very very very few in-wall and particularly in-ceiling speakers can pass that first criterion of sound quality. What, then, might our dream speaker look like?

Equipment Well it might well look something like the SoundWall, from VAF Research. For anyone seeking a sound system that won’t intrude on your décor and floorspace, the SoundWall is about as unobtrusive as they come — wallmounting speaker modules that can be covered with any colour, any image, any art, in order to become part of a home’s architecture, instead of something stuck on top of it. Even for those of us at Best Buys who happen to love big speakers with cables trailing from their rears, we can see the attraction. VAF Research is an Australian company best known for its high quality conventional speakers, although it also has a strong record when venturing into the unconventional — for example, producing one of the best speaker docks of all time for the iPod (originally designed for Microsoft’s Zune). But the VAF SoundWall is in a different category entirely. In the pictures you can see how the wall-mounting 60cm square modules fit together. Just 12cm deep, they can be positioned as a single artwork. You can see how they have been turned into abstract art works, into movieposter murals, or decorated with motifs to blend into their location. The modules bevel back at 45 degrees from the faces, so they seem to float over the wall. Not all the squares are active loudspeakers — though if they were, they’d be pretty impressive! No, you create a combination of speaker panels and identical but ‘empty’ acoustic treatment modules, and can choose to add one or two of VAF’s new subwoofer modules. The system is entirely scalable — you can use as many modules as your room (or artwork) requires, building from the two types.

Performance This ability to scale is clever, yes, but the real genius is that they perform to a level you’ll have trouble matching with any in-wall or in-ceiling system. When we’ve heard them in relatively controlled circumstances, they have exhibited many of the proper

hi-fi qualities we’d expect from VAF’s standard boxy fare, with full-range tonality and a wide spread of sound, even achieving successful stereo imaging, which you’d think might be their biggest challenge. We heard them without a subwoofer module, and for our tastes, there was no lack of bass in their output. What’s going on inside? The speaker module ($1399 each) uses a 180mm dual-concentric fibreglass driver made in Norway exclusively for VAF, inset with a time-aligned Sonotex tweeter dome. The acoustic treatment modules are $399 each, and they’re not just empty panels; they act to both absorb and scatter sound to improve a room’s acoustics — and they do this even when the system is not playing, as VAF points out. The new $1999 subwoofer module uses an unusual Tymphany woofer with inverted magnet, teamed with a matching passive radiator, and it uses an offboard electronics module, which keeps cabling simpler, with no need for mains power to the modules (the SoundWall’s floating edges are, incidentally, ideal for hiding cable runs neatly). The three module types can be combined and scaled according to sonic requirements, then customised with any colour or picture to match your décor (at $150 per module). You can even redecorate a SoundWall by ordering a fresh set of front screens.

Conclusion So you can make a SoundWall just as beautiful as your imagination can make it as a feature design, or you can use neutral or background colours to have it melt into your architecture. Meanwhile you can enjoy sound quality that is extremely close to very fine hi-fi, and a million miles above what you’ll get from your average in-ceiling or in-wall speaker. Which is why Sound+Image magazine honoured the SoundWall with a 2011 Award for Custom Installation Product of the Year. It falls into that category because it is, of course, not something you can just buy from a shop and take home — VAF’s accredited installers will need to do the job, and will also take care of colour choices or customisation. You might start by showing this article to your interior designer or architect.

VAF SoundWall Price: Modular system; price depends on number and arrangement of modules Warranty: 10 years (3 on bass module) • • •

Looks great Sounds great New subwoofer module

•

Requires installer

Contact: VAF Research 1800 818 882 www.vaf.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

Yamaha Aventage RX-A3000 AV receiver

ere’s an AV receiver with an unusual problem — expectation. As the model sitting at the top of Yamaha’s ‘serious’ range, it replaced the company’s RX-V3900, which was a great favourite of both reviewers and dealers (and presumably, owners). So the challenge was on for the company was to go one better than ever such a prestigious predecessor. Perhaps predictably, it has succeeded.

Equipment The RX-A3000 carries the stable name of ‘Aventage’, which means AV entertainment for the new age, we gather. It builds on the previous RXV3900 by adding more HDMI sockets — many more! — plus support for the newest features of home cinema: the Audio Return Channel from a TV and 3D signals from Blu-ray 3D players. The core remains fairly similar, offering seven power amplifiers, each rated at 140W into eight ohms across the full audio bandwidth at vanishingly small levels of distortion. Arrayed across the back, almost from one side to the other, are two rows of binding posts, totalling 22 in all for 11 channels, and providing for many different uses of the amplifier channels. Some of the extras provide for Yamaha’s front and rear ‘Presence’ speakers (the unit does not offer Dolby Pro Logic IIz; Yamaha maintains that its own DSPs exceed that format’s spatial conjuring capabilities). The amplifiers can also be used to drive speakers in two different zones, or to biwire

the front speakers. These binding posts are nicely spaced, and more cleanly laid out than those of Yamaha receivers in recent years. There are also 7.2-channel analogue preamplifier outputs. Of late we’ve been gently chastising manufacturers for saying that their receivers have 7.2 channels when the same signal is provided to the two subwoofer outputs. But with this receiver, Yamaha has provided set-up options for how these subwoofers operate together, if you choose two. You can set them to ‘mono’, in which case they both receive the same signal. Or you can set them to Left/Right, in which case any bass redirected from ‘small’ speakers is sent to the closest subwoofer. Or you can set them to Front/Rear, in which case the ‘Rear’ one receives redirected bass from the various rear speakers, while the front gets bass from the ‘Small’ front speakers. Both get the LFE signal. The receiver’s connections show something of a move from older analogue connections to new digital ones, although not with the same cost-cutting alacrity as Yamaha’s lower-cost models, so you still get plenty of S-Video, composite video and component video inputs. You also get a proper phono input, hoorah. But most of the time you will be using one of the eight HDMI inputs (one on the front panel) or the USB port (front panel) or the Ethernet connection or Yamaha port for its wired or wireless iPod docks (wired dock supplied). In most up-to-date home cinema systems, the analogue video outputs just hang there on the back of the receiver unused, with all video being fed to the display over HDMI. That would especially be the case with this receiver, since it would be rare to find better video processing than

the new HQV Vida built in here. So Yamaha has done something interesting with its composite, S-Video and component video outputs: they can be reassigned to provide video to other zones, an area in which analogue video remains dominant given the likely cable lengths. In addition, the optical digital audio output (which can be used for ‘Record Out’) can be reassigned to support a zone. The remote control has backlit keys, with a side-mounted switch. It has many other devices preprogrammed in, but can also learn from other remotes, and has a macro facility. This is also one of Yamaha’s Aventage receivers that can be controlled via an iPhone App from the iTunes store.

Performance Setting up was a little slower than with lower-level receivers, thanks to the more powerful version of Yamaha’s own calibration system — YPAO. To properly use this you should run through the system at least three times, with the calibration microphone placed in the cups at the ends of the three arms of a location device. By triangulation, this gives the receiver a more precise sense of not only the distances involved, but also the directions of the various loudspeakers.

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS RECEIVERS

“The RX-A3000 carries the stable name of ‘Aventage’, which means AV entertainment for the new age, we gather...” 28 27-28_Yamaha.indd 28

In addition to setting the speaker sizes and distances, it sets up a parametric equaliser to smooth out room effects. The sound was delivered from all the sources we fed it (SACD, DVD Audio, CD, DVD and Blu-ray) with accuracy and precision. Using a set of large loudspeakers of average sensitivity, there was never any sense of limitation to clean power delivery. Digital audio signal detection was swift, with the appropriate decoder being switched into place almost instantly. The unit supports audio playback from both USB media plugged into the front-panel socket and over the network from a DLNAcompatible server (e.g. a recent version of Windows Media Player). This supported MP3 of course, and Windows Media. It also played WAV for perfect reproduction of the original source, and FLAC as well, though not Windows Media Lossless. One of the major issues with DLNA and USB media support is the common inability to rapidly navigate through the enormously long lists of content many people now have on their computer or USB HDD. This receiver takes a long stride towards resolving this by the simple expedient of presenting next to the list of contents shown (e.g. the artists list) four navigation icons. These allow you to jump either one or ten pages of the list. This emerged as a characteristic of this receiver — speed. It was very responsive to the remote control. The graphical user interface popped up swiftly over the top of the video... even over Blu-ray 3D signals. It was well organised, with text descriptions accompanying the icons. The receiver’s remote also had an ‘Option’ button which popped up a short list of things to be adjusted, making certain functions more readily accessible than working through the main menu. There was once a time (not so very many years ago) when video conversion features in

AV receivers were really quite poor. Progressive improvement has led to far better performance, as witnessed by Yamaha’s newest version of HQV processing: ‘Vida’. Although there is no manual override here to force ‘film’ mode (or, for that matter, ‘video’ mode), happily the ‘Auto’ mode is excellent. With the previous generation of Yamaha receivers, there was an unusual problem — 1.0 audio, or ye olde mono. This appears primarily in the form of Dolby Digital 1.0 on many older Warner Bros titles, and those older receivers always converted it to 2.0, instead of mono from the centre speaker. Yamaha has corrected this, and now even the most basic of audio formats — 1.0 — is properly delivered.

Conclusion The Yamaha RX-A3000 is an attractive blend of power, capability, competence and connectivity, at a simply excellent price. It supports everything that needs support, and offers extras such as providing entertainment in up to three additional zones, as well as being your workhorse and powerhouse for your main room. You even get a second mini remote control. And all that is at a great price. Yamaha Aventage RX-A3000 AV receiver Price: $2499 Warranty: Four years (one year replacement) • • •

Strong audio performance Superb GUI over all video, even Blu-ray 3D Excellent network media support

•

Nothing!

•

Power: 7 x 140W (into 8 ohms @ 0.06% THD, 20-20,000Hz, 2 channels driven) Dimensions (whd): 435 x 182 x 430mm Weight: 17.0kg

• •

Contact: Yamaha Music Australia 1300 739 411 www.yamahamusic.com.au

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massive R&D effort has gone into the design and engineering of Krix’s new state-of-the-art subwoofer:

The Volcanix is the pinnacle of user-friendliness and now includes a front baffle LCD control panel for easy adjustment of volume, low-pass, phase, power on mode (auto sense or 12V trigger), auto sensitivity, display contrast and more.

The Volcanix. The Volcanix subwoofer uses a newly-developed 12-inch paper cone driver featuring a high power 50mm long throw voice coil and in-built amplification by way of a Class-D ICEpower® module delivering 450 watts RMS of power.

The new Krix Volcanix. Experience extreme bass.

krix.com

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Castle Acoustics Richmond Anniversary stereo loudspeakers

astle’s new Richmond ‘Anniversary’ bookshelf speakers look very much like the company’s Richmond Classic 3i model — the same dimensions, a similar-looking 130mm bass/midrange driver and 19mm tweeter. So what’s going on? Are there technical and performance differences between the two?

Equipment Although Castle rates the Anniversary’s bass/ midrange as having a diameter of 130mm, it’s a bit more complicated than this, because as you can see from the photograph, the frame of the driver is not a true circle, but is instead ‘squared off ’, so if you measure from corner to corner, you get 150mm. But the ‘Thiele/Small’ diameter, from which the speaker’s piston area (Sd) is derived, is 109mm, which gives an Sd of 93cm². The cone is formed from woven strands of carbon fibre and bonded to a rubber surround suspension, with a bulletshaped central dust cap made from a hard polymer. This cone/surround construction is excellent for Australia, being highly impervious to ultraviolet (UV) radiation (which quickly destroys foam surround suspensions) and it’s also not hygroscopic,

so the mass of the cone will not increase when the atmospheric humidity is high… as it so often is in this country. The bass/midrange driver is cast from aluminium — and supports a fairly substantial drive magnet (75 × 15mm), as well as a secondary flux-cancelling magnet (70 × 12mm) bonded to the rear of the main drive magnet. This flux-cancelling magnet, in turn, has a copper label bonded to it that proclaims ‘Richmond Anniversary’. Other than the copper label, the driver appeared to be identical in all respects to the one used in the Classic 3i. The tweeter has a 19mm diameter soft polyamide dome that is located at the centre of a circular plate 95mm in diameter, and has a ‘relief ’ version of Castle’s logo moulded into it. No neodymium here — Castle uses a conventional (and substantially large!) ferrite magnet, so you won’t have to worry about the tweeter overheating and losing efficiency as a result. Again, this tweeter appeared identical to the one fitted to the 3i. The crossover network, however, is certainly different, using several HUGE state-of-the-art low-loss polypropylene capacitors made specifically for Castle, both iron-cored and air-cored inductors

(cross-mounted to ensure zero interaction between them), and standard ceramic resistors in a classic Linkwitz-Riley filter implementation. All internal wiring is Monster Cable XP which is hard-wired to the crossover network but spade-connected at the driver ends. The inside of the enclosure is almost completely filled with synthetic acoustic wool, and there’s much more cross-bracing than we remember seeing inside the Classic 3i. However, there was no evidence of the ‘bitumen damping pads’ the Anniversary is advertised as containing. The engineers have also gone all-out on the rear speaker terminals as well. They are massive, gold-plated affairs that will accept bare wires, spade lugs, pins or 4mm plugs. There are two pairs, so you can bi-wire or bi-amp. The rear terminal plate carries the words ‘Limited Edition’, but in fact production is not limited in any way, either to this Anniversary year or to the total number of models that will be manufactured. The speaker grille frame on the Anniversary uses two different types of wood, which Castle says not only gives added rigidity but also minimises grille resonances. It fits to the front baffle via the usual plastic pin and rubber

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES room in which you’re listening to the speakers is incredibly important. The popularity of small speakers in England is in no small part due to their relatively small rooms, and in this kind of acoustic environment even very small Performance speakers can perform impressively well, thanks The stereo pair of Richmond Anniversaries were to bass reinforcement caused by the proximity placed on stands that put the tweeters exactly of the walls and the reflectivity of the surfaces. at seated ear level. At the insistence of Castle Acoustics’ Australian distributor, Philippe Luder, Australians are now also listening to their hi-fi Transparent ‘The Wave’ speaker cables connected in similar environments, thanks to the dramatic increase in home units and townhouses being the Richmonds to the various solid-state and built… particularly in Sydney. valved amplifiers used for auditioning, and And in such environments, making too Transparent’s ‘The Link’ interconnect between the various source components (except the turntable!) much noise is frowned on by the neighbours (and legislated against by bodies corporate, as and the various amplifiers. well as State laws), so that the other advantage It was quickly evident that the small drivers and the tiny small cabinet put physical limits on larger speakers have over smaller ones (that they can produce higher sound pressure levels) is also the extent of both bass and volume. However, effectively negated. it’s important to point out that the size of the grommet arrangement. As for the cabinets themselves, they’re 280 × 165 × 235mm (hwd) and each one weighs 5.1kg.

However, Castle (or more accurately, its acoustic designer, Peter Comeau) hasn’t played the same acoustic ‘trick’ that was played with the Classic 3i: that of delivering a mid-bass peak in order to give the impression of there being more bass than there is. The Richmond Anniversary model is still very slightly forward in the upper bass region, but the overall bass/midrange balance is far more impressively neutral. The chestiness of the Classic 3i has been replaced by a bass authority that hints at a deeper authenticity without overemphasising the upper bass. It is more ‘monitorlike’, particularly across the midrange. The Anniversary design is not very efficient — it measured at 85.6dBSPL — and if the volume level was up too high the midrange thickened and the highs became a bit brittle. However, in smaller rooms, the overall level of the sound in the room became overpoweringly loud before either of these traits manifested, so they shouldn’t be considered an issue. High-frequency performance was very good: clean-sounding and transparent, delivering a lovely-sounding treble ‘fill’ without glare. There was also no trace of the HF ‘zing’ that you hear from almost all metal-dome tweeters: the Anniversaries’ tweeters were sweet and pure. If you’re buying small speakers for visual and/or space reasons, you might consider adding a small perhaps hidden subwoofer to handle the bass. Crossing over from the sub at around 150Hz will also improve the sound of the Anniversaries by relieving them of bass duties, which will improve their power handling, dynamic range, and maximum SPLs. Adding a subwoofer would of course be a given in a home theatre set-up, but even as a stereo pair, it’s worth considering.

Conclusion If you’re after a very small speaker that offers ‘that little bit extra’ by way of good looks, high sound quality and also ‘brand cachet’, check out Castle Acoustics’ Richmond ‘Anniversary’ model — it really is a remarkable performer for its size. Castle Acoustics Richmond Annive stereo loudspea rsary kers Price: $1199 Warranty: Five years • • •

Tiny cabinets Glorious veneer Monitor-like midrange

• •

Lack deepest bass Volume levels

Dimensions (hwd): 280 × 165 × 235mm Weight: 5.1kg Contact: Audio Dynamics 03 9882 0372 www.audiodynamics.com.au

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VAF Speakers For Audiophile Purists & Home Theatre Extremists VAF’s World Renowned range of 15 speakers and subwoofers cover all the bases. From $499 ea they also offer incredible value. Directly from VAF.

Built by us. Sold by us. Call for details

“The ultimate in high fidelity performance with the best bass in the world” Rolling Stone Ask about packaged systems with

VAF Recomended Components

With VAF you can afford the best All VAF Loudspeakers are Time Aligned, have Diffraction Control, Cooled Voice Coils and Low Stored Energy

World renowned speakers World Class Gear Direct from VAF FreeCall 1800 818 882 Email vaf@vaf.com.au www.vaf.com.au VAF Research is a completely Australian Company

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Harman Kardon SB 16

2.1-channel active soundbar speaker system

his is more than merely a loudspeaker, really, since it includes amplification and a fair amount of general cleverness not commonly found in your average box. But we’ve listed it here under loudspeakers because its job is to replace a good many of them, by aiming to create home cinema sound from a single front-positioned bar, with a subwoofer in support, as part of the package. A confession first. We do shudder a little at the prospect of soundbar reviews, not because we don’t like them, but because the breed usually requires a

complete unplugging of all our loudspeaker cables, pulling them all to the front of the room to plug into a monstrous bank of speaker terminals at the back ofthe bar. But we were wrong. The Harman Kardon SB 16 Soundbar offers a very different approach.

Equipment This is a two-box system, and rather than demanding massive levels of wiring, it hugely simplifies things. Crucially, you don’t use an AV receiver at all. The Soundbar itself has two 25W amplifiers built in to run the four 75mm midrange and two

34 34-35_HarmannCardon.indd 34

19mm high frequency drivers. These drivers are at the left and right extremes of the bar, with the tweeter furthermost outwards. The Soundbar talks to the subwoofer wirelessly, so that the only wiring needed is to feed the source signal/s into the Soundbar and, of course, the mains power leads for the Soundbar and the subwoofer. Four different wireless settings are provided to ensure it can operate without interference. Harman Kardon says that the maximum range for the wireless connection is 15.3 metres. As you’d expect from a Soundbar, it is long and skinny. At 920mm wide and only 110mm tall, it

should fit nicely under many a plasma or LCD display. Wall-mounting hardware is provided, but it will also fit on a shelf. A switch on it selects between EQ curves optimised for either position. There are three inputs: stereo audio, S/PDIF optical and S/PDIF coaxial. A button on the top selects between these. The digital audio inputs support only two-channel PCM signals, so obviously you won’t be getting discrete multichannel audio. But the system can process the sound to provide a surround effect from two-channel sources. The subwoofer has a 254mm downwards-firing driver in a bass reflex enclosure with 100W of

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LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES power behind it. Surprisingly, despite being quite large (380mm by 380mm by 480mm tall), it is only rated down to 50Hz.

Performance We confess: at first we thought that there was a big oversight with this system. There was no remote control. But then we consulted the manual and found that Harman Kardon had done something even better: it lets you use your own remote control. This has two obvious advantages. First, there is one less remote control around. Second, and far more important, it is much more family friendly. Want to turn up the volume? Just use TV’s remote. You can also program the on/off, mute, source and surround mode functions. Harman Kardon recommends that you turn off your TV’s loudspeakers in its menus, if possible. If your TV can’t do that, then it suggests that you turn down the TV and then the system’s volume to a comfortable level using the buttons on top. That way the sound system’s volume will remain much, much louder than the TVs. The procedure for programming the unit to respond to your remote control isn’t difficult, but for some reason it wouldn’t work with the remote for a new LG TV we were using. We got it to accept ‘Volume Up’ on the first go, and then nothing after that. We reset all the codes and tried again, and couldn’t get ‘Volume Up’ to work

either. Se grabbed the remote of an AV receiver that wasn’t in use and programmed the Soundbar to respond to its keys. Every one of these worked first time. The unit turns itself on and off automatically as well for greater convenience. As mentioned, the Soundbar will only work with two-channel PCM input. We tried feeding Dolby Digital from a HD TV station to it, and all we got was silence. Likewise from the Blu-ray player. We just set both devices to PCM output and all was fine. This did point to one limitation in the system. Because it will only accept a two-channel PCM signal, any multichannel audio needs to be decoded and mixed down into two channels. If your DVD or Blu-ray player gives you the choice for mix-down, choose LtRt rather than stereo. This setting means that the surround channels

are also mixed into the signal, and this gives the Soundbar’s surround processor more useful signals to work with. However, virtually all downmix processes do not include the LFE channel. There’s nothing much you can do about that: with this system, despite the largish subwoofer, you don’t get LFE. Other than plugging everything in, the only physical set-up required was to set the ‘Trim’ level for the Soundbar and to adjust the subwoofer’s volume level. As delivered to us the ‘Trim’ switch had been set to ‘3’, which is the most sensitive (or loudest) setting. This was quite unsuitable for our purposes because when we turned it down, it was still producing a moderate volume at the second bottom position, while the next and final press on the volume control muted the sound completely. We switched the ‘Trim’ to ‘1’, and this gave a good volume range. As for connecting to the subwoofer, we simply had both units set to the same channel, and the subwoofer just worked with no obvious handshaking, and no user intervention. Most people will need to adjust the subwoofer level by ear. We use a special test track, and with this we found that in our room the best setting was to have the level control on the subwoofer set at three dots up from the minimum. However it may be different in other rooms, and indeed even with a different subwoofer position. The sound quality from the combination of bar and sub was bright and forward, and clearly extended at the high end. The system was capable of quite reasonable volume levels — loud enough for full engagement with a movie, or to rock along with music, although it fell short of being able to reach cinema levels. The human voice was nicely clear and comprehensible, and with music the tonal balance was really quite good, with just a slight bias towards the upper midrange, giving the performance a bit of bite. The subwoofer also proved to be nicely musical, if lacking in extreme depth. Obviously we couldn’t use multichannel music to test it (due to the loss of LFE described above), but with CDs the subwoofer delivered a tuneful and clean performance, lacking only in the bottom few pedal notes of the pipe organ. The stereo mode of playback sounded remarkably like that delivered by decent quality separate floorstanders (bookshelf speakers wouldn’t stretch quite as far into the bass). The surprise was the surround mode. This wasn’t bad at all. In our room it didn’t give any identifiable ‘back there’ sounds, but the ambient content was nicely pulled out and placed in a broader space around the room, centred up high, a little forward of the listening position. A football match on TV had the crowd giving a decent impression of being dispersed through the room, while the commentators came cleanly from the front of the room. Our male voice ‘walking around the room’ test had an extremely wide front stage — much

wider than the sound bar — but a generalised disembodied sound once he was supposed to be crossing the back. One disconcerting aspect of performance was how the unit would ramp up the signal over a second or so when receiving a new signal. That meant that when we jumped to a new track on a CD, a powerful opening was sometimes softened as it was still in mid-ramp. We imagined this was in order to avoid any switching noise, except that often there was a quite distinct — although not very loud — digital click which seemed to coincide with signal acquisition.

Conclusion If you want the full home theatre experience, the Harman Kardon SB 16 isn’t really going to deliver it for you, thanks to the loss of LFE and the discrete surround channels. As you’d expect. But if you want to lift the performance of your TV’s sound — including with DVDs and Blu-ray discs — well beyond what any TV is itself capable of delivering, then look at this unit closely. It is simply brilliant in the convenience of use that it offers, and it makes very listenable music, while lifting movie performance to a very enjoyable level. And all this is at a remarkably reasonable price, especially remembering that you don’t need an AV receiver. Harman Kardon SB 2.1-channel activ 16 e soundbar speake r system Price: $1299 Warranty: Two years • • •

Good sound at a good price Well thought out for convenient use Easy installation

• • •

No discrete surround sound No bass from LFE channel with most systems Ramps up volume level on signal acquisition

SOUNDBAR • Rated power: 2 x 25W (@ 8 ohms, 2020,000Hz, 0.07% THD) • Inputs: 1 x analogue stereo, 1 x optical digital, 1 x coaxial digital • Drivers: Two sets of 2 x 75mm midrange and 1 x 19mm tweeter • Dimensions (whd): 920 x 110 x 89mm • Weight: 3.6kg SUBWOOFER • Rated power: 100W • Inputs: Wireless only • Drivers: 1 x 254mm downward-firing cone • Cabinet: Bass reflex, rear facing port • Dimensions (whd): 380 x 480 x 380mm • Weight: 15.4kg System frequency response: 50 to 20,000Hz Contact: Convoy International 02 9700 0111 www.ehifi.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

PrimaLuna

ProLogue Premium Preamplifier & Premium Stereo Amplifier

he difference between a valve amp and a solid-state amp is a little like the difference between a sports car and a family sedan. One you’re always fiddling with, not only to maintain it but also to improve performance, whereas the other will simply be driven without much thought or maintenance until it’s finally run into the ground. And of course a sports car is lots of fun, whereas a family car is just useful in getting from A to B.

Equipment So why has PrimaLuna decided to take some of the fun out of its new Prologue Premium power amp? What’s happened is that the company has developed a new circuit it calls ‘Adaptive AutoBias’. This circuit continuously monitors and adjusts each valve so that it’s running in its sweet spot. You’ll never have to pull out your multimeter and insulated screwdriver again.

But wait, there’s more! PrimaLuna has also added a two-position switch to the side of the Prologue Premium that allows you to switch between two different types of output valve. Flip the switch up (check!) and you can install KT88 valves. Flip it downwards and you can fit EL34s. It’s that easy. It’s so easy that it’s tempting to switch between different valves when you’re listening to different types of music… which is precisely what many audiophiles do. In many ways the new ProLogue Premiums are similar to the standard ProLogue amplifiers, but there’s a very good reason for the Series name… as well as the higher price. The Premium model has four protection circuits that, while they may never ever be required, will save you a whole lot of grief if they are. First up is the aptly-named ‘Bad Tube Indicator’. This is simply an LED that tells you if a valve has failed. Next up is PTP circuitry that cuts the power if the amp’s mains power

transformer overheats. The output transformer is also protected, via an OTP (Output Transformer Protection) circuit. Finally, PrimaLuna provides a +B relay instead of the usual plate fuse, which means you won’t need to hire a technician if something goes badly wrong. The new amps also share some circuitry, for example the ‘soft-start’ circuits that extend component life. Another recent change is the use of double 12AU7s in place of the previous 12AX7/12AU7 partnerships. According to PrimaLuna, this results in lower distortion levels. PrimaLuna rates the power output of the Prologue Premium power amplifier at 70W continuous per channel, at no more than 1% THD, no matter whether you elect to use EL34 or KT88 valves. The amplifier’s frequency response is specified at 20Hz-85kHz ±0.5dB. The signal-to-noise ratio is rated at 92dB referenced to rated power. Output transformer taps are provided to suit speakers with nominal impedances of four ohms and eight ohms. The power amplifier is almost bereft of controls, with just a power switch on the left side of the amplifier, and the EL34/KT88 selector

PrimaLuna ProL ogue Premium Preamplifier & Pr oLogue Premium Stereo Amplifier Price: $4698 (with EL34s), $5098 (with KT88s) Warranty: Three years • • •

Adaptive autobias Valve type choice Incredible valve sound

• •

Power consumption Heat output

Contact: International Dynamics 1800 456 393 www.internationaldynamics.com.au

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switch, located on the right side. Even the preamplifier has only the essential controls: a rotary volume control on the left of the front panel, and an input source selector on the right with positions for CD, Tuner, Aux1, Aux2 and Home Theatre. The finish on these PrimaLuna models is incredibly good. Apparently, it’s high-gloss automotive paint that’s applied in a five-step process, which includes extensive hand-rubbing, to get a flawlessly deep and lustrous finish. The colour is impossible to describe — the closest we can get is a ‘metal-flake charcoal-grey’.

Performance You’ll need somewhere pretty solid to mount these, because together they tip the scales at 38kg. You’ll also need to mount them out in the open because, between them, they also generate an incredible amount of heat. Because the sides of the valve cages are covered in Perspex, all the heat rises through the parallel grids. And because these PrimaLuna amplifiers look so good, our guess is that these that you’ll want to have them out on show in your room, so placing them side by side on a flat surface would be our advice; they’ll not only get adequate ventilation, but become a talking point, as well as ‘objets d’art’ — especially when all those valves are glowing in the half-light. But the real reason for buying valve amplifiers is not for the looks, of course, but for the absolutely luscious sound quality. No-one’s yet nailed down exactly what makes valve amplifiers sound different to solid-state transistor amplifiers, but one thing everyone does agree on is that they do sound different. Our sessions with these amplifiers proved their point. The bass was deep and extended, and there was certainly plenty of power, but it was a bit ‘fuller’ and ‘more rounded’ than when we listened to the same musical passages on a solid-state amplifier. The midrange sound was also different. It wasn’t that any one frequency or frequencies were being emphasised — far from it — but the mids were definitely sweeter and more rich-sounding. Some members of the panel thought the sound wasn’t entirely faithful to the original (as heard via headphones) but the votes for ‘best sound’ always came down on the side of this PrimaLuna duo. This was irrespective of whether we used EL34 or KT88 output valves, though between the two, the KT88 ended up being the ‘preferred’ valve type.

Conclusion Whereas in the past we might have recommended valve amplifiers only for ‘expert’ audiophiles, simply on account of the level of care and ongoing maintenance required, the provision of Adaptive AutoBias and the slew of protection circuits included here mean that we can unhesitatingly recommend this PrimaLuna ProLogue duo to anyone who’s interested in sound quality above all else.

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17/06/2011 3:27:06 PM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

ABOVE: this ‘mixed’ system shows a variety of the available finishes

Richter Dragon

be large because the Dragon uses three large cone drivers (two for the bass, one for the midrange) that have singlepiece cast alloy baskets and triple-layer composite cones that are ‘embossed’ to minimise distortion and standing waves. Two of the drivers also have bullet-shaped rubber pole-piece extensions to control phase. The tweeter is also fairly new for Richter: a state-of-the-art electromagnetic induction (EI) tweeter that first appeared on the Wizard MkIV and is now used on all Richter models. The Unicorn centre channel has a pair of the same cone drivers used in the Dragons (always a good thing for a continuous soundfield) and, of course, the same EI tweeter. Richter has sensibly given the Unicorn a completely flat base, so it will be easy to seat this centre-channel speaker on a shelf underneath or in front of your screen, though you won’t be able to put your screen directly on top of the Unicorn because its top surface is curved.

5.1-channel speaker package

ake the DNA from Richter’s famous Wizard speakers, said to be the bestselling loudspeaker in Australia, and notch things up in terms of size and response, and you have the company’s flagship model from the Legend Series III, the Dragon Mk III. Use Dragons as your front main speakers, then add a Unicorn Centre, Hydra surrounds and a Thor IV subwoofer, and you might imagine quite a home cinema experience awaits. You would not be wrong.

Equipment The Dragons won’t be for the faint-hearted, as they stand a little over a metre high and lean back on a 315 × 430mm footprint. They need to

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Richter’s Hydra rear/surround speakers have been getting shallower over the years but maintaining their cabinet volume by growing progressively wider. The MkIV version is now only 130mm deep, so if you hang them on a wall using the supplied keyhole mount, they’ll barely protrude, which is great if you don’t want (or can’t make) holes in your walls. Each Hydra sports a single 165mm driver and that same EI tweeter.

Richter Dragon 5.1-channel speaker packag e Price: $4896 Warranty: Five years • •

Lovely sound field Impressive bass

•

Surrounds & sub not available in Jarrah

Contact: Richter Loudspeakers 02 9981 1844 www.richter.com.au

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17/06/2011 8:11:57 AM

Deep bass is delivered by the Thor MkIV active subwoofer, which features a 300mm (12-inch) cone driven by a classic Class-AB amplifier rated at 200-watts continuous. Richter’s largest and most impressive subwoofer, the Thor MkIV is 440mm wide, 470mm deep and 510mm high, and ported at the front to allow easy room placement. In order to keep costs down, Richter makes its front and centre speakers in two finishes only; a lovely West Australian Jarrah and a lustrous Black Tasmanian Oak. Both are real wood veneers. However, Richter’s surround speakers and subwoofers are available only in one finish: Black Oak.

Performance Setting up this system (all the components of which are available separately, so you can buy as many — or as few — as you need), we realised that the Dragons’ low frequency response was so extended that we wondered if we’d need to hook up the Thor IV subwoofer at all. We did, but ended up winding the low-pass filter ‘way back down to 35Hz, so the Thor was only delivering the lowest octave (20–40Hz). This extra octave made all the difference when listening to movie soundtracks with their low-frequency effects, but music has very little information below about 30Hz. Cohesive sound-staging is critical when watching movies, because although most of the dialogue, for example, comes exclusively from the centre-channel speaker, you need the tone of the dialogue to remain the same when the sound is in either of the left or right channels. The Dragon/ Unicorn combo worked in almost perfect unison to deliver an intensely realistic soundstage, and the clarity of the dialogue was exceptionally good. And unlike smaller centre-channels, the dynamic range of the Unicorn was excellent — it didn’t wimp out when called on to deliver sudden, highvolume sounds at the correct replay level, or when playing at elevated levels. We were also impressed by the performance of the Hydras, particularly given their incredibly small size — they sound so good that we can see some people using them as main front speakers in a small stereo system!

Conclusion This is a seriously impressive — dare we say ‘fire-breathing?’ — system that will deliver better-than-cinema-quality sound in your own home. So why not rent a new-release Blu-ray, invite your friends around and charge them admission… you’ll have it paid off in no time.

Richter makes its front and centre speakers in two finishes only; a lovely West Australian Jarrah and a lustrous Black Tasmanian Oak.

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17/06/2011 8:11:59 AM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SOURCES

Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC

adjustment of volume (more on this later), left and right channel balance, sample rate and filter switching (more on this later too), each with its own LED. A mode button also selects between these modes. Finally, a ‘Dim’ button adjusts brightness of the display. The Alpha DAC is also able to act as a preamplifier in terms of switching between digital sources and controlling volume levels when directly connected to a power amplifier. If levels are kept high (numerically around the 48-50 mark) the company claims no resolution shortfall by way of bit-losses. The selection of digital filters is extensive, although Berkeley recommends using the 1.16 or 1.24 interpolation default filters. Other filter choices are stated as being “for studio use only” and are said to be a tool for determining the sonics of commercial equipment — a curio, in a domestic context, that reveals the Berkeley’s professional DNA. The Alpha DAC comes with a small remote that can control all of the features on the main unit plus adds a mute button. It’s plasticky but well-designed, and fits comfortably in the hand while being very responsive from all angles. It would be fair to say that the Alpha DAC is one of the most feature-packed DACs we’ve ever tested. Specifications are equally impressive. The Alpha DAC has an input sampling rate of 32kHz to 192kHz with a 24-bit input word length. The in-built HDCD decoding detects the 16-bit flag at 44.1kHz and 24-bit flag at all sample rates. The frequency response at 88.2kHz sampling rate is 0.1Hz to 35kHz ±0.1dB and at both 176.4kHz and 192kHz it’s 3dB down at 59kHz. Total harmonic distortion and noise is less than 110dBFS.

Digital-to-analogue converter

he digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) has had a turbulent lifespan since the first of its kind — the Arcam Black Box — hit the market what seems like millennia ago, but was actually in the mid-1980s, as a significant upgrade to the mediocrity of most CD players way-back-then, only for the breed to become almost extinct when the internal DACs and general sophistication of CD players’ circuitry came of age in the late 1990s to mid 2000s. But now, the onset of computer audio and high resolution downloads has again revived, stronger than ever, the fortunes of the outboard DAC.

Equipment The Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha DAC is a state-of-the-art converter with a whole variety of connection and configuration options. For starters, the Alpha DAC presents the user with the usual analogue outputs in both RCA single-ended and XLR balanced options. Digital inputs include Toslink optical, a proprietary BADA input via RJ-45-type connection (to allow future HDMI and other DRM digital formats), S/PDIF via proper 75-ohms BNC connection, and 100-ohms AES/EBU with the mandatory XLR connection. You can conclude that Berkeley Audio Designs does not belong to the ‘digital data transmission via USB’ school of thought. An IEC input rounds out the rear panel socketry. The front panel presents a host of buttonry and LEDs that, at first glance, may seem excessive. Familiarisation and frequent operation will soon dispel any trepidation — it all makes sense. A bank of four LEDs, in a horizontal array, switch between each digital input, while an adjacent ‘Lock’ LED confirms the handshake between source and DAC. A blue LED confirms HDCD playback, a commendable feature we wish more DACs possessed. Moving along the fascia we find an ‘invert’ LED (with its own circular button) for switching absolute phase. Again, system permitting, you may or may not hear its effect with recordings featuring inverted phase. The centre section of the fascia is dominated by a reasonably-sized display with large, legiblefrom-a-distance information on all the major functions. Onwards, there are two small circular buttons with plus and minus symbols for the

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Performance We used the Alpha DAC both as a regular DAC into our reference Supratek preamplifier and then via its in-built volume control directly into a number of our power amplifiers (all with high input impedance so as to avoid compatibility issues and early bass roll-off). The volume control option showed a marginal gain in transparency and low level detail — subtle as it was — so we carried out the rest of the review process in that configuration. What struck us first was the Alpha DAC’s absolute and utter refinement. Play any brash or even harsh recording and the Alpha tames the beast — it doesn’t kill it entirely — and makes such recording or mastering blunders a lot more

bearable. And another gain from such a sophisticated presentation was a sense that the Berkeley presented the finer harmonic nuances and microdetail in a way that became more palpable and simultaneously more natural. It was as if minute detail, transparency and timbral information enhanced the subtler colours of the overall musical fabric. Soloists, no matter the instrument, and lone vocalists projected into the listening space with extraordinary realism. When listening to chamber or classical pieces, the Alpha DAC was truly glorious. The separation and the tonal palette painted an intricate, realistic and detailed picture that brought out the timbre of instruments in a way that became, indeed, addictive. And the soundfield spread wide and deep, immersively so. Put on a bit of Perfect Circle or Porcupine Tree and the Alpha DAC hits you with a massive soundscape and vivid textures highlighted by surgical separation. Dynamically the Berkeley was a tad polite, and its utterly refined signature took the edge off and slightly slowed the attack of this aggressive and hard-hitting musical genre — even if its bass reproduction was tight and evenly balanced between the upper, mid and lower registers. But ultimately the Berkeley Alpha DAC is about the finer details, the essence and purity of musical information. It’s about the minutiae that in conjunction with its tonal fidelity and spatial expansiveness translate to a captivating and compelling interpretation.

Conclusion The Berkeley Alpha DAC is a comprehensively featured DAC that is ready for the 21st century’s musical format challenges while providing a superb upgrade path for any ageing CD player. It manages to involve and emote by producing not just coherent sounds but transcendent and magnificent music.

Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha DAC Price: $5999 Warranty: Two years • • •

Comprehensive features list Superb engineering Refined and nuanced sound

•

Can be a tad too polite in some systems

Contact Audio Marketing 02 9882 3877 www.audiomarketing.com.au

www.avhub.com.au

17/06/2011 8:04:30 AM

3D READY D-ILA PROJECTORS THAT DELIVER

BLACKER BLACKS,

AND WHITER WHITES.

IN CONTRAST, THERE IS NO BETTER PROJECTION. Introducing JVC’s new 3D-ready D-ILA (Direct-Drive Image Light Amplification) projectors. With unmatched native contrast ratios up to 100,000:1, every frame consistently and faithfully reproduces peak whites, deep blacks, and everything in between – without artificially inflating the numbers by using electronic circuitry or a dynamic iris. Designed for the best in 2D or 3D projection, the new D-ILA projectors allow you to immerse yourself entirely in the big picture experience. With unrivalled image clarity and a new generation D-ILA Optical Engine, the new D-ILA projectors are sure to impress. In addition, the DLA-X7 and DLA-X9 models have been given THX® 3D display and ISF certifications. For more information contact JVC on 1300 728 225 or visit www.jvc.com.au

jvc.com.au

DLA-X3 models pictured. THX® 3D display and ISF certifications available on DLA-X7 and DLA-X9 models only.

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

Moon Evolution 700i

integrated stereo amplifier

anada has, deservedly, earned itself a superb reputation for producing some of the world’s best audio gear. Relatively speaking, the country has quite a small population, but with a disproportionate ratio of outstanding manufacturers per head of capita. The country also has one of the most respected research facilities in the world — the National Research Council of Canada — and the acoustic laboratory arm was developed as a result of collaborations between the Canadian government, the NRCC and renowned audio scientist Dr Floyd Toole. One of Canada’s most highly regarded audio companies is Simaudio, which offers a wide range of high-end electronics under the moniker of Moon Audio. Best Buys is looking at the Moon 700i integrated amplifier, part of the rangetopping Evolution Series.

Equipment The 700i is a stunner. It’s built like a Sherman Tank, too. In line with the rest of the Evolution Series, it’s available in two finishes and features beautiful curved solid brushed aluminium side panels, triangular corner posts that house the chromed machined cones, a large bright red central display and a rock-solid chassis that could withstand a nuclear detonation. As usual with Moon Evolution products, the 700i features comprehensive connecting options. For starters, there’s good quality gold-plated WBT speaker binding posts on opposing sides of the rear panel; the connecting options are also mirror imaged. You have four sets of RCA inputs, a single XLR balanced input, tape monitor in/out and a single RCA pre-out, plus a now almost ubiquitous 12-volt trigger connection and a set of SimLink in/out connections for activation of and two-way communication with other Moon audio source components. An RS232 D-sub connection allows external PC control and the updating of firmware. An IEC socket with adjacent on/off switch rounds out the rear panel’s features. The front of the 700i is reasonably minimalist in terms of controls, as most everything is controllable via the milled-from-solid-aluminium remote. Having said that, à la Moon trademark, the front fascia is dominated by a large red dot-matrix display which provides the user with system information. Small circular chrome buttons operate standby status, display functions and dimming, input selection, menu set-up and

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function activation, monitor and mute. A large aluminium rotary knob controls volume. Moon states that it uses twin massive custom proprietary toroidal transformers in conjunction with an over-sized dual mono power supply for driving speakers featuring difficult impedances. The company’s ‘Lynx’ circuitry uses “no overall feedback” and claims virtually zero inter-modulation distortion. Proprietary bipolar output transistors are said to yield improved bass performance over previous designs and a more “accurate” sonic reproduction. Large heatsinks run along the sides of the 700i although the amplifier runs very cool. The 700i is specified as being capable of outputting 175W from each of its dual mono channels into 8 ohms and 350W into 4 ohms. Input impedance is 23.7 kohms, output impedance a low 0.02 ohms and amplifier signalto-noise ration of 105dB at full power. Total harmonic distortion is quoted as 0.015 percent at 1W and 0.04 percent at full power, both figures 20Hz to 20kHz. The volume control works in 0.5dB steps from numerical values 0-30 and then jumps to 1.0dB steps from 30-80 allowing fine and quick adjustments to listening levels from the precisely-weighted rotary knob. Styling is a subjective thing but we found the look rather cool, and you’ll certainly not have any issues in terms of fit and finish and overall build quality — all has been meticulously designed and painstakingly engineered.

Performance Given the superb build and the company’s established reputation, it perhaps is no surprise that the 700i operated faultlessly, precisely and rather enjoyably throughout the review period. And all of Simaudio’s efforts in the 700i’s circuitry have paid off. The Moon is a smooth, powerful and dynamic integrated amplifier that may, in time, be considered a bit of a North American classic. Hooked up to a suitable-quality source and speakers — even somewhat difficult to drive models such as our reference speakers — the 700i tightly controls the sound throughout the frequency range and, of course, especially in the lower registers. Cat Power’s Chan Marshall is a favourite songstress. The CD Jukebox is a wonderful mix of covers and originals recorded competently and in a way that shows off Marshall’s delicate, yet earthy, voice and its interaction with Cat Power’s adept

band. Track one, a cover of Sinatra’s signature New York New York, opens with a massive drum intro followed by a flowing keyboard riff. The 700i slammed hard on the drums while controlling their bloom and reproducing attack accurately and forcefully while offering faithful detail and decay. The keyboard riffs and Marshall’s voice followed with impressive separation and integration without being overwhelmed by the musical wall-of-sound. Tonally the 700i is just about neutral; it errs just subtly to the warm Yin side. This is a balance that, all things being equal, any astute listener would appreciate and prefer over the opposing side of the Yin-Yang, which can result in fatigue from an unnaturally hyper-detailed or bright sound. The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ), on track one of their self-titled CD, was spread across a massive soundstage, with a wealth of ambient information making for lateral and depth cues that portrayed a large soundstage with a perspective that was slightly forward of the speaker plane. As is a trademark of most welldesigned solid-state components, images within the soundstage were pin-sharp in their focus and placement. But what really impressed was the 700i’s ability to recreate realistic timbres from the complex mix of different instruments played by musicians with disparate techniques.

Conclusion There’s little to compete against the Moon Audio 700i’s chassis solidity, visual statement and fit and finish. But isn’t it all about the sound? Well, with the 700i you’ve got all stops covered; this is a battleship-solid looker that can handle almost any tough speaker load in its stride, while producing some of the best solid-state sound we’ve heard. Doesn’t that sound like the makings of a classic?

Moon 700i integrated stereo

amplifier

Price: $14,000 Warranty: Three years parts & labour • • •

Up there with the best of solid-state sound Superb build quality externally and internally Immaculate fit and finish

•

All remote control buttons are identical

Contact: Valhalla Audio 02 9983 1828 www.valhallaaudio.com.au

www.avhub.com.au

16/06/2011 1:43:22 PM

True 2.1 audio system: ultra compact, integrated subwoofer, wireless transmission... Simple and stunning.

www.focal.com

Photos L’Atelier Sylvain Madelon - Saint-Etienne.

Focal creates Bird, a new line of loudspeakers and 2.1 systems, a new concept that comes up to music lovers’ expectations and perfectly matches modern devices. A line that was imagined for people who want to go back to the essence of music, the simplicity of use, the sound quality, without forgetting modernity thanks to wireless transmission with iPhone®, iPod®, iPad®. Bird, "the Freedom of Sound"!

Focal is distributed by Audio Marketing – T: 02 9882 3877 – F: 02 9882 3944 – E: info@audiomarketing.com.au – W: www.audiomarketing.com.au

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11/05/11 13:43:00

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

TVs/DISPLAYS

Epson

EH-TW4500 AV projector

iven the first full high-definition (1920 x 1080) projectors appeared only in 2005, priced at $40,000 and with around 3000:1 contrast ratios, we can see how technology in the projector market is leaping forward even ahead of Moore’s Law. This Epson uses a dynamic iris to achieve an astounding 200,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, while the price is down under $5000.

Equipment Epson has been a long-time leader in the AV projector field, with multiple Sound+Image awards to prove it. The company has managed over the years to build some truly classic projectors, based on LCD projection technology. These projectors have always combined very good performance and value for their day. That continues with the Epson EMP-TW4500, presently its second-from-the-top model below the 5500 (we still await the EH-R4000, bogged down in production issues for the last six months). Not all that much separates the TW4500 from the top model, and it has some extraordinary features.

Performance But installation first, which was easy primarily because of the massively adjustable optics. The zoom range, for instance, was an incredible 2.1-to-1. The most interesting feature on the Epson is proper frame interpolation. This generates a number of frames in between actual signal frames,

which can be useful in smoothing motion. This was actually introduced in the previous model, but it has been improved since then, and we can say that with authority because this model’s motion smoothing worked all the way through the flyover scene at 50 minutes into the Blu-ray of The Fugitive, whereas the previous model fell out of motion smoothing after a couple of seconds because the scene was too complex. We also criticised the slow signal acquisition of the previous model. This one has bumped up the speed significantly, halving it. Another useful feature is the projector’s support for auto lip sync. It told my AV receiver to dial in 120ms of delay. The sound and picture never gave a sense of being out of whack. The Auto Iris has three settings: ‘Off ’, ‘Normal’ and ‘High Speed’. This last one was not very useful: going from a black screen to a menu would result, for a second, in a darkish menu which would then ramp up to an appropriate brightness. This problem wasn’t evident at all in the ‘Normal’ setting. But here’s the thing — at one point we switched off the auto iris to double check that this had been the cause of the brightness ramping in the ‘High Speed’ mode, and then a couple of weeks later noticed that it was still switched off. Not once had we felt in the slightest dissatisfied with the black levels in that time. This projector does black beautifully-well natively, and the ‘Normal’ auto iris setting serves to deepen it a little more,

though at the cost of a low level but still audible muted clunking as the iris worked. The projector was highly configurable for colour, gamma and everything else you may want to adjust, but the default ‘HD’ picture mode gave a good starting point. There were ten user memories provided and these save and recall such things as the frame interpolation mode, overscan setting and auto iris operation, so it’s easy to have settings optimised for different sources.

Conclusion While we await new models from Epson with bated breath, this TW4500 projector remains a solid performer, with excellent user configurability, offering a 4000-hour lamp life and generally very good HQV video processing. You can see here that Epson continues to deliver. Epson EH-TW45 00 AV projector Price: $4499 Warranty: Two years (lamp: first of 6 months or 750 hours) • • •

Excellent deinterlacing Excellent motion smoothing Long lamp life

• •

No 4:3 aspect ratio with HD signals No force film mode

Dimensions: 450 x 136 x 360mm Weight: 7.5kg System: 18.8mm Polysilicon TFT active matrix C2Fine LCD 3 Lamp: 200W UHE E-TORL Lamp life (normal/eco): 4000/4000 hours Brightness: 1600 lumens Contrast ratio: 200,000:1 dynamic Zoom range: 2.1:1 Video processing: Reon-VX/HQV Contact: Epson Australia 1300 361 054 www.epson.com.au

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www.avhub.com.au

17/06/2011 8:09:44 AM

ANTHEM MRX AV RECEIVERS ARE THE BEST SOUNDING ON

THE MARKET. IT IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT! WHAT DOES ARC (ANTHEM ROOM CORRECTION) MEAN?

Even when the finest speakers are perfectly positioned, the room itself can have a negative impact on sound quality. Room dimensions, dead spots, archways, even furniture can turn a room into an additional instrument adding unwanted coloration and resonances to music and movies. ARC adjusts the room’s effect on the speakers in a way that mimics our hearing. Unlike other systems. ARC allows for multiple microphone measurements so everyone in the room gets a better performance, not just those sitting directly between the speakers.

"..MRX, only just joining the race but already ahead of the pack!" - Matthew Webster, AARNet.

Full SUPPO3RD HDMI 1.4T!

ARC technology can be yours from only $1499! All MRX AV Recievers, ARC [Anthem Room Correction], which is standard equipment on the world famous Anthem Statement series processors which sell for around $10,000. ARC is recognised as the industry’s best room correction and calibrating system and is used in professional and recording studio installations and applications.

FREE PROFESSIONAL INSTALLATION INCLUDED! To get the best possible result for you, only Anthem authorised and accredited dealers can professionally calibrate the MRX receiver to your system and room. For a limited time only* this service will be complimentary - so take advantage of this sound investment now from these dealers.

R O O M

C O R R E C T I O N

S Y S T E M

FOR YOUR CLOSEST DEALER CONTACT AUDIO ACTIVE

* COMPLIMENTARY INSTALLATION OFFER VARIES FROM DEALER TO DEALER. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL DEALER FOR DETAILS.

Untitled-1 1

90 Bridport Street Albert Park VIC 3206

T +61 3 9699 8900 F +61 3 9699 8955

www.audioactive.net.au

15/06/2011 1:13:42 PM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

Onkyo C-7000R CD player P-3000R preamplifier M-5000R power amplifier

very once in a very long while, a hi-fi designer’s dreams can come true. Imagine you’re an audio engineer boffin for a largish Japanese electronics company and the head of R&D says to you — “Okay, let’s pull all the stops out and build some really tasty stereo gear”. You’d think all your Christmasses had come at once.

Equipment Onkyo is perhaps best known these days for its AV receiver line-up, but in heydays past, two-channel was very much

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the company’s forté. The 1970s saw the first of its Integra-branded amplifiers, which immediately began gathering awards, and a decade or so later, Onkyo was doing it again with its popular range of cassette decks. It then embraced the surround sound revolution and has been multichannelling it ever since. Retrospectives are all the rage with many things these days, hi-fi especially. So Onkyo has revisited its halcyon days with three new audiophile products which it says “remove the barriers between performer and listener”. Gotta love that marketing talk... but does the kit match the talk? In reality, we have the C-7000R compact disc player, the P-3000R pre-amplifier and M-5000R stereo power amplifier. All are old-school stereo high-end separates, but the technology that has gone into them is far more modern.

www.avhub.com.au

16/06/2011 1:35:06 PM

Onkyo has decided a straight CD player is the go — there’s no Super Audio CD or hybrid format playback here, although it will play MP3 and WMA-encoded CDs. But it’s the design and components that make this source what it is, not what discs it can and can’t play. Niceties like a thermally-regulated super-precision clock, individual Burr-Brown PCM1792 DACs, and separate digital/analogue circuits and power supplies. One neat feature is that the player can operate in either analogue or digital modes, reducing the possibility of interference between the two even further. Outputs are well catered, especially digital, which includes balanced, coaxial and optical, though we’d have liked to have seen balanced analogue outputs as well. Next in the chain, the P-3000R pre-amplifier combines the old with the new. It’s a pre in the traditional sense, including four line-level inputs and a moving-magnet phono input, but it also caters for digital sources, with onboard D/A conversion as well as a USB input for up to 192kHz/32-bit HD audio playback from PC sources. There’s also iPod integration (of course), extendable by using Onkyo’s own ND-S1 digital media transport. Once again there’s a balanced digital input, along with two coaxial and optical, plus an optical digital output. Internally, digital and analogue circuitry and power supplies are kept separate, and as with the C-7000R CD player, dual Burr-Brown DACs (PCM1795) are used for each channel, supporting sampling rates of up to 192kHz. A full system remote comes supplied, though this is a bit disappointingly plastic and lightweight, feeling unworthy of the hardware it controls. The biggest and most impressive-looking unit is undoubtedly the M-5000R stereo power amplifier. It’s a chunky slab of machined metal, with large VU meters subtlety lit behind a Perspex window. The retro look is so well achieved you’d be forgiven for thinking this really was some 1980s’ piece of esoteric amplification, but internally it’s bang up to date, using Onkyo’s Advanced Wide Range Amplifier Technology (AWRAT) which includes several proprietary circuitry and design elements, such as a symmetrical twin-monoaurul construction. Power output is modestly rated at 80 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 150 watts into a 4 ohm load; if you need more you could considered boosting the

power output substantially by adding a second M-5000R, and using the pair in BTL (Bridged Transless) operation mode.

Performance Gear as salivatingly attractive as this doesn’t stay unhooked for long; we couldn’t get it all up and running soon enough. The review trio was a demo set pre-warmed by Onkyo’s Aussie distributor, Amber Technology, so we were immediately good to go. Hooking the CD player up in analogue mode, we relied on its DACs to do the number crunching, using line level through to both pre and power amplifier. We also hooked up a Rega 3 turntable to try out the P-3000R’s phono stage, and a Dell laptop to squirt it with PC audio via the USB. Two pairs of loudspeakers were used during our listening — namely Quad 11Ls and Ambience Reference 1600 hybrid ribbons. Using the Quads first, we loaded Elbow’s latest, Build a Rocket Boys. A mate recently recalled that when cassette decks were all the rage, he judged them purely on how smoothly the drawer eject action was. If this was also the case with CD player drawer mechs, he’d love the Onkyo C-7000R, as it silently and super-smoothly slides out and in. In reality, this action mirrors a fine, smooth and effortless musical performance. The piano-led ballad that is The River, with its choral backing, sounded chillingly realistic. Guy Garvey’s vocals were projected right into the room from the simple acoustic. The piano sound was as natural as any ivory tickling we’ve heard lately, and as we listened to the album in its entirety (always a good sign of musical success), it was immediately clear that this Onkyo trio had a consummate hold on the music. Not for a long time had we heard the little Quads sounding so good — the Onkyos making it plainly obvious that any loudspeaker is only as good as the electronics feeding them. We then dragged the big Ambience ribbons out, their highly revealing nature promising to get a real insight into what these flagship Onkyos are all about. The Ambience are super-sensitive at 96dB, so don’t need too much current to get them going. But, as with any loudspeaker, they respond massively to the quality of that current delivery. And the M5000R sounds far more potent than its paper specs suggest. With both loudspeakers, especially the Ambience, we didn’t have to give the volume control much of a wind to produce ample SPLs. Firing up the Rega and spinning the tempo we chucked on the best selling 12-inch of all time, New Order’s classic Blue Monday, we couldn’t help but grin as that glorious grinding electro-bass riff burst across the room and slammed into the chest. The M5000R was in control and kept a firm grip on the loudspeakers, driving the energetic, rhythmic groove with plenty of spirit and conviction. We then got the vinyl itch, and out came plenty more LPs and 45s, from The Carpenters to Vampire Weekend. Onkyo has done a fine job with the P-3000R’s phono stage, although some will rue the fact it’s moving magnet only. Still, better that than no phono input at all!

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

We also love what you can do with the P-3000R’s onboard DACs. Playing 320kbps encoded music from the laptop, things sounded as fresh and crisp as a conventional CD. Our rock and pop playlist had the kind of energy and excitement the music demands, with the Onkyo decoding and amplification delivering it in a lively manner, with a tight and powerful bass, and fresh attacking vocals. Even files with higher compression were uncrunched and served up with impressive verve.

Conclusion Starting with the source, the C-7000R lays the sonic foundations on which the subsequent amplification builds. It’s a fine-sounding CD player with both control and authority, and feeds through to equally capable amplification. As an electronics trio, matched to suitably reciprocal loudspeakers, these Onkyos combine finesse and refinement — but more importantly, they also have an inherent ability to sound fast, fun-loving and thoroughly musical. Fairly pricey they may be, but given such versatile high-end audio, the asking price is far from stratospheric. Onkyo CD / prepower system Prices: C-7000R CD player $2599 P-3000R preamplifier $2799 M-5000R power amplifier $4299 Warranty: Three years • • •

Solid build; quality finish Highly musical Versatility

• • •

No analogue XLR on CD/preamp MM phono only Remote less weighty than system

C-7000R CD PLAYER • THD: 0.0015% • Signal to noise ratio: 116dB • Audio dynamic range: 100dB • Dimensions: 435 x 99 x 315mm • Weight: 12kg P-3000R PREAMP • THD: 0.05% (20Hz – 20kHz, rated power) • Signal to noise ratio: 110dB line, 80dB phono • Phono overload: 80mV (MM, 1kHz, 0.5%) • Dimensions: 435 x 99 x 333mm • Weight: 11kg M-5000R POWER AMP • Power output: 80 watts per channel (8 ohms); 150W per channel (4 ohms) • THD: 0.005% (1kHz, half power) • Signal to noise ratio:110dB • Damping factor: 130 (1kHz, 8 ohms) • Dimensions: 435 x 187.5 x 432.5mm • Weight: 23.5kg Contact: Amber Technology 1800 251 367 www.ambertech.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

Sennheiser

HD 800 headphones

he arrival of Sennheiser’s reference-level HD 800 headphones at Best Buys prompted such enthusiasm that no fewer than three of our reviewers have contributed to this article. Everyone wanted to hear them, and true to the company’s form, their delights did indeed prove to be unmissable.

Equipment As is normal with headphones, Sennheiser’s manual includes a graph showing the performance of a typical pair of HD 800s. But Sennheiser has resurrected — and modernised — a feature that used to be quite common in the 1960s and 1970s… that of providing a frequency response graph of the actual pair of headphones you’ve purchased via www.sennheiser.com; just enter the Serial Number of your pair. It’s a sign of how much thought has gone into the design and manufacture of the HD 800s. Packaging and presentation are equally high-end, with a semi-solid presentation display case containing a bed of cloth-covered foam, on which nestle the HD 800s. Another example is the exquisite plug/socket arrangement at each of the earpieces — incredible machine tolerancing, with two gold-plated pins recessed at the bottom of a long tube with a locating tab, ensuring perfect axial alignment of the pins. The HD 800 cable itself is made from two separate strands, each containing a pair of silverplated, oxygen-free leads, all of which is bundled up in a Kevlar re-inforced black outer sheath. This is terminated in a custom-made, metal 6.5mm gold-plated phono jack. As you might expect, Sennheiser has developed equally carefully-considered interiors. In particular, the driver is ring-shaped rather than the usual full circle, which the company says allows the obvious advantages of a larger diameter driver without the corresponding problems of inertia affecting high frequencies. Indeed the company claims these as the biggest transducers ever used in headphones.

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Performance The Sennheiser HD 800s proved comfortable to wear — and in fact they’re more than just comfortable, they’re very comfortable! Carrying around 330g on your head is not exactly arduous, and the headband spreads the load over a wide area, so there’s no sense of pressure. The HD 800s sounded incredibly airy and articulate — and this worked both ways, so that the HD 800s don’t attenuate external sounds much at all. So get a quiet room or, if you want, listen to your speakers at the same time you’re wearing the headphones (if your particular system is set up to enable you to do this). If you haven’t ever tried this, you should, because although the effect is not exactly ‘real’ (or, likely as not, even ‘hi-fi’) it does deliver superb bass, fabulous midrange, incredible treble and a perfect stereo image — about which more later. Not that the bass delivery of the HD800s is lacking in any way. To the contrary, the bass is extended, with plenty of weight… but it doesn’t

seem this way at first, simply because the deep bass isn’t accompanied by any sense of ‘pressure’ on your ear-drum. One of our reviewers noted that at the beginning of his review notes, he was describing the HD 800s as having ‘thin bass, if actually truthful bass’. It took an hour or so to become accustomed to the balance, to hear how the bass lines were being delivered more fluidly, with a greater degree of precision. Performance with transients is also exceptionally good, so that rim shots, for example, sound crisp and clean without any sharpness. Linearity across the midrange was superb, easily revealing tonalities and textures in multi-voiced musical works, whether it’s heavily studioreworked Eagles’ harmonies, or the completely unadorned a capella of Coco’s Lunch or perhaps Blindman’s Holiday (try their amazing Airport Lounge) right through to orchestral vocal works such as Carmina Burana or Mozart’s Requiem. On Björk’s Isobel, which we must have played

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SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

a thousand times, we were able to tune into a whacked-out left-channel guitar on the first verse that we’d never previously noticed. It was only after a full week of serious listening of up to two hours every day, and still failing to find even one single chink in their formidable capabilities, that we hit upon what is perhaps the HD 800s’ crowning glory, which is that their soundfield is not at all ‘headphone-like’ but completely natural. This epiphany was somewhat cruelled by the additional realisation that this was in fact exactly the claim Sennheiser makes for the

HD 800s, but we’d managed to tuck away at back of mind, thinking it merely ‘marketing hype’. The HD 800 inspired long listening sessions among all three of the reviewers involved, all of whom stayed up far past their bedtimes. We revelled in their natural presentation. The pursuit of sonic artefacts and the clinical examination and dissection of music — particularly when wearing the reviewer’s hat — was nigh impossible to do with these headphones. Sure enough, we’d find ourselves all geared and psyched for critical scrutiny and within seconds we’d be lost in the

plush physical and sensory comfort of these remarkable transducers. Review notes were just brief snatches of happiness: ‘Beatles… Perfect. Sherbet (Howzat)… Magnificent!’ We hate to sound like a broken record — or a scratched CD — but the HD 800 reproduces music in a totally natural and believable way. There’s no disconnected and overblown bass, a total absence of upper midrange etch or bleach, while naturally decaying highs are evident within a realistic facsimile of the recording venue’s ambience. Yes, an organic musical flow. Which segues into the issue of tonality and timbre. An instrument’s harmonic or tonal signature defines it, and allows our brain to process its sound into a cognitive recognition of its identity. You’d be surprised how many very expensive systems don’t quite cut it in terms of tonality. The HD 800s nail this. Listen to a recording of the most obscure instruments, even if playing simultaneously with others, or a vocal, and you’ll hear astounding clarity and timbral fidelity on each and all combined. Quite extraordinary. The intricacies and complexities of a live performance are some of the elements that immerse you in the experience. And that’s what the Sennies so successfully achieve; an immersion and complete engagement in a musical event. Right before your ears.

Conclusion Sennheiser has thrown all its considerable expertise in headphone research, design and manufacturing behind the development of the HD 800s, and that’s paid off big-time. While (as on most good hi-fi) a few recordings are revealed as unsuccessfully compromised, on the whole everything is at least revelatory, a fair percentage of it divine, and on remarkably regular occasions it’s necessary to visit the bathroom.

Sennheiser HD 80 0 headphones Price: $1999 Warranty: Two years • • •

Incredible workmanship Unbelievable sound Immaculate presentation

•

Only price

Type: dynamic, open, circumaural Nominal impedance: 300 ohms Quoted frequency response: 14-44,100Hz (-3dB) Sound pressure level (SPL): 102dB Weight w/o cable: 330g Cable length: 3 metres Contact: Syntec International 1800 648 628 www.syntec.com.au

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Grand Performance From Epic Speakers EPOS EPIC 2 ” A good medium-sized standmounter can deliver the besy of both cabinet types. You still have the intimacy and immediacy of a smaller cabinet, but there’s usable bass as well…” …”all the right speaker elements were present and correct – great soundstaging, excellent stereo depth, stable imagery, plus that tight and tuneful bass. What more could you ask for from a $1200 speaker?” Nic Tatum Sound & Image magazine

At first glance, the EPOS Epic range of loudspeakers harks back to an 80’s look, but with a modern twist. EPOS uses a high-quality vinyl wood veneer to produce a high-end appearance whilst keeping real value for money in mind. The Epic 2 is the medium-sized two-way model in this new range of loudspeakers from Epos. It has been designed to hold true to EPOS’s

purist principles of simple crossover, well-behaved drive units and clean understated aesthetics yet delivers a ‘big’ performance way above its price point. The Epic 5 is the elegant floorstanding model in the range and its 2½-way design also holds true to EPOS’s purist principles of true value for money and excellent performance.

EPOS EPIC 5 …” I have nothing but admiration for the way these speakers have been engineered and voiced,…it has resulted in outstandingly good sound quality, truly extended bass and a stereo sound-field that is so deep – and so wide – that it simply must be experienced to be believed: at this price point, I don’t think I’ve heard its like before. What can I say? WOW Greg Borrowman Australian Hi-Fi magazine

Great attention to detail during the design of the EPIC 1 ensures customers get the very best sound at an entry level price. Listening to these little speakers will have you in awe from the first note, the level of sound stage, depth and detail is truly exceptional, with a clarity that outshines much higher priced loudspeakers.

To find out more information call Epoz Pty Ltd on 02 9450 0789 or visit us at www.epoz.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

TVs/DISPLAYS

Mitsubishi HC9000D 3D AV projector

n the lead up to the delivery of this 3Dequipped projector, we wondered what technology Mitsubishi would be employing with its first 3D offering, the HC9000D. Most of the company’s AV projectors — or at least the ones we’ve reviewed over the past few years — have been based on three-panel LCD technology. But unlike most companies, which choose one tech, it also has DLP models out there. So which would it be: LCD or DLP? When the unit arrived and we opened the box to consult the manual, we found it was neither.

Equipment In fact, the projector uses three SXRD panels. SXRD stands for ‘Silicon X-tal Reflective Display’, which is Sony’s version of Liquid Crystal on Silicon — basically a form of reflective LCD panel (most LCD panels control light by allowing it to pass through themselves to some degree). This tech provides generally better black levels and thinner boundaries between pixels than LCD. The projector is flexible in installation, with a wide zoom of 1.8:1, and both horizontal and vertical lens shift. All of these, plus the focus, are motorised and thus controllable from the remote control. So it’s nice and easy to place. For a 100-inch (254cm) diagonal screen, the projector needs to be located at a range of between 3.4 and 6.3 metres. All conventional inputs are provided, including S-Video and two HDMI inputs.

Rather than having the 3D sync transmitter built in, this comes as a separate unit. It clips into a plastic cradle which can be screwed to a specific place on the projector, and connected to the 3D sync socket via a short cable. But in addition to this short one, a 15-metre cable is supplied, allowing you to place the transmitter elsewhere (say, at the front of the room) if operation is unreliable from its position on the projector. Impressively, you also get four pairs of 3D glasses! These all operate using CR2032 button cells, and are rated at up to 75 hours of use.

Performance As suggested above, installation was quite easy in terms of projector placement. The motorised focus and lens-shift were a bit touchy, with a bit of overshooting and backing up again, but even so this only took a few moments. We aimed to start our viewing sessions with 3D content, but ran into a few difficulties getting the necessary sync to work between the 3D glasses and the projector. In our environment, having the IR synchronisation transmitter mounted on the projector itself just didn’t work properly. This relies on the IR bouncing from your projection screen back into your glasses’ IR window, and if we stood up, slightly to one side, it worked. But when back in our usual position, the sync clearly drifted over several seconds and the cross-talk increased markedly until finally the glasses gave up and went full bright (indicating that the shutter function had ceased). So it was fortunate that Mitsubishi includes the 15-metre extension cable. Blu-Tacked to the centre-channel speaker, it worked with excellent

reliability, although after this, other remote controls had to be pointed directly at their devices to get them to work, including the projector’s own remote, whenever the projector was in 3D mode. The transmitter must have been bombarding the room with IR. In 2D mode, the projector’s remote bounced its beam from the projection screen back to the projector perfectly well. But the main game is, of course, 3D performance. And with this it was very good, if not perfect. The brightness was good — the projector seemed to kick the lamp up to the higher output level during 3D operation, enhancing this. Visually, there was a small amount of cross-talk. It was evenly balanced between white objects over dark backgrounds, and darker ones over lighter backgrounds. Thus the pink tower and cables of the Golden Gate Bridge in Monsters vs Aliens were surrounded by very low-level ghosts. They were so low-level that they never threatened the quality of the 3D effect, which was plenty strong enough. Indeed, it was so low that it barely intruded upon the picture when not specifically looked for. But on live action, such as Universal’s marvellous Step Up 3D, there was virtually no visible ghosting. The projector uses SXRD and competent video processing (some is handled by the HQV Reon-VX processor), so the picture looked lovely in terms of colour, black levels and so on. There seems to be just one control in the menu for all things to do with frame rates. This is called ‘Frame Rate Conversion’ and has three settings: Off, True Film and True Video. What each does depends on what signal is being fed to the projector. True Film, for example, can convert 60Hz interlaced content to 24 frames per second. That’s not something we’d recommend, since frame counting in DVDs is a bit too

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

TVs/DISPLAYS TVs/DISPLAYS

unreliable, and Blu-ray discs are almost always 24fps anyway. Both of the ‘True’ settings also implement motion smoothing/judder removal with all the signals we tested. With 50Hz DVDs delivered at 576i/50 resolution, the video processor providing this was one of the best we’ve seen. It smoothed the motion on an Easy Rider torture-test scene, yet did so with minimal production of artificial sheen, and no visible heat-haze effect. We were a little mortified, in fact, to find that we had been watching content with this unit for a week with this processor switched on, and hadn’t noticed its operation. It was only when we returned to familiar test content that it was clear that this processing was taking place. The truth is, we wondered whether Mitsubishi had perhaps brought across Sony’s fine motion smoothing from its projectors along with the SXRD chips. If so, it has employed the best presently available in this business.

While on 576i/50 we explored the Auto/ Video/Film settings for ‘Cinema Mode’. This controls deinterlacing. The ‘Film’ mode didn’t force a simple weave, but instead imparted a very strong film-mode bias to deinterlacing. In this mode it handled all ambiguous DVD material with a weave, making it look very nice. Yet it was almost acceptable with video-sourced content as well. However on the occasional hard scene cut with video-sourced content, it would occasionally throw up a flash of heavy interlacing. Auto was a bit too ready to interpret content as video sourced. we’d leave it on ‘Film’. With 1080i/50 content the unit did a reasonable job of film-mode detection, better in ‘Film’ than ‘Auto’, but imperfect in both cases. For watching HDTV, we’d be inclined to leave this in ‘Auto’, unless you’re watching a movie, in which case switch to ‘Film’. Watching Blu-ray movies at 24 frames per second, it was interesting to test out the frame interpolation on this. With the Chicago flyover

scene at 50 minutes into The Fugitive, the smooth motion was excellent, holding without any breakup. This is a scene that many circuits simply give up on because there is so much detail. In ‘True Video’ it seemed a touch smoother than ‘True Film’, but also a touch glossier. We generally prefer to watch a movie as originally made, and often opt out of such enhancing circuits, but for once we would be mightily tempted to employ the ‘True Film’ mode most of the time. It realised more detail during movement without generating anything that detracted from picture quality. This is an excellent processor.

Conclusion And an excellent projector also. Those IR issues may prove a little inconvenient for some, unless it was just some unusual interaction in our test room. Otherwise the picture is great — the 2D picture better than anything from Mitsubishi so far, and the 3D picture is very good.

Mitsubishi HC90 00D 3D AV projector Price: $9990 Warranty: Three years (Lamp: 1 year / 500 hours) • • • • • •

Excellent 2D performance Magnificent motion interpolation capability Good installation flexibility Needed 3D sync extension Some interference from 3D sync transmitter with IR

Projection technology: 3 x 15.5mm SXRD panels Resolution: 1920 by 1080 pixels Lamp: 230W high pressure mercury Lamp life: 4000 hours standard brightness, 2000 hours for high brightness setting Contrast ratio: 150,000:1 (iris minimised) Brightness: 1000 lumens Lens: 1.8:1 zoom range Inputs: 1 x component video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x composite video, 2 x HDMI, 1 x DSUB-15 Control: 2 x 12V trigger out, 1 x RS-232C, 1 x 3D transmitter Dimensions (whd): 482 x 215 x 530mm Weight: 14.5kg Contact: Mitsubishi Electric Australia Tel: 1800 652 216 Web: www.mitsubishielectric.com.au

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006791B-AmberFP.pdf

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IMAGINATIVE SIGHT & SOUND

BRING EVERYTHING YOU LOVE TOGETHER.

A fond memory to be re-lived, a moment captured in a single frame, the sound track to your life or your favourite movie in stunning 3D can all be a touch of a button away with the range of digital network receivers from Onkyo. To bring all the elements of your life together for you to enjoy visit ambertech.com.au

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Product Focus:

Current Audio

created a world-class tweeter taking the aluminium dome and anodising it with a hard coat of aluminium, and on top of that a ceramic coating that is spluttered at a molecular level to the aluminium. It results in a very low moving mass, with added stiffness from the ceramic coating; I spent months working with our suppliers to achieve this — the speaker is very efficient, with a very flat response and a very smooth-sounding tweeter.”

in-ceiling & in-wall speakers

ou won’t find Current Audio speakers in the shops, even in most of the specialist hi-fi dealers we usually recommend for their expertise and ability to provide auditions before you buy. That’s because Current Audio has a special focus on the custom installer, the people who fashion fabulous or modest systems that fit neatly within architectural lines and interior designs. And with Australian distributor Home Theatre Group being a Platinum sponsor of the recent CEDIA Expo, all the right elements would seem to be in place. So what’s on offer?

The range Current Audio’s range includes a wide selection of both in-ceiling and in-wall speakers, along with a selection of ‘weatherised’ speaker designs for external use, and even ‘rock’ speakers for the garden. The company keeps its nomenclature mercifully well organised, with the first two or three letters designating the type of speaker, and the subsequent numbers indicating the size of speaker (usually the main driver’s dimensions). A final digit can indicate the material from which either the driver or tweeter is made.

The technologies So, for example, the CS650 is a Ceiling Series (CS) speaker, with 6.5-inch main driver (also a 25mm tweeter), with that final ‘0’ indicating a silk-dome tweeter and Metaplex driver cone. A final ‘1’ would mean an aluminium-dome tweeter with adjustable crossover and injectionmoulded carbon-fibre cone; a final ‘2’ would mean the same tweeter and an aluminium cone. The highest final number is ‘4’, indicating a woven-carbon fibre cone and the company’s special ceramic-coated aluminium-dome tweeter with adjustable crossover. Speaking with the company’s Ron Maurer at CEDIA’s 2011 Expo, it’s clear he is excited by finding new technologies to improve the abilities of Current’s in-wall and in-ceiling speakers. “This tweeter is special,” he told us. “We have

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Speakers with a twist That gives you some idea of the effort Current Audio applies to materials at different levels and for different applications. But much of the product line’s growing reputation comes from the way the speakers have been designed. The company’s development team represents decades of installation experience — “We understand the installer’s pain!”, they say. So Current set out from the start to create innovative products that help custom installers get great results with less of that installation grief. And that should result in a faster job, and so less labour costs passing on to you, the customer. Top of the list is the company’s ‘FIT’, or Focused Image Technology, which tackles the problem of positioning in-wall or in-ceiling speakers to achieve something approaching hi-fi stereo imaging. Several brands have enclosures or tweeter mountings that can be ‘pointed’ towards the main listening position with this intention, but Ron tells us that in their work as installers they had long experienced problems where over time such ‘friction-fit’ tilting would lose its position, the speaker would end up pointing straight down and, worse, had a tendency to rattle. Current’s solution was to develop FIT, which includes three-dimensional positioning (3DP) with a positive positioning lock (PPL). The 3DP system both tilts and rotates the speaker into the correct position, with a full 25 degrees of movement each side. You can separately adjust the angle, tilt and rotation of the speaker elements so you can direct the sound where you want it, not just where you’ve installed it. Once in position, the lock ensures it’ll never move, and certainly won’t vibrate or buzz. The system also uses a diffractionless tweeter, with a leaf-spring maintaining pressure on the tweeter swivel mechanism, so preventing sound

energy from the dome hitting the lower side of the tweeter pivot, a common issue on in-wall and inceiling speakers, creating unpleasantly harsh high frequency sound says Ron. Current’s speakers are also notable for having three-position EQ switches to adjust both bass and treble output, fine-tuning the acoustics to match different applications or room surfaces. There are other innovations, some of which you’ll never encounter as an end-user, but which your installer will love. The whole tweeter assembly is designed to double as a sturdy grab handle. “It sounds obvious,” said Ron to us, “but when you’re working up a ladder fitting speakers into the ceiling, it helps to have a speaker you can lift and fit with a single hand.” Similar common sense applies to Current’s FastLoc grilles. These are round or square, and they address issues with the now-common thinbezel grilles. Usually these are attached magnetically, so a steel grille has to be used. But Ron reckons magnets only retain their full holding force when everything is perfectly flat and the grille is fully in contact with all the magnets. In practice, ceilings are never flat, and magnetic grilles will come off eventually, he says; it’s only a matter of time. So thinking of how lenses attach to D-SLR cameras, Current Audio developed the twist-tolock FastLoc system, which incorporates a paint plug and breathable membrane that protects the speaker after installation, while securely fastening without reliance on magnets or rustable steel. FastLoc models are indicated by ‘FL’ at the end of their name.

Conclusion Current Audio’s range seems to have all the bases covered, not only in the variety of sizes and styles the speakers are available in, but in the way the company has paid attention both to sound quality and to longterm reliable use. And as a further bonus, your custom installer will appreciate their ease of installation — these are loudspeakers designed by installers for installers.

Current Audio in -ceiling & in-wall speake rs Contact: Home Theatre Group 07 3276 1355 www.htgroup.com.au

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17/06/2011 10:08:02 AM

bbht_olive_jul11r2.pdf

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INTRODUCING:

SAVE THE SOUND

OLIVE O3HD SOUNDS GREAT. COSTS LESS.

The Olive 03HD Music Server is the most affordable way to turn your stereo into a digital HD Music System.

$1699

Super Simple

Music Storage

HD Sound Quality

It’s easy to set up and use. Simply connect it to your stereo system, and start enjoying amazing sound. No PC required. No hassle. And the colour touch screen navigation makes it a delight to use. Have fun.

Keep all your music in one place. The Olive 03HD stores up to 1,500 CDs or 5,000 HD tracks. It can also play back your existing music files via your home network, from your PC or network attached storage device.

Enjoy your music in HD sound. The Olive 03HD stores and plays uncompressed files which deliver far greater sound quality than MP3 files. So, get ready for the convenience of a digital solution – without compromising the music experience.

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www.whatmoughaudio.com.au whatmough.indd 2

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

Marantz

AV7005 AV pre-tuner MM7055/MM7025 power amplifiers

e do rather like home entertainment equipment which takes the amplification part of things seriously. And there’s nothing more serious than having separate power amplifiers, which is what this system from Marantz offers. In addition to potentially offering the best audio performance, it also makes the system highly configurable.

Equipment At the front is the AV7005, which is basically an advanced AV receiver in its own right but without any amplifiers (aside from a stereo headphone amp). For power we were supplied with two separate power amplifiers: the five-channel MM7055 and the two-channel MM7025, providing for the sevenchannel audio modes. Connecting the AV front end to the MM back ends can be performed to the highest quality by using the balanced XLR sockets on all devices. With balanced sockets the ‘live’ and the ‘return’ paths have their own conductors, while the grounded shielding is quite separate to both (unlike unbalanced RCA connections, in which the shielding is the ‘return’). With XLR, any electrical interference that makes it through the shielding will afflict both the live and return wires equally, and so will cancel out. That’s why professional microphones always use balanced XLR connections, since they need to protect much lower voltage signals over much greater cable lengths. Having said how great XLR is, we ended up using the RCA connections. With short lengths of high quality cabling, there was no noise at all, so the XLR (which is necessarily more expensive) may not be required except in environments which are particularly noisy, electrically speaking. The seven power amplifier channels are all rated at 140W per channel into eight ohms, two channels driven at a time, full audio bandwidth, with vanishing small distortion.

We note that the manual for the power amplifiers indicated that the minimum nominal impedance for connected speakers should be six ohms, which we thought a bit disappointing. One common reason for buying separate power amplification is that you have special loudspeakers which present difficult loads. So we’d suggest that if you do have loudspeakers making such demands, then you may want to consider different power amplifiers. The AV7005 should drive any back end without any difficulty. One other connection that you make with this system is to connect the AV’s ‘Remote Out’ socket to the ‘Remote In’ of one of the amps, and then daisy chain this to the other amp. Cables are supplied for both. This will allow the AV to switch the MMs on and off automatically. If you are using a different brand of power amplifier, or indeed of front end, then all three units also support conventional 12V DC triggers. Aside from those connections, the back of the AV7005 is conventional, at least in terms of highend AV receivers. There are six HDMI inputs (one on the front), a USB input on the front panel and an Ethernet connection on the back. Home theatre-wise, the unit supports all the current standards including Dolby Pro Logic IIz, and non-standards such as Audyssey DSX (which

delivers a signal to ‘front wide’ speakers). It offers video upscaling to 1080p, has an on-screen display that overlays video content (except for Blu-ray 3D). And the new media support includes internet radio (including podcasts), DLNA from network music and photo resources, Flickr, Last.fm and Napster subscription services, and playback of music and display of photos from USB. Upping the stakes in new media, the AV7005 also supports Apple’s AirPlay system. This is a means of playing your audio from your computer network devices — including your iPad/iPhone/ iPod Touch — on the system. It is a ‘push’ system, where you use your iDevice or iTunes on your computer (both Apple and Windows are supported) to select the receiver as your output device. Our experience is that this is remarkably easy to use; you just need to make sure both the source and your receiver are connected to the same network, wired or wireless. We did not test it on this system, though, because it had not been enabled. The AirPlay support was installed, but in order to use it you have to pay an additional $60. The only other unit we’ve experienced with AirPlay support shares this add-on costing flaw. We hope this isn’t set to be the norm because we can imagine such additional

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS RECEIVERS

second display in a round blue-lit ring showed the selected input and volume level. We’d steer you away from the unit’s photo display — the aspect ratio was distorted so that pictures all looked short and squat, even when we changed the aspect ratio of our display to 4:3.

Conclusion The Marantz AV7005 front end is an excellent unit, and the power amplifiers to go with it are just about as good (if you are prepared to ignore Marantz’s stated impedance limitations). If you live in somewhat of an iHome we’d strongly recommend that you spend the extra dollars on the AirPlay capability, but even if you don’t then the new media capabilities of the unit extend it well beyond being a mere home theatre device. Marantz AV7005 AV pre-tuner MM7055/MM70 25 power amplifier s Price: $2399 / $2299 / $2299 Warranty: Three years • • • • • •

costs giving DLNA — which is free, but usually more fiddly — the advantage.

Performance We will confess to approaching this review with a little trepidation. The last few Marantz AV receivers we’ve looked at had a tendency for their automatic calibration to set the subwoofer output level about ten decibels too hot. There was no such problem with these units. We ran the Audyssey MultEQ XT and it smoothly set all the levels appropriately. We double checked using our own test discs and all were spot on with the two different sets of loudspeakers we used. One tweak you should consider, once you’ve finished this, is to go back into set-up and switch off ‘Dynamic EQ’, which is switched on by default during setup. This is an EQ system designed to enhance sound quality at lower volume levels, taking into account that our ears are less sensitive at frequency extremes at these levels. We disliked this a great deal. The main thing that drew attention to it was some nasty sibilance on the male speaker on an internet radio station. But even higher quality sources sounded more natural and clean with this switched off. If you’re used to other brands of AV receiver it may take you a little while to get used to the remote. Don’t worry, it’s not hard. You just need to retrain your automatic reactions. The trick: one press of a source key is to set the remote to control that device, the second press selects that input. We soon learned to change sources by hitting the relevant key twice, and then immediately hitting the ‘Amp’ key to return the remote to that mode.

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We expressed concern earlier about the six-ohm limitation for loudspeakers with this system, or so says Marantz. But we dutifully ignored it and ran a full four-ohm 5.1-channel system for quite a while, to nearly cruel levels, with no difficulties at all. The amplifiers commanded the loudspeakers to conform to the amplifiers’ wills, and the loudspeakers complied, without complaint. Do be warned, though, Marantz would be within its rights to refuse warranty support if you damaged the amps by overdriving them into low impedance loudspeakers. The audio side of the new media connectivity (aside from AirPlay) worked beautifully. Everything except our test WMA Lossless track played fine, including FLAC and WAV, so you can have high quality playback of lossless content, which would make for a great jukebox system, if you don’t mind running a USB cable to the front of the unit. The DLNA connectivity worked nicely too. It seemed to pull in lists fairly quickly, and we could navigate through lists on this — and the other functions — fairly quickly by hitting the ‘Search’ key on the remote, after which you scroll a page at a time instead of an item at a time. Our iPhone plugged into the USB port using a standard iPod/USB cable, and we had full access to its music contents, with lists and playback information displayed on our screen. This even included album art. All this stuff worked very nearly as well without even switching on a display. The two-line display on the front panel of the AV7005 showed list items and song titles and such. This didn’t even come at the cost of other information because a

Very capable system Extremely flexible power amplifier arrangement Excellent new media support Doesn’t support four ohm loudspeakers AirPlay support is an extra-cost option Photo display capability teases, but doesn’t deliver

• AV7005 AV PRE-TUNER • Inputs: 6 x HDMI, 4 x component video, 0 x S-Video, 5 x composite video, 7 x analogue stereo, 1 x phono, 1 x 7.1 analogue, 3 x optical digital, 2 x coaxial digital, 1 x USB, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x M-XPort • Outputs: 2 x HDMI, 2 x component video, 0 x S-Video, 2 x composite video, 2 x analogue stereo, 1 x 11.2 pre-out, 1 x 7.2 balanced XLR out, 1 x 6.5mm headphone • Zone: 2 x stereo audio, 1 x composite video, assignable component video, assignable amplifiers • Other: 1 x IR in, 2 x trigger out, 1 x RS-232C, 1 x Remote in, 1 x Remote out, 1 x setup mic • Dimensions (mm): 440w x 187h x 395d • Weight: 10.1kg MODEL: MM7055 POWER AMPLIFIER • Rated power: 5 x 140W, 8 ohms, 20-20,000Hz, 0.08% THD (two channels driven) • Inputs: 5 x analogue RCA line, 5 x balanced XLR line • Outputs: 5 x stereo binding posts • Other: 1 x IR in, 1 x trigger in, 1 x trigger out, 1 x Remote in, 1 x Remote out • Dimensions (mm): 440w x 183h x 384d • Weight: 15.7kg MODEL: MM7025 POWER AMPLIFIER • Rated power: 2 x 140W, 8 ohms, 20-20,000Hz, 0.08% THD (both channels driven) • Inputs: 2 x analogue RCA line, 2 x balanced XLR line • Outputs: 2 x stereo binding posts • Other: 1 x IR in, 1 x trigger in, 1 x trigger out, 1 x Remote in, 1 x Remote out • Dimensions (mm): 440w x 126h x 352d • Weight: 10.8kg Contact: QualiFi Pty Ltd 1800 242 426 www.qualifi.com.au

www.avhub.com.au

17/06/2011 8:19:36 AM

Untitled-1 1

15/06/2011 1:18:07 PM

Winner CD Player Moon Audio 750D DAC/CD Transport

AdMoon.indd 1

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15/06/2011 3:13:55 PM

29/10/2010 3:56:09 PM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Epos Epic

stereo loudspeakers

what has gone before, with all new drive units, an ingenious grille-mounting device. Judging from our tests of two of this three-strong series, it has produced something special.

Epic 1 The new Epic range comprises three models, numbered in King Arthur counting style as the 1, 2 and 5 — two standmounters and a floorstander. The smaller Epic 1 standmounter is the one we haven’t heard — a four-ohm 88dB/W/m design with six-inch bass/midrange driver and Epos’ new 25mm soft-dome tweeter (a first for Epos, as opposed to its usual metal dome), in an enclosure little more than 12 inches high (310 × 185 × 245mm).

Epic 2

pos Acoustics just makes loudspeakers; no iPod docks, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth here. And they face the perennial challenge of the speaker designer — how to achieve the best possible sound quality at a given price. It’s not hard to make a great loudspeaker if you have a limitless budget. Creating a range that excels at each price-point is rather harder. Epos has used modern materials and computeraided design to arrive at its new series of ‘Epic’ speakers, which are substantially different from

Moving up to the Epic 2s, we have larger standmounters, measuring 415 × 210 × 280mm. They’re traditional two-way designs, using the new soft-dome tweeter and a 180mm bass/mid driver, also newly developed by Epos to produce an “even frequency response and smooth roll-off”. It’s a relatively amplifier-friendly loudspeaker design, with a nominal four-ohm impedance and a higher-than-average 90dBspl sensitivity. Designed and engineered in Great Britain and assembled at Epos’ Chinese manufacturing facility under tight control, the quality here is fantastic. As part of its design philosophy, Epos has kept the crossover network as simple as possible but high quality, using the likes of polypropylene capacitors and metal-oxide resistors. The binding posts are gold-plated and the Epic 2s can be biwired. Internally, the 18mm MDF cabinet panels have been braced both vertically and horizontally — the old knuckle-wrap test sounded reassuringly solid and dead. Build and finish (there’s Black Ash or Cherry vinyl veneers) are both excellent. Out of the box, the Epics come without any grilles attached — but acoustically-transparent grilles are provided, with Epos’ aforementioned clever way of mounting them. The smooth front baffle can be popped off with a nifty baffle removal tool — slide it through a small hole just above the rear bass reflex port, and a gentle tap pops the baffle off, so you can replace it with the supplied cloth grilles. There are many advantages to this Epos ‘dual grille’ design. The primary one is that it means that if you want the cloth grille, it fits perfectly ‘into’ the cabinet, so it doesn’t sit proud, like most grilles. This greatly enhances the appearance. Not that the Epics don’t look good without… in fact they look fabulous, and that’s how we started listened to them. The cloth grille does, however, afford a higher level of driver protection, if you have pets… or small children…

On a pair of sand-filled 51cm column stands, with the speakers around 70cm from the rear wall and toed-in toward the listening position, we began listening. The pair we received from Aussie distributor Epoz had only been in the country a few days and never out of the box. So, initial listening was with a cold pair, but that can still be a useful gauge of things to come — first impressions do count. And we liked what we were hearing straight from the first few bars. A good medium-sized standmounter can deliver the best of both cabinet types. You still have the intimacy and immediacy of a smaller cabinet, but there’s genuine, usable bass as well. Of course, the Epic 2s can’t extend as deeply as their floorstanding brethren — see our review of the Epic 5 floorstanders overleaf. But after running in you get a tight, tuneful and really wellcontrolled bottom end. These speakers are full of drive and energy, boasting plenty of character, but never producing any aggressive-sounding hard edges, no matter what the musical style. The soft-dome tweeter (and crossover) didn’t exaggerate already harsh and bright recordings

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES — there’s nothing worse than a top-end that shrieks. To the contrary, the Epic 2’s are far more refined and even-sounding here, but with excellent clarity, and the ability to present music in an emotional rather than technical manner (which, no matter the style, always suits the music better). All the right speaker hi-fi elements were present and correct — great soundstaging, excellent stereo depth, stable imagery, plus that tight and tuneful bass. What more could you ask for from $1200 speakers? Not a fat lot. Provided you don’t plan on listening at headbanging volume levels, the Epic 2s will dish up whatever’s sent down the speaker cables.

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Epic 5 The Epic 5 is a three-driver system, but it’s actually a 2½-way design. The two bass/midrange drivers are ‘specced’ by Epos with a diameter of 179mm, the more usual industry measurement of diameter (across the mounting holes) is 167mm, but the pair together, both handling bass, equate to a combined ‘piston area’ of 262cm², equivalent to a single nineinch (232mm) cone. The reasons Epos uses two drivers are many, but one such is that by doing this, it can use both drivers to deliver low bass, then roll off one of the drivers (the lower one, as it happens) to leave the upper one operating on its own at higher frequencies. This is what’s meant by a ‘2½-way’ design. It’s a tried-and-true method, used by hundreds of the world’s best-known speaker manufacturers. The driver itself is a fairly standard design, possessed of a pressed steel chassis, with a conventional spider arrangement. The tweeter is again that “first soft-dome tweeter used in the history of the company”, with a high-temperature voice coil that is suspended in ferrofluid to both increase the tweeter’s efficiency and aid in cooling (to help dynamics), and powered by a neodymium magnet. We experimented with the floorstanders and settled on 40cm from the rear wall for the best balance and most extended bass, even though moving them a bit further out would increase the depth of the soundstage; the increased bass and improved balance were worth the tiny sacrifice. Whoever ‘voiced’ the Epic 5s, they are obviously steeped in the traditions of the greatest ‘British’ loudspeakers — our first adjective would be ‘smooth’, our second ‘mellow’. The new bass/midrange drivers are undoubtedly mostly responsible

for this sound, while the good ol’ ‘old technology’ fabric dome would also play a significant part, despite the fact that the old-tech dome is being driven by a decidedly high-tech (neodymiumboron) magnet. But despite being smooth and mellow, it does not achieve this by being laid back. Instead, there’s a dynamic ‘punch’ to the sound, particularly across the midrange, vibrant and exciting, with a real ‘you are there’ presence. Contradictory? No, whereas it used to be that you could choose ‘either the one or the other’, it now seems that we can have our aural cake and eat it too. Bass was deep and strong… in fact surprisingly extended, matching the extension possible with larger drivers. Midrange clarity was outstandingly good: perhaps not quite up to the precision from a dedicated midrange driver in a true three-way design, but outstandingly good nonetheless. The real surprise was that, track after track, we preferred the sound of the Epic 5s when the grilles were on — the ‘non-audiophile’ option. We have no idea why this should be. And leaving the best until last — the stereo imaging of these speakers is to die for… jawdroppingly good. And combined with all the Epic 5’s other attributes, it means that when you’re sitting in the ‘sweet spot’ in front of the speakers, it’s as if you’re in the best seat in the house, with the musicians spread right across the stage, side-to-side and front-to-back so you can ‘hear’ where every one is located so clearly that you can visualise them in your mind’s eye.

Conclusion If you’re choosing between the Epic 2 and the 5, it’s worth doing the sums, because if you add in the cost of the recommended stands for the Epic 2s (the Epos ST12i, at $285), you’re only $15 below the Epic 5s, which makes the floorstanders look even more like a stunningly sweet deal. We have nothing but admiration for the way these speakers have been engineered and voiced — outstandingly good sound quality, truly extended bass, and a stereo soundfield that is so deep and so wide that it simply must be experienced to be believed. At this price-point, we don’t think we’ve heard their like before. Epos Epic 1 / 2 /5 stereo loudspea kers Price: $800 / $1200 / $1500 Warranty: Five years • • • • •

Incredible imaging Smooth and fluid performers Excellent build and finish Storage of spare grille Limited finish options

Contact: Epoz Australia 02 9450 0789 www.epoz.com.au

www.avhub.com.au

17/06/2011 11:01:19 AM

DANKE

After 25 years of manufacturing quality loudspeakers in Germany, Audio Physic have released a limited edition of the Tempo and Virgo models. These 25th Anniversary models are our way of saying “Thank you” to our loyal customers for 25 years of support. We also hope to meet new loyal customers. Maybe you should have a listen….

No loss of fine detail

www.audiophysic.de

For more information and the location of your nearest dealer please contact Absolute Audio Vision www.absoluteaudiovision.com.au Ph 02 9764 5092 AudioPhysics.indd 1

14/12/2010 12:53:29 PM

MAGICAL BLACK CUBE

Magic that makes your Record Collection come alive. Over the years the Black Cube phono stage has become a cult object for analogue oriented music lovers. Countless positive reviews, awards and an unrivalled customer satisfaction worldwide, documents this truly exceptional product. Hand made in Germany, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s produced in small numbers and is sonically superior to other mass market phono stages. It is compatible with practically all cartridges available on the market; from high output MM, to the lowest output MC cartridges. Discover the magic of your music collection. Audition one today.

Black Cube

For more information please contact: Australia: Syntec International Free Call 1800 648 628 New Zealand: Syntec International Free Call 0800 100 755 www.lehmannaudio.com.au

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Velodyne DD-15+

Digital Drive Plus subwoofer

here are subwoofers that support small satellite speakers, enabling them to produce a more full range of sound. Then there are subwoofers that aim for the real depths, frequencies that head down into the visceral, delivering bass that you feel as much as hear. Velodyne’s new Digital Drive Plus range is very much of this latter kind. Forget the 20Hz area; the DD-15+ gets down to 9Hz.

Equipment Velodyne DD-15+ subwoofer costs just about seven thousand dollars, which buys you a fairly large and very sturdy box, surprisingly stylish for a subwoofer, with a black piano-gloss finish (the cherry version is pictured here) and an enclosure that gently curves to the rear. Fitted into the front of this is a 15-inch (380mm) driver. A full one-third of this subwoofer’s total 54kg is the mass of the driver’s magnet alone. The enclosure is sealed, so real power is required to make it move, given that has to

compress the air enclosed in the subwoofer. Velodyne says that its digital amplifier is good for 1250W ‘RMS’ (continuous). All this is controlled by Velodyne’s digital signal processor, which is also used to optimise performance of the subwoofer for your room and sound system. To this end it comes with a proper measurement microphone, a stand, cables for the microphone, and also for a USB connection to a computer, computer software, a test tone disc, a composite video cable and a remote control. The controls and features to which relatively ready access may be required are in a band across the front panel (underneath the removable grille, so they can be hidden away). These consist of a USB socket for connecting to a Windows computer for use with the optimising program, a mini-XLR for plugging in a calibration microphone, a blue LED display (which can actually be seen though the grille, sensibly), the volume and low pass crossover knobs, and an ‘Auto EQ’ button. Also in this section is the small IR sensor for the remote control. At the back are inputs for speaker-level signals and both RCA and balanced XLR left and right inputs for line-level signals. Both of these have two sets of matching inputs, one set carrying the original signal, the other carrying the signal after it has been run through a high pass filter. That’s

useful for feeding powered satellite speakers. This filter can be switched to 80 or 100Hz. There are also IR, trigger, Ethernet, RS-232C and video connections. You can use some of these to daisy-chain multiple subwoofers together if your listening room happens to be the size of a football stadium. Velodyne says that the subwoofer will plumb the depths to 9Hz, and easily hit 14.6Hz in its ±3dB range.

Performance All those connections and cables and the computer program can seem somewhat daunting. But the subwoofer has an easy set-up mode, called ‘Auto EQ’. In fact the manual, which is by turns detailed and informative, and then infuriatingly uninformative, sets out four set-up modes. There are the default settings which Velodyne says should give decent results in most rooms. Then there is something called ‘Self-EQ’. With this one you plug the test microphone into the front, put it where you’re going to sit and have the subwoofer make its own test tone. This is allows the subwoofer to EQ itself independently. The recommended mode is ‘Auto EQ’, while the most advanced mode is ‘Manual EQ’. With ‘Auto-EQ’ you run a test CD (supplied) through your system, so that the subwoofer adjustments are made taking the whole system

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES into account, including your front stereo loudspeakers. While Self-EQ only adjusts the levels on the parametric equaliser, Auto EQ sets the low-pass crossover frequency and slope and phase. Manual EQ goes further. You can set the centre frequencies of the equaliser and their ‘Q’ (the width of the effect on the frequency curve). You can set an infrasonic high pass filter if, for some reason, you don’t want a large amount of really deep acoustic energy pouring into your room. You can fiddle with the settings for the presets as well. Plus more. These can be adjusted by plugging the subwoofer into your computer via the USB socket on the front, or by using the on-screen display generated by the subwoofer (thus the video outputs). We stuck with the recommended Auto-EQ, after having a little explore around the ManualEQ setup screens, and suspect most people will do it that way as well, because of the complexity of the whole thing, and the near-infinite combinations that you can play with in trying to further optimise the sound. After Auto-EQ, the whole thing sounded so very good that there was little need to try to explore further, though we did at one point try to run ‘Self-EQ’ to see what, if any, difference that made. But here the manual frustrated us, seeming far from intuitive. Still, the Auto-EQ went very smoothly. The test-tone CD consists of one 78-minute long track of a tone with ascends for about 3.5 seconds, and then loops back to the start. It keeps going, loop after loop of it, for more than 1300 repeats. You needn’t worry about racing to press the ‘Auto-EQ’ button on the subwoofer, because you’ve got plenty of time. Except that it is loud and deep and room-shaking, so you might not want to leave it going too long! Also, do not do this late at night, unless you hate your neighbours. Each sweep runs from 18Hz up to 226Hz, and the whole test-tone process runs for a good five to ten minutes. Given that this subwoofer is essentially flat to under 15Hz, that makes for a lot of low frequency (and thus penetrating) energy. BELOW: The DD+ set-up screen can be displayed on computer or TV

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If you have a TV plugged in, each sweep is traced across a frequency response graph, so you can see its progress, starting bumpy and ending up nicely smooth. The graph shows down to 20Hz, which is the bottom frequency for the 1/3 octave parametric EQ (the settings are finely grained: 20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, 80 and 100 hertz). There isn’t really a whole lot to say about the subwoofer’s sound quality, because much of what one normally says in reviews deals in variations from what a system should sound like. There isn’t a whole lot of that here — this subwoofer simply produced extremely well-balanced bass output, totally cleanly, with no discernible distortion and with output levels limited by fear of neighbours well before any physical limits to the subwoofer itself were achieved. As to balance, we ran some of our own sine wave sweeps and it was extraordinary to hear these increase in frequency with no noticeable pumping or diminishing of volume level. Rooms by themselves don’t treat sine waves very well, so the correction system in the subwoofer was doing a brilliant job. Disc after disc of Blu-ray, DVD and CD we played, listening to all the deep bass content. In the airport scene in Heat, the jet taxiing along the tarmac no longer just pounded our ears; with this subwoofer it also pounded the body with a mighty sustained infrasonic roar. Not only was the 16Hz fundamental of the big pedal of the pipe organ on Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C-minor clean and clear and thundering, but the subwoofer revealed previously unnoticed pedal work on other tracks from the same CD. The track Jurassic Lunch on a Telarc DTS surround sound sampler CD has

a Tyrannosaurus Rex approaching aurally from some distance away, announced by its footsteps. These produce prodigious levels of bass in a range beginning somewhere south of 10Hz (which is as far down as my spectrum-analysing software goes), and tops out at 25Hz. Through the Velodybe, we were verging on fear for our listening room.

Conclusion Clean, balanced, musical and unlimited bass is what Velodyne is offering with the Digital Drive Plus DD-15+ subwoofer. If you have the money, this subwoofer will deliver. Makes you wonder what its big brother, the DD-18+ 457mm (18-inch) subwoofer, could possibly sound like...

Velodyne DD-15+ Digital Drive Plus

subwoofer

Price: $6999 Warranty: Two years • • • •

Superb bass extension Superb volume levels Full room/system EQ Holes in manual

Drivers: 1 x 380mm Rated power: 1250W ‘RMS’, 3000W ‘Dynamic’ Frequency response: 9 to 300Hz ‘overall’; 14.6 to 120Hz ±3dB Dimensions (whd): 460 x 510 x 570mm Weight: 54.5kg Contact: Revolution Technologies 07 3902 8051 www.revolutiontechnologies.com.au

www.avhub.com.au

17/06/2011 8:28:55 AM

NP30 network music player

All the benefits of digital music made easy However you experience digital music, the NP30 is waiting to show you how easy it is to unite all types of computer-based music in the most amazing quality ever. With the ability to playback 24-bit studio master quality files, Everything under the NP30 not only offers every one roof... digital music convenience feature, but delivers a better-than-CD experience too! So whether you’re looking to UuVol is a new web relax with your personal download portal designed to deliver the collection on the best system most from your NP30: in the house, want to enjoy the ● Manage your favourite streaming benefits of more than 20,000 services for access without a PC* internet radio stations or you ● Simple set-up of Internet radio just want your favourite music ● Free UuVol Music Club membership streaming services without a PC, – your gateway to 24-bit music the NP30 combines the very best in digital music from one neat box.

The new NP30 engineered with passion in the UK

Take control with your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch The NP30 is a breeze to use but can also be controlled using the free UuVol Remote App.

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NP30 is a trademark of Cambridge Audio. iPod, iPhone and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S and other countries. Other product and company names mentioned within this advert are trademarks of their respective owners. These are only used for reference purposes and are subject to the terms of their registration. *Subject to country and subscription. Compatible with iPad: iPad Wi-Fi and iPad Wi-Fi + 3G. Compatible with iPhone (Airplane Mode recommended) iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S and iPhone 4. Made for iPod: iPod mini, iPod (4th, 5th generation), iPod nano (3rd, 4th generation), iPod classic, iPod touch (1st, 2nd generation)

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26/05/2011 10:31

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

TVs/DISPLAYS

BenQ W1100 AV projector

e remember waiting for years for a full high definition projector to appear. Finally in 2005 it happened. The only problem was, those early full-HD projectors were all $40,000. Who can deny that things get better as the years pass? Here from BenQ we have a full highdefinition home theatre projector for the tiny price of $1499. Yet it has specifications better than those forty-thousand dollar ones.

Equipment The BenQ W1100 offers a full 1920 by 1080 pixels of resolution. Furthermore, it uses a technology which was actually a little late to the full-HD game: DLP. Perhaps it was having to stuff over two million physical, hinged mirrors onto one tiny chip that was a problem. No matter, because since then there have been plenty of full-HD Digital Micromirror Device models from Texas Instruments. While it’s not unusual to find a business or education projector at a price such as this, a full-HD model at $1500 seems so lowly-priced that you naturally start looking for the cost savings. Plastic lenses perhaps? No, it turns out this projector has a properly elaborate set of 12 elements in its optical path. It has a reasonably wide zoom range of a bit over 1.5:1, so for a 100-inch screen it needs to be located between 3.09 metres and 4.75 metres from the screen. If you’re intending a permanent installation, though, be aware that there is no lens shift facility. Unless you want to resort to using the picture-damaging keystone adjustment feature, you will need to work out closely the location of the projector with respect to the screen.

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In fact, the geometry is such that it may well have been designed at least in part for ad hoc use. It throws the picture up somewhat from the centreline of the lens, which would allow it to work well from a coffee table, sitting in front of a family, to project on a slightly raised screen. But it has the usual picture flipping facilities, so we actually installed it upside down on our ceiling mount. Where else could there be skimping? Connections perhaps? No, not at all. It has all the sockets that are the norm for a projector, including two HDMI inputs, plus D-SUB15 for computer use and component/composite/S-Video. Furthermore it has RS-232C and trigger and USB for system integration. A terrible remote maybe? Not at all. It was full featured, with keys providing direct access to just about all the most useful features — including the three User picture modes. And the keys are backlit, so it’s easy to use in the dark. Video processing? This is more of a mixed bag. It comes with the standard items for DLP projectors, including noise reduction and Texas Instruments’ ‘Brilliant Color’ processing. But it does not have enhancements such as frame interpolation judder removal. It’s not alone in that. There are plenty of $10,000+ projectors also without such a facility. Nor is there a dynamic iris to stretch the contrast ratio. You have to live with the projector’s native 4500:1, a figure that would have been regarded as top-notch five years ago. This is on top of a very bright picture rated at 2000 ANSI Lumens. Even with that output the lamp is rated to have a life of 4000 hours. But there is an ‘Economic’ Lamp Mode setting which

stretches this to — if we correctly understand BenQ’s strange way of expressing it on its website — 6000 hours. Those are very impressive figures, making this projector relatively inexpensive to run as well as being relatively inexpensive to purchase. The projector also supports audio via two small speakers in its body, firing to either side. BenQ has fitted this with bass and treble controls and SRS WOW HD audio processing to try to create some sense of surround sound. Ten watts of power is provided for each of the speakers.

Performance But we aren’t going to talk much about the audio. We’ll just say that it works well enough for what it is. If you’re using an HDMI connection to your player, it should recognise the audio capabilities of the unit (two-channel PCM, most likely) and downmix the surround sound appropriately. That’s what our Blu-ray player did. The sound was midrangey and loud enough for dialogue to be clear in our viewing room. But we’d only use the built in speakers at a pinch. A rather extreme pinch. We like the picture and the sound to be proportional in our home theatre. With this unit you get a big picture and a small sound. We’d strongly recommend that an external sound system be used. As we started watching Blu-rays, DVDs and DTV using this projector, we were alert for the catch, the weakness that you’d expect from the low price. And these came down to just two things. First, the native contrast ratio of 4500:1 is a little behind the times. This projector does not produce the extremely deep levels of black that

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TVs/DISPLAYS

we have become used to over the last few years. You won’t notice this most of the time, since large areas of brightness on the screen always make the dark areas look strongly black by comparison. But in dark scenes, and in fades to black as sometimes occur in scene transitions, the sense was one of a very dark grey rather than complete darkness. Five years ago we would have given the black levels in this projector four stars out of five. Now we’d only give the blacks a three out of five. But let’s keep this in perspective, we don’t feel any need to rip the projector out and replace it with our normal more highly specified model the moment this review is complete. Blacks are adequate, just not brilliant. The second weakness was that the projector was a bit noisy. That’s a good reason to switch the lamp mode to ‘Economic’, though even then the fan was quite audible. Not in a broken irritating sense, but just as an audible white noise. This probably is actually due to dollar trimming. The projector is a small unit, and lightly built. The air flow through it is very direct, and you can see the fan through the cooling slots. The body isn’t heavy enough, nor the air path long or circuitous enough, to damp the noise as much as you get in more expensive projectors. Against that you get bright colours with a good clean accurate white in the default ‘Standard’ mode. You can fiddle with the colour temperature and get the usual range of adjustments to make things more accurate if you like. You get a ho-hum progressive scan converter. This applies motion adaptive deinterlacing to all 50Hz material without attempting to determine whether it is film- or video- sourced.

That led to very good performance with video-sourced material, but marked deinterlacing artefacts with film-sourced DVDs and 1080i/50 Blu-ray discs. This is easily solved for most content: use a high quality progressive scan Bluray or DVD player. But with movies on HDTV you may have to accept a slightly lower quality unless you have the rare high-quality PVR that is capable of 1080p output. There was a ‘Film Mode’ item on the Advanced Picture Menu, but this remained resolutely greyed-out irrespective of the signal we fed the projector. The unit will deliver 1:1 pixel mapping, but if the unit comes out of the box anything like the review sample, you will need to make some adjustments to achieve this. First, change the ‘Overscan’ setting in the menu to ‘0’. Then use the Up/Down arrow keys on the remote to turn off any keystone adjustment (ours was on +4 for some unknown reason). These adjustments made, and fed with a high quality progressive scan Blu-ray signal via HDMI, this projector did a very good job. In fact, it is one that would have been the envy of all home theatre enthusiasts six years ago. There was no screen-door effect. There were no visible rainbow effects. There was simply a smoothly presented image, except for the occasional judder due to the very fast switching time of DLP.

Conclusion Yes, 2011 is a great time to be a home theatre enthusiast. Now you don’t need to be rich, or even particularly well off, to enjoy high-quality full HD front projection, thanks to the BenQ W1100 projector.

BenQ W1100 AV projector Price: $1499 Warranty: Two years (6 months or 750 hours for lamp) • • •

Amazing value for money Rather good overall performance Excellent lamp life

• •

A bit noisy If you’re going to be picky, black levels only adequate

Projection technology: 1 x Texas Instruments Digital Micromirror Device Resolution: 1920 by 1080 pixels Aspect ratio: 16:9 Lamp: 230W Lamp life: 4000/6000 hours (Normal/Eco Mode) Contrast ratio: 4500:1 Brightness: 2000 ANSI Lumens Inputs: 2 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 1 x S-Video, 1 x composite video, 1 x D-SUB15, 1 x 3.5mm stereo audio, 1 x RCA stereo audio Outputs: 1 x 3.5mm stereo audio, 1 x D-SUB15 Control: 1 x RS-232C, 1 x 12 volt trigger, 1 x USB Dimensions (whd): 340 x 139 x 260mm Weight: 3.6kg Contact: Contact: BenQ Australia 1300 130 336 www.benq.com.au

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17/06/2011 8:31:14 AM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Krix

Volcanix subwoofer

he Krix Volcanix is the first subwoofer from the company to feature a software-controlled interface, which you get to drive using just a few frontmounted buttons and an eerie-looking blue screen display fitted to the front baffle. Although the basic Class-D ICEpower-cored circuitry is licensed from B&O, all the electronic design, board layout, front panel display and software programming has been engineered in-house at Krix, which rates its ‘tweaked’ Class-D power amplifier module with an output of 450-watts continuous. The module drives a brand-new long-throw 305mm frontfiring woofer, mounted in a bass reflex enclosure.

Equipment Our first response on unpacking the Volcanix was to marvel at the bass reflex port, which is huge — 105mm in diameter (and 350mm long), nearly big enough to swallow a CD. Most users will appreciate the grille, just to eliminate that yawning hole. Also huge is the bass driver. Krix rates it as a 305mm unit, but it measures 310mm. The driver has a sturdy paper cone and a UV-proof rubber roll surround. The all-important voice-coil is 50mm in diameter, with four layers of windings. The Volcanix cabinet is also rather large — 400mm wide, 470mm high and 470mm deep. However, it stands on four rubber feet that are themselves 36mm high, so if you’re calculating total height, it’s 506mm. The port and the driver are both front-firing — Krix tells us that many customers tell them they push their subwoofers back against a rear wall, hence also the decision for front-mounted controls. The front panel controls that make this all possible include three buttons — you press one side or the other of the Menu rocker control to cycle through the control options available: Volume, Low Pass (50Hz to 195Hz plus ‘LFE’), Phase (0° and 180° only), Power-On Mode (Autosensing or 12V trigger), Auto Sensitivity (00–10), Display Contrast, Restore Defaults, and Menu Lock. Around the back is something amazing: no external heat sinking at all, just a smooth, concavish plastic extrusion on which are mounted

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the inputs, also a 12V trigger input and a fused 240V IEC mains input socket, so you can fit any length mains cord you like (the one provided by Krix is three metres long). And when I say there’s no external heat sinking, there’s very little internal heat sinking either. The Class-D ‘KDSA’ (Krix Digital Switching Amplifier) module is so efficient that there’s no need to dissipate much heat, despite the prodigious power output (450W continuous into four ohms). The price quoted here ($2195) is for a cabinet finished in vinyl woodgrain; available vinyl finishes are Black Woodgrain, Atlantic Jarrah and American Cherry. A real timber veneer cabinet finish will set you back another $200; there’s Black Ash, Atlantic Jarrah and American Cherry. Or $2995 buys you a Volcanix finished in a high-gloss (piano) black or white finish.

to the ‘dark side’ and in fact revealed itself to be an immensely ‘musical’ subwoofer, in that its low-frequency sound was nicely balanced across its entire operating range, no matter whether the crossover frequency was set to 50Hz or to 195Hz or, indeed, at any position in between. What happens with many subwoofers is that their bass response is very ‘peaky’, one frequency band reproduced at a higher level than others, which bestows a very ‘one-note’ character to everything you play. That wasn’t the case here. The sound produced by the Volcanix was not only very true-to-life, faithfully reproducing the tonal character of the sound of the instrument being reproduced, but also completely consistent, so you could tell immediately that it was the same double bass being played irrespective of whether it was playing a low ‘E’ or the ‘E’ two octaves above.

Performance

Conclusion

I don’t know what rubber formulation Krix is using in its weirdly-shaped feet, but it’s fantastic! Despite the not-inconsiderable weight of the Volcanix, when you push it, it almost wobbles like jelly on a plate. The reason, of course, is to prevent any vibrations from being transmitted into the floor — presumably so as not to upset the neighbours. However, when we turned the volume on the Volcanix up to ‘Stun’ (actually, 00dBMAX), the level of bass that burst forth was so incredibly high that teensy little vibrations being transmitted through the floor would be the least of your neighbours’ worries! Luckily for our own neighbours, after a few seconds the Krix’s internal soft-clipping protection kicked in to protect them — or rather the bass driver. Soft-clipping isn’t the end of the Krix’s built-in protection circuitry either. The Volcanix also protects itself from low mains voltages, excessive voice-coil currents and over-heating. Operating the Volcanix rather more sedately, it proved none the worse for wear for its excursion

The Volcanix is a superb subwoofer that will work perfectly across a wide range of applications, from being the 0.1 in a purist stereo-only system to being the 0.1 in a 5-channel or 7-channel high-end home theatre system. So don’t be put off by what is a very reasonable price-tag — give it the courtesy of a proper audition and we think you’ll be impressed!

Krix Volcanix subwoofer Price: $2195 depending on finish Warranty: Five years • • •

Deep, tuneful bass Excellent controls Powerful yet runs cool

•

Controls under grille

Contact: Krix Loudspeakers 08 8384 3433 www.krix.com.au

www.avhub.com.au

17/06/2011 8:38:55 AM

Honey, I Shrunk the Speakers and the price...

was $999

NOW ONLY $799

Big home theatre sound from speakers that fit in the palm of your hand. The Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS 5.1 Loudspeaker System is an ultra-compact 5.1 speaker system that brings a new level of style and substance to anyone looking for great-sounding home theatre. The XS satellites each present a tiny 10cm-square face and can mount on walls, in ceiling corners or flat on counters. So you’ll hardly know they’re there — until you turn them on! Do you want 6.1 or 7.1 home theatre sound? Simple — just add additional satellite speakers. Then sit back to enjoy the rich, roomfilling surround sound from a stylish speaker system that complements not compromises today’s discerning decorating tastes.

Small. It’s the new big.

Proudly distributed in Australia by Hi Fi & Video Marketing Pty Ltd. Please contact us on (02) 9319 6877 for your nearest stockist. Email:info@hfvm.com.au www.hfvm.com.au

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20/04/2010 1:54:31 3:58:09 PM 15/06/2011

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

PrimaLuna Prologue Classic

integrated amplifier

inter is the witching season for good hi-fi, with longer darker nights. And with an occasional chill across even our Southern continent, now could be the perfect time to get yourself a valve amplifier. As well as capable of warming the cockles of your musical heart, the heat generation does a pretty good job in raising ambient room temperature too, as we found with the Premium models elsewhere in this issue (p36).

Equipment A rather well-reviewed Italian restaurant in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs shares the same name as this Dutch manufacturer of valve-based audio equipment. However, one promises a good night out, while the other has been designed to look after you

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while relaxing at home. The brand has been around since 2003, and one of the most popular integrated amplifiers in its class, the Prologue Series (or ‘Level’ as PrimaLuna prefers to call it), has been improved and worked on over the years. With this Prologue Level there are three ‘ranges’ — Original, Classic and Premium. We’ve got the latest generation Prologue Classic integrated valve amplifier. Externally, the Prologue Classic looks gorgeous — finished in a five-layer-deep lacquer that’s hand rubbed and polished, the quality of build and aesthetic superb. It’s hands-on for construction internally also, with point-to-point wiring and a list of quality parts such as a custom-designed toroidal transformer, ceramic valve sockets, ALPS volume pot, Philips diodes plus Nichicon and Solen capacitors. All very good stuff and exactly what you want to find going into an amplifier such as this. The Prologue Classic can operate with two sets of output valves — either EL34s or KT88s (it’s up to the buyer which is fitted). We were supplied with a set of both, and one of the new and very useful features of the amp is an Adaptive AutoBias circuit. This takes the hassle out of ensuring the output valves are correctly biased, so there’s no fiddling with dials or

guesswork. A switch on the side of the amp selects and recalibrates the amp for whichever valve type is used, and the circuit continually monitors and adjusts each valve so that it’s always operating at the correct measurement. Other noteworthy design elements include a Power Transformer Protection circuit that does what it says — if the mains transformer were to overheat for some reason, the circuit cuts primary power and resets itself once the amplifier has cooled down. More protection is built in with an Output Transformer Protection circuit that looks after the output transformers in case of a massive valve meltdown, and this is backed up by a relay that also resets itself once the offending valve has been replaced. Valves like to be treated gently and a ‘SoftStart’ circuit helps prolong their usable life by ensuring they get to warm up gradually each time the amplifier is switched on. Inputs consist of just four line-level sets, with the option of a moving magnet phono stage fitted if desired. There are binding posts for four or eight-ohm loudspeaker loads, and that’s essentially it — no switchable Ultra Linear/Triode mode operation; no remote control or other superfluous features of any kind. On paper the specs are pretty good for an integrated amplifier of this type — power output is rated at 35W per channel with EL34s and 40W per channel operating KT88s. PrimaLuna conservatively rates its amplifiers’ outputs, and points out it’s far better to run valves below their

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17/06/2011 10:58:55 AM

AMPS RECEIVERS

maximum voltage thresholds to ensure reliability and longevity. This is very sensible engineering, particularly when applied to valve-based amplification.

Performance We used our regular pairs of resident loudspeakers with the PrimaLuna — Quad 11s and Ambience Reference 1600s. The CD source was a modded Teac VRDS transport and modded Zero DAC. The Quads are a nominal 6-ohm load with 86dBSPL sensitivity, while the Ambience ribbons present a 4-ohm load and 96dBSPL sensitivity. Both appreciate decent amplification.

Starting off with the Quads and with the KT88 valves in place, one of the first things we noticed was that there was plenty of volume on tap. We’d been happily living with and listening to the opposite in terms of amplification, Onkyo’s massive M-5000R solid state power amplifier (also reviewed this issue), and were a little surprised to find we weren’t left wanting for more watts by changing to the Prologue Classic. Not that this is some American muscle amp — quite the opposite in fact — but it’s got plenty of drive and attack, not something you always associate with an integrated valve amp. This pushes up-tempo music along very nicely. Underworld’s latest album Barking and the dance floor-filling track Between Stars isn’t perhaps the sort of music you’d associate with valve amp listening! But the Prologue Classic didn’t mind dishing out some pumping rhythms. It may have lacked the really thumping bass needed for the full seismic dance effect, but still managed to deliver the music with plenty of weight and ample raw energy. Of course this isn’t exactly what this amplifier’s all about — it’s no party animal; that was never its designer’s attention. Switching speakers to the openness of the Ambience ribbons spoke musical volumes, as did a change in music. This is an amplifier that loved the classics, from a Shostakovich symphonic onslaught to the intimacy of a Mozart concerto. The PrimaLuna combined a realistic sense of scale and weight with an open, sweet treble that allowed violins, for example, to soar. We’ve heard many a valve amplifier lean towards a warm and lush sound, sometimes overly so, but the PrimaLuna isn’t one of them instead it produced a realistic concert-

hall sound, thanks largely to its mix of detail and substance. Swapping to the EL34 valves brought about more musical changes, and although we didn’t really notice any drop in power output, the sound is quite radically different. Not quite as dynamicsounding as the KT88s, the midband sounded a touch sweeter and more open. The EL34s don’t quite have the bass authority of the KT88s either, but do have a more three-dimensional characteristic, which we found better suited to well-recorded and simpler acoustic material. Timing was excellent, there were no worries with bass extension, and a strong midrange had us playing track after track from albums such as Elbow’s Seldom Seen Kid and Dido’s Life for Rent. Lifelike, engaging, tender and sweet were a few superlatives that sprang to mind during our time with the Prologue Classic, and that goes for whichever valve type you choose to use. We’d recommend you keep both and swap between them depending on your musical urges. You’ll definitely then have the best of both worlds.

Conclusion It’s not too many pieces of audio equipment that get so reluctantly returned to their boxes, but this PrimaLuna was one such amplifier that left a musical hole when removed from our resident system. It’s got all the hallmarks of becoming a future classic design, combining all that is so wonderfully musically inaccurate about valve amplification, but making it reliable and dependable as well. It sounds better than it looks, doesn’t cost the earth and comes with our highest recommendation. PrimaLuna Prolog ue Classic integrated valve amp Price: $1799 with EL34 valves fitted; $2199 with KT88 valves fitted • • •

Extremely musical amplifier Solid design and construction Good value

• •

Limited inputs No phono stage as standard

Power output: 35/40W per channel (EL34/KT88) Frequency response: 10Hz-65kHz ±3dB Total harmonic distortion: 0.25% Signal to noise 89dB Power consumption: 285W Inputs: 4 x RCA phono line level, optional phono stage Tube complement: 4 x EL34 or 4 x KT88, 2 x 12AX7, 2 x 12AU7 Dimensions: 395 x 280 x 190 mm Weight: 17kg Contact: International Dynamics 03 9426 3600 www.internationaldynamics.com.au

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17/06/2011 10:58:57 AM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Aaron HMF-600MkII stereo loudspeakers

assion causes people to behave strangely, as many a Shakespearean play reveals. Hume L’Estrange’s passion is loudspeaker design, and it’s a passion he’s been indulging for 30 years, during which time he has slowly built Betetec Industries – and its most famous loudspeaker brand, Aaron – into one of Australia’s best-selling brand of loudspeakers. In all that time, he’d managed to suppress the urge to build a ‘no holds barred’ loudspeaker system, preferring to concentrate on building a stable of affordable loudspeakers to best-suit the budgets of ordinary Australians. But around five years ago, he decided to start on his most expansive, most ambitious design project ever, designing from the ground up – literally – a range of high-end loudspeakers. And with these HMF-600 MkIIs, they enter a second phase. The advantage of being an Australian speaker designer (and owing your own company!) is that you can tour around all your dealers personally to get one-on-one feedback about your designs, and after the original Hyperboloid range had some runs on the board, this is precisely what L’Estrange did… only to discover something he found truly surprising. He discovered that his dealers were not only demonstrating and selling his HMF-600s as stand-alone two-channel speakers, but that they were also selling complete ‘Hyperboloid’ home theatre systems without a subwoofer, because the HMF-600s had ‘plenty of bass’ and it meant a lower system price, with fewer ‘boxes’ in the room. The result of this revelation on his dealer tour was that L’Estrange headed straight back to Ballina and to his drawing board (well… his computer and anechoic chamber, actually…) and re-designed the bass drivers, re-tuned the cabinet, and re-jigged the crossover network to produce a brand new version of the HMF-600 with even deeper, even more-extended bass than the original… the HMF-600MkII.

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Equipment Aaron’s HMF-600MkII is a four-driver, three-way floor-standing bass reflex design. The two 168mmdiameter bass drivers have hyperboloid diaphragms (so they’re not really ‘cones’) because this particular diaphragm profile not only eliminates standing waves, but also means that L’Estrange is able to eliminate the need for a troublesome and weighty dust cap, thus reducing mass. Speaking of which, the diaphragm itself is already extraordinarily low in mass, being made from a carbon-coated laminated paper. Also, unlike most drivers, the voice coil is not fixed to the cone at its centre. Instead L’Estrange uses something like a ‘miniature cone’ beneath the hyperboloid diaphragm so the voice coil ends up driving the hyperboloid diaphragm at one third of its circumference rather than at the centre, like normal designs. This system makes the driver diaphragm exceptionally rigid, so cone motion is almost perfectly piston-like at low-frequencies, which is the Holy Grail for all driver designers. At 300Hz, the two bass drivers are crossed to the single 132mm midrange driver which, like the bass drivers, also has a hyperboloid cone and the same voice-coil/cone coupling system. This driver, in turn, is crossed over at 5kHz to a 25mm Vifa XT25 dual ring radiator tweeter, with its characteristic centre wave-guide. Unlike many ‘look-alike’ tweeters which use neodymium magnets, Vifa’s XT25 uses a Y35 ferrite magnet (made by TDK), so there’s plenty of surface area to dissipate heat. The crossover network is substantial, yet it’s a minimum-loss design to ensure that the maximum possible power from your amplifier ends up in the voice coils of the four drivers. The network comprises seven air-cored inductors, six capacitors (five of which are electrolytic), and five 10-watt wire-wound resistors (three components more than in the original HMF-600). Each of the HMF600MkIIs stands 960mm high and is 230mm

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17/06/2011 8:40:03 AM

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

wide and 405mm deep – the same dimensions as the original model. The cabinets are not made from the usual ‘budget’ MDF used by most speaker manufacturers. Recognising Australia’s unique climatic conditions, Betetec ensures that all its cabinets are made from variable density fibreboard (VDFB). This material’s density changes through its thickness, which prevents resonances and minimises sound transfer. Unlike ordinary MDF, it’s also water resistant. Aaron attaches its veneers with long-lasting epoxy glues, so they’ll never delaminate. Internally, cabinets are assembled using PVA glues, rather than the UV-cure glues used by many speaker manufacturers. Using PVA means it takes much longer to make each cabinet, but L’Estrange says the end result is a better, stronger cabinet.

Performance Positioning the HMF-600MkIIs in your room will be quite straight-forward, except that you’ll need to leave a bit of space behind them so that huge bass reflex port can breathe freely and… of course… they’re not exactly the smallest speakers around! Because the speakers are so tall, and have a relatively small ‘footprint’ (particularly if you use them with the optional spikes that are provided, which makes the ‘footprint’ even smaller) they’re a bit top-heavy – or, if you prefer, they have a relatively high centre of gravity. The high-frequency dispersion of the HMF600’s tweeter is excellent – so good that there were only the tiniest differences in the high-frequency response when the speakers were facing directly up the room, versus having them angled to aim directly at the listening position. Of the two positions, we preferred (very slightly) the off-axis position, but there’s not a lot in it. Speaking of the high frequency performance, it was superb. Obviously very clean and more than sufficiently extended, it trod that fine line between ‘soft’ and ‘etched’ that’s so difficult to get right. ‘Soft’ highs are usually the result of the designer deliberately rolling off the very highest frequencies in order to deliver a ‘pleasing’ sound quality no matter what type of music is being played, and irrespective of the recording quality. ‘Etched’ highs usually come about when a tweeter has a resonance around 20kHz that means output level increases at higher frequencies. This gives a ‘bright’ sound that is impressive in the dealer’s showroom, because it tends to ‘etch’ the individual instruments so they’re clearly audible. However with such a speaker, once you start listening for extended periods, as you would at home, it gradually becomes obvious that there’s too much high frequency information, and you start reaching for the treble tone control (if you have one!). L’Estrange seems to have got the balance exactly right—treading that fine line to get an

accurate, real-to-life treble response. Importantly, the response stays this way even after extended listening at high volume, so the tweeter isn’t fazed by being driven hard. Midrange sound, too, was excellent, and the bass was even stronger – in all senses of the word. Pace was excellent, and timing equally so, with never any sense that the bass was lagging behind in the beat, probably because the HMF600MkII’s pair of light-coned bass drivers (which are operated in parallel) are incredibly fast and precise and their low-frequency extension – if not actually subterranean – is still very impressive. The most important low-bass region, between 30Hz and 100Hz, which is the area of the spectrum where nearly all ‘bass’ musical instruments deliver their maximum energy, was not only delivered at ‘reference’ level, but was also perfectly balanced against the mids and highs. Stereo imaging was very good, with all performers placed precisely where they should be, and the image had realistic depth and more than a dollop of height as well – helped in no small way by the physical height of the cabinets themselves, which ensures a good vertical aural ‘spread.’

Conclusion The new Aaron HMF-600MkIIs are not only the best-sounding loudspeakers Hume L’Estrange has ever built, but also among the best we’ve ever heard at this price point… or beyond it. The flagship model in Aaron’s range, this new HMF-600MkII design offers amazing sound quality, as well as offering amazingly good value for money.

Aaron HMF-600M kII stereo loudspea kers Price: $4499 Warranty: Five Years • • •

Fabulous bass Superb imaging True-to-life midrange

• •

High centre of gravity Space required for rear-firing reflex port

Drivers: 25mm tweeter, 132mm midrange, 2 x 168mm woofers Sensitivity: 89dBSPL/W/m Nominal impedance: 6 ohms Biwirable: Yes Dimensions (whd): 230 x 960 x 396mm Weight: 30kg Colour: Black, Jarrah or Beech Contact: Betetec Industries Pty Ltd 02 6686 0277 www.aaronhifi.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

NAD

drive, and it supports MP3, WMA and uncompressed WAV files. Its digital heart comprises dual-differential Wolfson 192kHz/24-bit DACs, which can be tapped into via the digital input. This effectively makes the C 565BEE act as a standalone DAC, and you could use it to do conversion duties from a media player on a laptop, for example. The usual assemblage of connections also feature, with even RS-232 and IR support. Partnering the ’565, the C 356BEE integrated amplifier also looks typically NAD but again has some quite ‘audiophile’ goings on under the hood. It’s a kind of modern-day 3020 (the amplifier that put NAD on the top ten most important amplifiers of all-time list, selling a staggering 1.1 million units) but on steroids. It’s rated at a solid 80W per channel (and NAD has a reputation for conservatism with its figures). Our review sample came fitted with the optional MM/MC phono stage which adds $149 to the price. Other inputs are plentiful, including five linelevel inputs (one of which is a front 3.5mm socket for iPod or MP3 player connection), two tape loops (getting redundant these days, but useful i/o nevertheless), a preamp output, main power amp in, a headphone socket and the ability to drive two pairs of loudspeakers. This makes for a very well connected and flexible integrated amplifier.

C 565BEE CD player C 356BEE integrated amplifier

he mere thought of a NAD stereo system brings both nostalgia and up-to-the-minute interest in what the company has done since the days when no self-respecting student would dream of rollin’ one up without suitable music playing from a NAD-based hi-fi system. In hi-fi’s stereo heyday many a smelly scholar spent most of their grant either a) down the pub, or b) on hi-fi gear and records, or c) all of the above.

Equipment Today’s learned ones no doubt source much of their music via the internet and iPod, however there’s still a hardcore bunch of ‘freshers’ who prefer to fill their digs with music the old fashioned way. This combo, matched with a suitable pair of loudspeakers and turntable, would be ideal hardware to accompany any spag bol and six pack on a Friday night. Although as the brand has evolved, maybe this gear is a bit too flash. NAD has retained its unique look over the years, but beneath the exterior of this particular CD player and amplifier lie some pretty serious electronics. The C 565BEE CD player boasts up-to-date features like a USB port and optical digital input, as well as the normal outputs. This means it’ll read music files from a memory stick or USB thumb

Performance This CD player and amplifier are on the cusp of NAD’s higher-end equipment, and borrow some design and technical know-how from more

expensive models. Still, there’s nothing overly expensive about the prices being asked here. Whereas your typical student system, both past and present, provided fairly basic audio performance, this NAD duo is a bit more involving. We hooked up our pair of Quad 11Ls and thought we’d soon be reminiscing about rum tobacco, but how wrong we were. This pair just wants to party, and party hard by the sounds of it. We were quite surprised as to how much get-up-and-go the NADs dished up, especially the amplifier. The Quad 11L loudspeakers are modest sensitivity but were quite effortlessly driven loud by the NAD amplifier — hardly giving the volume knob a nudge we had the little Quads’ drivers cranking, and with rock and pop the NAD’s mix was spot on, with excellent attack and control. With Jamiroquai’s All Good In The Hood from the latest album Rock Dust Light Star the basslines were pumped out in an unrestrained fashion, while putting plenty of sparkle and sizzle into the top end. Instruments have excellent drive and impact, and while there’s a slight splashiness, it’s not too significant — we’d perhaps recommend partnering smoother-sounding loudspeakers, so that the NADs won’t aggravate any forwardsounding treble from the boxes. We also tried some Underworld, the infectious track Bird 1 from the album Barking. This sort of music is right at home with these electronics, which yield a fine impression of presence and space, ensuring the soundstage is three-dimensional and vibrant. After all this initial excitement, we thought we’d try and lessen the pace a little. The one and only Miles Davis’ Kinda Blue gave us what we were hoping to hear — the sort of sound you can sink into. In absolute terms there may be a little

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treble bite and airiness missing, but it’s hard to argue with the sweet, comfortable sound that issues forth from this combination. The rich tuneful bass is just the thing for bluesy jazz, and solo piano work like a Rachmaninov concerto also benefits from impressive weight in the lower octaves. Other bass-rich instruments like double basses are given full measure without any hint of a slowing boom or bloom. We tried a couple of different sources also — 320kbps MP3s from a Sony Walkman and vinyl spinning on a Rega Planar. Connected to the MP input on the front of the C 356BEE, the attenuation was good — quite often there’s a big difference in volume levels between this and line-level sources, but not on this amplifier. Its inherent liveliness and power on tap worked well with compressed music, often adding a touch more zing into proceedings. The optional phono stage is obviously a must if you still play vinyl, and it’s a high quality one at that. Playing a big orchestral work such as a Beethoven symphony, the same power, dynamism, scale and detail is readily apparent as with digital sources. This amplifier always sounds fast and responsive to the twists of the scoring and gives a striking presentation of instrumental timbres.

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At $899 a piece (plus $149 for the phono stage), plus suitable speakers, this may not be the sort of system your average student would entertain, unless mummy and daddy chip in for a college-starting bonus. And there are less expensive NAD components that would be better suited if funds are limited. Rather this CD player and amplifier give you a taste of what more upmarket NAD is all about — and musically it’s an exciting and involving ride. Get the speaker balancing part right and this NAD-based system will have you coming back for more, time after time.

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C 565BEE CD PLAYER • Dimensions (whd): 435 x 70 x 285mm • Weight: 5.2kg C 356BEE AMPLIFIER • Power output: >80W (at rated THD, 20Hz-20kHz, both channels driven) • Frequency response: 20Hz - 20kHz (±3dB) • THD: <0.009% (250mW to 80W, 4/8 ohms) • Signal-to noise ratio: >92dB (IHF; A-weighted, 500mV input, ref. 1W out in 8 ohms Ω); >110dB (IHF; A-weighted, ref. 80W in 8 ohms, max. volume) • Power consumption: 350W (0.5W standby) • Dimensions (whd): 435 x 131 x 337mm • Weight: 8.7kg Contact: Audio Products Group 1300 134 400 www.audioproducts.com.au

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Runco LS-5 DLP Projector

A BETTER LOOKING PROJECTOR ALL ROUND Elegant and electrifying, the LightStyle™ LS-5 is Runco’s first-ever 1080p DLP™ projector designed for both performance and aesthetics. Where sleek design encompasses incredible performance, this stylish combination of legendary Runco engineering and elegant design delivers a bar raising powerhouse for affordable home theatre projection. Totally designed and engineered by Runco’s award-winning team, the Runco LightStyle LS-5 projector combines a 1080p native resolution DLP light engine featuring Runco’s powerful SuperOnyx™ technology with ConstantContrast™ for bright, pristine, high definition images with deep black levels and significant contrast. This Runco HD projector ensures a

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perfect fit in any room at any time because it incorporates ISF™ (Imaging Science Foundation) calibration suite for optimal performance in various rooms and lighting conditions. These calibration tools feature day and night calibration memory settings, individual sharpness and noise reduction controls, programmable image memory selection keys, built-in test patterns and a dark room-optimized remote. Runco’s advanced ViVix™ digital video processing enhances the LS-5 1080p projector’s picture quality and provides artefact-free scaling. Rounding out this impressive projector are discrete input source, aspect ratio and power on/off, as well as an RS-232 interface for seamless integration with automation control systems.

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

Denon

AVR-4311 AV receiver

t’s getting hard to remember, but there was once a time when a home theatre receiver was designed to do little more than receive radio broadcasts and provide amplification for a loudspeaker system. These days they have so many more roles, they might more aptly be termed ‘entertainment centres’. That certainly applies to Denon’s wonderful AVR-4311.

Equipment But let us first look at its traditional role. Of course this receiver has an AM/FM tuner, and of course it supports home theatre content. Thoroughly supports it, in fact, with nine amplifiers each rated at 140W of hi-fi performance (driven two at a time). By default, that means it can run full nine-channel processing, giving you, for example, both front height (Dolby Pro Logic IIz) and surround rear channels (Dolby Pro Logic IIx) at the same time. That’s a rare feat. Even rarer, it can do all this and provide support for Front Wide as well (via the pre-amp outputs). Indeed, these amplifiers can be so extensively redirected to do other things that to fully lay out its capabilities would be to use most of this review. Just know that you can even do things such as have the amplifiers drive two separate zones while leaving you with 5.1 channels in your main room. Or you can have them driving all the speakers other than the front ones. (Odd option you may think, but actually very sensible. You may have a particularly beloved stereo power amplifier, or extremely exotic front speakers with built-in

amplifiers. This receiver supports all that.) The without-limits approach is followed throughout. There are seven HDMI inputs, for example, with one on the front panel. And two HDMI outputs. We sometimes complain about the USB sockets on high-end receivers being on the front panel, which is good for ad hoc media playback from a USB stick, but not so pretty if you want to leave a USB hard drive plugged in permanently to act as a jukebox. With this receiver you get both front and back. You also get a ‘Denon Link’ socket. This is a proprietary digital audio connection which was once one of the few ways of getting multichannel digital audio from SACD and DVD Audio into a receiver without going via analogue. That’s now more commonly done via HDMI, but if you still have such a player, this receiver will support it. And there is an Ethernet connection. This provides the stuff that you’d expect from a highend receiver — internet radio, support for audio from a Digital Living Natural Alliance network server, and subscription services such as Last.fm and Napster, if you can access them from here. And there is one optional extra, as well, which we shall look at a bit later. You get two remotes for the receiver: the main one, and a ‘sub remote’, which is scarcely smaller, intended primarily for Zone 2 operation.

Performance Setting up was done using Audyssey. The highest version for set-up and audio processing, MultEQ XT 32, is provided with this receiver. This had a particularly clever enhancement: it performed a subwoofer pre-check, generating a tone through the subwoofer and showing its level on your TV screen, as measured by the set-up microphone. You

then adjust the subwoofer level to the receiver’s acceptable band, and then go on with the rest of the measurements. This makes sure that the auto-on circuit for the subwoofer has come on, and that it is at the right level for fine-tuning later in the process. Incidentally, you can run two subwoofers with this receiver, and the Audyssey system will measure them separately and develop suitable parameters to optimise their performance with each other. The receiver did a fine job of balancing up two different sets of loudspeakers and EQing both them and the room. When it had finished its job in both cases, there was surprisingly little difference in their overall performance. But you don’t need to use the EQ of course. This receiver offers various levels of clean path audio, ranging from simply switching off EQ, all the way up to a ‘Direct’ mode that eliminates virtually all processing. The receiver delivered exemplary audio performance with both sets of loudspeakers. Neither was particularly sensitive, yet the receiver effortlessly brought them to produce high levels. We had rock music and the climaxes of movies all running to thunderous, yet clean, levels. The unit supports Blu-ray 3D signals, passing them through reliably to the display. While the receiver’s menu system simply overlays the video for most signals, it cannot

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS RECEIVERS

do this with the 24fps frame-packed signal from Blu-ray 3D, so it blanks the screen instead before displaying the menu. The receiver supports HDMI 1.4’s Audio Return Channel. Whenever we switched the TV from an external input to receiving TV broadcasts, the receiver would switch to the TV input setting and take its audio from the HDMI return channel. If we switched off the receiver while the TV was receiving broadcasts, the sound would stop for a few seconds and then start again, coming from the TV’s own speakers. If we switched off the TV while the sound was coming from the receiver, then the receiver was also switched off. All well integrated, and very convenient in use. The receiver worked well with both USB and DLNA content. It supported MP3, WMA (but not WMA Lossless), WAV (up to 48kHz) and FLAC (up to 96kHz). It also did a good job with internet radio. It wasn’t clear what portal it was using to create its station lists, but it seemed to have all the stations and podcasts that we like to search for. But we’d like to make a suggestion: switch off the ‘Restorer’ processing. This is supposed to correct for some of the losses in lossy compression. Of course, it can do no such thing — lost is lost. It defaulted to ‘Mode 3’ whenever MP3 or such music was incoming. This brightened the overall sound, introducing such unpleasantries as sibilance to vocals and a certain jittery sense to the upper midrange, as though the noise inherent in lossy compression was being emphasised. Until we switched it off, we had some grave concerns about the sound quality of this receiver. The DLNA and USB support goes beyond playing music to also displaying pictures. The receiver also supports the online photo service Flickr. We wouldn’t bother. The unit squishes most pictures vertically. It was unbearable with

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the TV switched to 16:9 mode, and very nearly unbearable even in 4:3 mode, with the picture subjects of our test photos looking short and squat. Some pictures from Flickr seemed OK, but others were squashed. And that optional extra we mentioned earlier? AirPlay. It’ll cost you $60 for the firmware upgrade, but if you have an Apple household you’ll find it worthwhile. AirPlay is like DLNA, in that it makes music content on your computer — and iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone — able to be played back easily by the receiver. The difference is that DLNA is a ‘Pull’ facility. You use the receiver to dial up content made available by a DLNA server, such as Windows Media Player. You have to approve the receiver for access on the computer (this receiver nicely offers up its name, unlike many devices, so it’s easy to find and approve). AirPlay is a ‘Push’ facility. In iTunes, for example, you select the AirPlay icon and instead of ‘My Computer’ as the playback device you choose the receiver (it’s listed by name). The receiver will stop whatever it is doing and start playing back the music you have selected in iTunes. Likewise with music on your iPad/iPhone etc. Since this is a ‘Push’ system, you can’t choose tracks from the receiver, although you do get on-screen playback information. If you’re using an iPhone/iPad etc as the source, then of course you can conveniently control playback from there. If you’re using iTunes on your computer, then you can install the ‘Remote’ app to an iPad (etc.) and use that to control iTunes, complete with the version of the iTunes interface on your device’s screen. Anywhere within range of your home wireless network you can pause, select tracks, albums and so on, and even control the Denon’s volume. This stuff is so cool it needs to be experienced to fully realise how useful it is. We loved it. Especially after, once again, we’d switched off the ‘Restorer’ audio circuit.

Conclusion We reckon the AVR-4311 is the best Denon home cinema receiver yet. It is powerful in all its core functions, and extremely versatile. But the biggest surprise of all was the price: we were really not expecting a recommend retail price of under $3000. Even at $3059 including the AirPlay upgrade, this is a real bargain.

Denon AVR-4311 AV receiver Price: $2999 Warranty: Three years • • •

Excellent audio performance Extremely flexible amplifier configurations Excellent new media support

• • •

Menus don’t overlay 3D content Extra for AirPlay Photo display capability teases, but doesn’t deliver

Rated power: 9 x 140W, 8 ohms, 20-20,000Hz, 0.05% THD (two channels driven) Inputs: 7 x HDMI, 3 x component video, 2 x S-Video, 5 x composite video, 1 x phono, 17 x analogue stereo, 1 x 7.1 analogue, 2 x optical digital, 2 x coaxial digital, 2 x USB, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x Denon Link Outputs: 2 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 0 x S-Video, 2 x composite video, 1 x analogue stereo, 1 x 11.2 analogue, 2 x optical digital, 1 x 6.5mm headphone Zone: 2 x stereo audio, 1 x composite video, assignable amplifiers Other: 1 x RS232C, 1 x IR in, 1 x IR out, 1 x dock control, 1 x trigger out, 1 x setup mic Dimensions (whd): 434 x 171 x 414mm Weight: 17.3kg Contact: Audio Products Group 1300 134 400 www.audioproducts.com.au

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

NuForce Icon2

integrated desktop amplifier

t’s no secret that for today’s music, ye olde compact discs are out, and files are in. Computers, iPods and iPhones are the music players of today, and there’s little doubting the convenience of iTunes, and Windows Media Player in terms of enabling instant access to vast libraries of music, plus podcasts, internet radio and more. But what of quality? How do we get the music out of the computer and into our lives? The best answer is clearly a DAC (digital-toanalogue converter) which connects via USB to your computer, taking the digital file before it heads to the grungy computer audio output. More convenient still would be a combined DAC and amplifier in one.

Equipment That’s exactly what the NuForce Icon2 is, achieving the feat in one of the dinkiest and most convenient of devices around, a tiny 15 x 11.5 x 2.5cm, and distinctly desirable in its all-metal shell with large friendly knobs. A plastic stand allows this to sit vertically for an even smaller desktop footprint, though the mains and speaker cables then emerge from the top of its rear, which is a bit messy. The speaker cables come supplied; they have to, because they’re weird, with RJ-45 (Ethernet) plugs at the amp end and bananas at the other; heaven knows what EU safety regulators would make of that, and of course there’s a vague worry there on replacability, though NuForce does have the RJ-45 pins labelled in a diagram on its website, should you fancy making some up yourself. Otherwise you’re limited to the supplied 2m cable lengths — potentially short for the lounge, though pretty much ideal for the study or home office setups anticipated for Icon2 users.

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Performance The Icon2 is flexible for its size. For many, the USB input will be the main source, with the Icon showing up in PC or Mac preferences as an alternate or default audio driver. There are two analogue inputs as well, one on RCA phono sockets, the other a stereo minijack. You can also run a line out (from another minijack) to a larger amplifier should you wish to use just the DAC; otherwise you connect to your speakers via those odd RJ45-to-banana leads. There’s also a handy (if hard to find in the dark) minijack headphone socket on the front. Performance? As NuForce says, “good audio is not necessarily big audio”. Anyone upgrading from their computer audio output, even from a decent soundcard, will soon have big smiles spreading — the Icon2 is one of those little miracle miniboxes that yields hi-fi quality audio from computer grunge. Coupled with a pair of speakers of above-average sensitivity, music flows freely. Comparing it with far more costly kit, the DAC stage is not the equal of that in, say, our reference LehmannAudio unit (not surprising since that is four times the price), but it equals anything close to the price, while the amplification drives small speakers nicely. Talking of which, distributor International Dynamics included a pair of $399 Speaker Box 4s (left) to put on the end of this system; these are branded as Box Design by Pro-Ject Audio Systems. We used the Speaker Box 4s in a smallish room in a near-field position (a one-metre triangle to our ears), toed in towards us. Being only 140 x 228 x 150mm, these speakers aren’t going to rock your world with bass or scale of sound, but they combine 10cm aluminium die-cast bass/midrange drivers with a 25mm silk-dome tweeter to produce a crystal clear treble, excellent soundstaging and a punchy midrange. Their front covers stick on via the magic of magnetism, and usefully take an edge off the treble. We also tried some larger speakers — with care, though, since the NuForce warns against four-ohm speakers, and as we said, boxes of above

average sensitivity make sense, getting the most from the NuForce’s limited power. Moving back to the NuForce Icon2, there are few such criticisms. Power is, ultimately, limited; we wouldn’t be running a party system from it. And take care removing the seal on the out-ofthe-box NuForce — on ours it didn’t come off easily and required picking off with a fingernail, marking one knob, which would have annoyed us if we’d bought it. But at the price here of $469 for the amp, you get an amplifier and DAC with a tiny footprint, a useful set of inputs, a versatile DAC (we played 24/96 and 24/88.2kHz FLACs through it using VLC, no problem), and beautiful sound. If you’re sitting close to your speakers in an office or study environment, the NuForce Icon2 is pretty much a hi-fi miracle, neat and sweet. NuForce Icon2 in tegrated desktop amplifier Price: $469 Warranty: One year • • •

Tiny yet refined Plug and play with PC/Mac Can do HD tracks

• •

Crazy RJ-45 speaker cables Ultimately limited in power

Power: 30W x 2 (4 ohms) Power: 2 x 18W @ 8 ohms (1% THD+N, A-weighted); 2 x 24W @ 4 ohms THD+N: 0.02% Signal-to-noise ratio: >90dB A-weighted DAC: USB2.0/1.1, native 32, 44.1, 28, 96kHz, 16/24bit Inputs: 1 x RCA stereo, 1 x minijack stereo, USB Maximum sampling rate: 96kHz Resolution: 24-bits Headphone output: 80mW x 2 @ 16 ohms Dimensions: 150 x 114 x 25mm Weight: 2.2kg Contact: International Dynamics 03 9426 3600 www.internationaldynamics.com.au

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17/06/2011 8:53:58 AM

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Boston Acoustics A Series

5.1-channel speaker package

ome of us are old enough to remember when Boston Acoustics first appeared. Its claim wasn’t that its initial offerings — the A Series of loudspeakers — were the best loudspeakers ever. Instead, it was all about making very good loudspeakers that delivered well in real homes at a reasonable price. Now, 30 years later, the company has returned to that theme with a new A Series.

Equipment Of course, the world has changed since then, when it was all about stereo. Now the home cinema provides for an equally high-quality loudspeaker system. So the new A Series offers models suitable for filling all the roles therein. The floorstanders provided for review were the model A250. These pack two 133mm bass drivers and a 25mm tweeter. These are mounted in narrow cabinets, measuring only 180 wide. They stand reasonably tall at 891mm and are 225mm deep. They weigh 13.3kg each. The bass reflex cabinets are ported to the rear, and because of their narrowness they come with a kind of bar extending across the base near the back. This is 320mm wide and has mounting holes for the supplied spikes (there are also two holes at the front of the cabinet). Boston Acoustics rates the frequency response of the loudspeakers at 45Hz to 25,000Hz ±3dB, their impedance at eight ohms and their sensitivity at 89dBSPL. It says they are suitable for use with amplifiers rated up to 175-watts. The A225C centre channel has the same driver complement, laid out sideways of course, in a cabinet measuring 406mm wide, 160mm tall and 225mm deep. It also is bass reflex loaded, and ported to the rear, so be careful that it has room to ‘breathe’. Boston Acoustics rates its frequency response as 65Hz to 25,000Hz ±3dB, with the same impedance, power handling and sensitivity as the floorstanders. The A23 surround speakers are tiny — measuring only 205mm tall, 132mm wide and

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126mm deep. They share the same tweeter as the other loudspeakers in this pack, but for bass pack only a single 89mm driver. Somewhat surprisingly, these cabinets were also bass reflex loaded, and also ported to the rear. This was surprisingly not only because they were so small, but because of the location of the port. Immediately above the port was a metal-reinforced slot for sliding over a wall screw for convenient mounting, though it’s hard to see how this could be used without almost completely blocking the port, at the very least drastically altering its properties. Anyway, the company rates the frequency response of these compact units at 80Hz to 25,000Hz ±3dB, their impedance at eight ohms and their sensitivity at 86dBSPL. It says that they are suitable for use with amps rated up to 150W. The subwoofer supplied was the ASW 250, which has a 254mm driver firing downwards in an average-sized enclosure measuring 356mm tall, 372mm wide and 415mm deep. In keeping with the other components, this also is bass reflex ported, but the port’s mouth is in the base beside

the driver. Rubber feet hold the whole thing a couple of centimetres up from the floor. The unit is fitted with an amplifier rated at 100W ‘RMS’, or at 250W ‘Peak’. The specified frequency range, without decibel limits, is 35Hz to 150Hz. There are line-level stereo inputs under the control of a crossover frequency circuit, but also an LFE input which bypasses this. A phase reversal switch is on the back as well, and as usual the subwoofer can be set to switch itself on and off automatically. One of the nice things about these loudspeakers was the finish. All had a mirror-smooth black gloss finish to the side plates and, for the front speakers, the baffle below the grille. As delivered, these surfaces were all protected by sheets of thin stick-on plastic. This was easily peeled off after installation, so you don’t actually need to clean your fingerprints off the speakers. The top and back plates were finished in a matte black vinyl-look material. The grilles — black cloth stretched over a plastic frame — were all removable, and seemed to be held in place by small magnets.

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LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Performance Let us first summarise this system by simply stating that it provided very smooth and clean sound across the full audible spectrum, barring perhaps the bottom half-octave. All this was obvious just by listening to a broad array of surround material. We installed and balanced up the system using two different home theatre receivers. Both pretty much agreed with each other in making all the speakers ‘Small’, with the crossover frequency for both the centre and front speakers at 60Hz and the surround speakers at 80Hz. In our room these circuits typically adjudge the centre speaker to be ‘bigger’ than it really is, so we bumped this up to 80Hz, leaving the fronts and surrounds with what they had been allocated. We played a little music with both the receivers’ EQ enabled and disabled, and there turned out to be little difference in their tonal balance, suggesting accurate reproduction of relative frequency levels. Of course we left the EQ switched off during the critical listening. We started with music. The SACD version of Billy Joel’s classic 1977 album The Stranger can

be a bit tricky because it is fairly brightly recorded (thanks 1977 recording technology!) and can all too easily come across as harsh and even occasionally sibilant in Joel’s voice. But with this speaker system it was merely bright and forward, yet very clean. We turned up the receiver to extremely high levels, with our SPL meter showing peaks of over 105 decibels, and still it remained clean. Of course that’s not really the way to play Billy Joel, so we pulled out the DVD Audio version of King Crimson’s Red and wound that up instead. The stark chords rang out with enormous body and clarity, while Bill Bruford’s drumming spiked out through the mix, seemingly without compression. Yet as it swirled around the broad occasionally-360º soundstage, each strike of a drum stick or the bass pedal was precise and well defined in space. Switching over to movies, we went straight to TRON: Legacy, beginning in Chapter 4 when young Sam Flynn finds himself in the Grid. This section leading to, and through, the arena scene is an acoustic marvel with crash and splash effects

and enormous crowd roars overlaying a powerful synthesiser sound track from Daft Punk. For testing purposes, the value of all this is that the sound isn’t biased towards the front like the great majority of movies, but really does employ the surround channels as though they are of equal importance. The soundtrack is DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, and since the test system was 5.1, the two little A23 speakers were being called upon to do the work of four. And they did it. Obviously much of the load was taken by the subwoofer, but even so there was no hint that these were tiny speakers, barely bigger than satellites. Well, there was one hint. After a while we looked up at them, perched high on the stands we use for small surround speakers, and noticed that they’d moved. Under the pressure of the work that they were performing, they’d gradually spun through about 30 degrees, dragged by the unequal load imposed by our heavy speaker cables. The protection we used on the stands was clearly not grippy enough. The subwoofer — despite its relatively low standalone price of $499 — seemed to be a perfect match for this system. Judging from its performance, Boston Acoustics seems to have designed it for output levels rather than extreme bass extension. Despite this, from time to time there were hints of real throbbing of the air in our office (during Tron: Legacy), suggesting some level of really deep content. Overall, though, we don’t think we’d dispute the 35Hz extension claim by the company. Musically, its timing was good and it exhibited no flabbiness.

Conclusion The new Boston Acoustics A Series loudspeaker pack is impressive in its performance and power handling, and, most of all, in its low price.

Boston Acoustic sA 5.1-channel spea Series ker package Price: $1996 Warranty: Five years (Two years for subwoofer electronics) • • •

Top-class value for money Good balanced sound Capable of high volume levels

• •

Subwoofer limited to about 35Hz Wall-mounting questions

Contact: Hi Fi & Video Marketing 02 9319 6877 www.hfvm.com.au

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17/06/2011 10:39:25 AM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

TVs/DISPLAYS /DISPLAYS

Runco

LightStyle LS-5 AV projector

f you know Runco’s usual style of high-end projector, the company’s LS-5 will come as a surprise. Instead of the usual battleship of folded sheet steel, the ‘LightStyle’ is curvy and finished in glossy black plastic. It is accordingly lighter and lower in cost. Yet in fact, most of the stuff under the plastic here is very similar to what’s under the angular sheet metal of Runco’s other projectors.

Equipment One mark of this was the lens shift feature. The location for this adjustment is the same on this LS5 Runco as it is on a steel one: pull out the brandplate on its top, insert the long Allen key into one of the two adjustment holes and you can move the image sideways or up and down without distortion. (We found it rather odd that the quick set-up guide doesn’t mention this.) The projector is a DLP model, using a single digital micro-mirror device which, as is Runco’s practice, is labelled a ‘SuperOnyx’ DMD. How this maps onto Texas Instruments’ model line-up is unclear, but from the performance specifications, it would seem to match at least the very best that TI has to offer. This is packed into a case that, because of the curves, isn’t as imposing as most Runco projectors, but is still quite large. The lens offers a 1.3-to-1 manual zoom. Combining this with the lens shift, you have reasonable placement flexibility. The DMD offers full high-definition resolution, and has 1:1 pixel mapping available. In addition to two HDMI inputs, you get the usual range of analogue ones, plus three BNC-equipped component video sockets. The RCA component video sockets apparently support Euro-style RGB using a suitable SCART plug adaptor — these

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days, though, we’ll pretty much stick with HDMI. There are also system integration facilities, including two flexible 12V triggers for controlling other devices, and an RS-232C socket so that the projector itself may be controlled.

Performance As received by us, the projector had a setting under its ‘System’ menu called ‘Logo Display’ set to ‘On’, which you may want to switch off, as it brings up a white start-up screen with black graphics saying ‘Runco’ and the model number. But this lingered for many seconds, perhaps ten or fifteen, before switching off and allowing the picture to be shown. You can make it go away by pressing an input key on the remote, but switching this setting to ‘Off’ allows you to get the picture up quite quickly without any mucking around. We are getting to the developmental point with digital projection technology where it is hardly worth quibbling over black levels. High quality projectors simply do black very well, and the Runco LS-5 is no exception. Not perfectly though — its blacks, while extremely good, are not the very deepest available. Runco’s own Q-750i LED unit is pretty hard to beat there, since it seems to produce no light whatsoever in the dark parts of the picture. With this one, if you choose to look carefully and critically at the projected image when most of the picture is dark, it won’t seem fully inky black. But with any significant light output at all in the picture, the remaining dark areas become, subjectively, completely black. The 15,000:1 figure for contrast specified by Runco is using methodology similar to the rest of the industry (Runco calls it ‘sequential’, while others typically call it full-on, full-off ).

This usually means comparing a fully black screen with a fully white one, with the image settings tweaked to maximise the difference for each. In other words, this is bit of a cheat. Runco doesn’t like doing so, but mentions it because if it didn’t it would look bad. By nature, Runco prefers other measures — in particular, conducted using its own Cinema Standard Measurement System (CSMS) methodology. This is based on a 16-square chequerboard pattern. Since both the whites and the blacks are projected at the same time, there can’t be any cheating. On this measure it claims 481:1. You can see why it feels the need to give the looser figure. But the chequer-board system really isn’t a useful measure either, because even with a low contrast ratio, the way the eyes work will make the black squares appear very black indeed in contrast with the immediately adjacent white ones. Perhaps some form of full-on, full-off — sans tweaking — measure would actually be more representative. Either way the figures are very good, and the visible results are equally impressive. And because this is the ‘native’ performance (i.e. there is no dynamic iris), there is no pumping of light levels, so the whole picture performance was extremely stable. As for brightness, its 1000 ANSI Lumens (754 using CSMS) were plenty bright enough in a light-controlled environment. Light control is essential in a home cinema, of course — we aren’t talking about a projector designed for business presentations. The colour performance was highly configurable — and there are Imaging Sciences Foundation presets which a professional calibrator can adjust to deliver optimum performance in

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TVs/DISPLAYS

your environment. The default colour settings gave excellent results. What was exceptional about this projector was the detail it managed to extract from DVDs. What it placed on the screen made DVDs look much better than they had any right to look. The DVD version of Sergio Leone’s classic 1968 movie Once

Upon a Time in the West looked simply beautiful. Not once in its 160-minute length was there any impression of untoward artefacts, and only rarely would a little more detail have been appreciated — primarily on long-shots where the characters became a touch indistinct given the screen size. Hoping a projector can repair that is asking too much. It was surprising, and rather disappointing, to notice that there was no control over deinterlacing method in the unit’s menus. There wasn’t even a ‘film bias’ mode. You have to rely entirely on the quality of the projector’s ViVix video processing (a proprietary Runco video processor, not the anti-aging food supplement that fills a Google search screen). Fortunately, this seemed to be up to the task on all our most troublesome DVD test clips; it was tricked twice, for perhaps half a second on each occasion, into doing high quality, motion-adaptive, video-style deinterlacing when it should have stuck with a simple film-style weave. That’s very much at the top level of automatic deinterlacing performance. And even on the original DVD of Gigi, with its picture noise and jumpy film registration, the detail remained excellent. As you’d expect, the ultimate viewing experience was with 1080p/24 Blu-ray content,

and with this material the projector was best characterised as revealing, or perhaps transparent. Whatever was on the disc was made visual on the projection screen — this is a spectacularly revealing projector. With 1080i/50 Blu-ray (and, by extension, 1080i/50 HDTV material) the ViVix produced a second or so of picture instability on two of the torture sections we use to test deinterlacing performance, indicating that it had been tricked briefly into video-mode rather than film-mode deinterlacing. But this was still better than most. Nonetheless, you could put a good Blu-ray player into progressive-output mode and set the LS-5 to force-film mode deinterlacing. One performance aspect of DLP projectors used to be the rainbow effect — but it was not here at all, except under the most contrived of circumstances (high contrast black and white image, and invoking it by sliding our eyes, slightly out of focus, across the image). When not searched for, it just was not there at all, ever.

Conclusion If money isn’t too tight and you want a projector that opens up a window to what’s really contained on your discs — be it DVD or Blu-ray — check out the Runco LightStyle LS-5. You won’t be disappointed you did. Runco Lightstyle LS-5 AV projector Price: $9995 Warranty: Two years (six months on lamp) • • •

Excellent black levels Excellent configurability Superb automatic progressive scan conversion

• •

Fairly pricey Should have a film/video mode override

Projection technology: SuperOnyx DMD DLP Resolution: 1920 by 1080 pixels Aspect ratio: 16:9 Lamp: 180W (230W in high power mode) Lamp life: 4000 hours Contrast ratio: 15,000:1 (using comparable standards to other brands) Brightness: 1000 ANSI Lumens (using comparable standards to other brands) Inputs: 1 x component video, 1 x component video via BNC sockets, 1 x S-Video, 1 x composite video, 1 x D-SUB15, 2 x HDMI Control: 1 x RS-232C, 2 x 12 volt trigger, 1 x IR input Dimensions (whd): 455 x 200 x 530mm Weight: 11.0kg Contact: Network Audio Visual 02 9011 8082 www.networkav.com.au

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17/06/2011 8:57:00 AM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

AMPS/RECEIVERS

Arcam

FMJ AVR400 AV receiver

he Arcam FMJ AVR400 home theatre receiver is a first for us. That number one comes because never before have we seen a proper AV receiver with a built-in fully integrated DAB+ tuner. This is a receiver that isn’t going out of date in the near future.

Equipment Of course, there is much, much more to this receiver than just digital radio! For one thing, coming from Arcam you know that it is loaded with high quality amplification. Indeed, seven amplifiers are provided which are rated at a solid 130W per channel. That’s based on what appears to be the industry standard measurement, in which power output is assessed with two channels running at once, not all seven. A nearly universal limitation on power output is the power supply, which usually can’t deliver enough continuously for running full output power from all the channels at the same time. Arcam clarifies its power rating by saying that it will deliver 90W per channel with all seven of them running. The difference between the two, incidentally, is just 1.6 decibels. In practice, the receiver will generally have closer to 130W than 90W available from each channel, simply because of the unequal nature of the mix in most movies and surround music. It is clear that Arcam hasn’t skimped on the power supply, because through the ventilation grille at the top you can see a hefty toroidal transformer at the front right. Obviously it is a full-featured home theatre receiver as well. Actually, it is lacking one current ‘standard’ feature for mid to high-end receivers: it doesn’t support Dolby Pro Logic IIz decoding. We don’t consider this a loss. This decoder is inherently a drag on accuracy, since based on its design assumptions it decides that certain of the audio content is ‘high’ in position and produces a front height signal in order to deliver this acoustic effect. You have to hope assumptions are accurate.

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But with this receiver you can choose to use the two additional amplifiers either for the surround back speakers or for Zone 2. You get five HDMI inputs and plenty of digital audio and analogue audio and analogue video inputs, including component video, composite video and S-Video. Oddly, what you don’t get are composite or S-Video outputs, except for the composite output for Zone 2. You use the receiver’s internal video processor to convert these to HDMI or component video. There are good system integration connections on the receiver, plus a port for Arcam’s proprietary dock. In addition to connections for the usual AM and FM antennas, there is also a socket for coax for a DAB+ antenna to be securely screwed on. One unusual input is the 3.5mm socket located on the front panel. At first glance this seems to be a stereo analogue audio input, very useful for plugging in a portable audio player on an ad hoc basis. And it is that. But it has two other functions. It is also a 3.5mm S/PDIF optical digital audio connector, and a socket for the supplied calibration microphone.

Performance The receiver comes with a proper automatic set-up facility. You plug its little microphone into the socket mentioned above and let the unit run a stack of test tones. Many other receivers have pared these tones down to one or two for each loudspeaker. This one ran three or four (we lost count) for each speaker, so give it a bit of time to do its stuff. The results it produced were similar to those of other quality auto set-up systems. It also generates an EQ curve, but the EQ is not switched on as standard. If you like its results you will need go through and switch it on input by input. The receiver is highly configurable that way. There are lots of settings that you can make which apply to the specific input. It makes things a bit

slower to set up, but equally it is very flexible. Aside from the omission of Dolby Pro Logic IIz, this receiver worked smoothly and well with all other formats. It didn’t accept the Direct Stream Digital native format from SACD, but was perfectly happy with the decoded multichannel PCM from our player. Only DSD purists will find this objectionable. And the sound was simply excellent. This receiver immediately established its authority over the three different sets of loudspeakers we used it with, including one set that offers troublesome low impedances. It exercised full control over them, even well into the very deep bass... and it offered plenty of clean, pure volume with all three sets. Of course, it passed through the 24fps framepacked 3D video signal from a Blu-ray 3D player, and also worked nicely using the ‘Audio Return Channel’ from a suitably modern TV. Once again, by default this facility wasn’t switched on, so you’ll need to go to the ‘General Setup’ menu, then first switch on ‘CEC Control’, which will make available ‘ARC Control’. This last can then be switched to ‘Auto’. With all this working, when you switch the TV to actual TV reception, the receiver will automatically switch itself to an ‘input’ called ‘Display’. What that input is, actually, is the HDMI output receiving the returned audio from the TV. The digital radio tuner worked very nicely, subject only to the variable quality of the digital radio broadcasts themselves. Scanning to generate a list of stations is straightforward, and once this is done you can arrow through the stations one by one, or assign them to presets. If you have your TV on, you can see all the associated text broadcast by the station, plus the bit-rate each of the stations is using. Because of the unfortunate position — digitalradio-speaking — of our office, we use a very basic outside antenna. With this we found we were

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AMPS RECEIVERS

getting an uninterrupted ‘100%’ on signal quality. If you can’t get digital radio for some reason, or not all of it (ABC doesn’t transmit digital in our area), you can use internet radio instead (or, more traditionally, AM or FM). As with all the new media access facilities on this receiver, the on-screen display was a little slow in reflecting what was going on, and slow also to update lists. There were page-skip keys, but these only moved at five items at a time. If you have an ‘Artists’ list of 500 items, you will need a fair bit of patience. Still, Arcam has clearly taken a little care with this new media support, rather than just bolting on an existing chip-set along with its standard interface. And example of this is with its DLNA support. The Digital Living Network Alliance protocols support not just music, but also photos and videos. Typically when you start up a DLNA client and select the name of the computer, the media content of which is being made available by DLNA, what you are next presented with is a list of four items: Music, Pictures, Video, Playlists. In our experience the list is always the

same, even for those devices that don’t support either pictures or video. We have discovered the lack of support for those items only after working our way through their menus and finding that neither works. This receiver has been programmed to offer only the Music and Playlists items, eliminating the prospect of being misled. As for playlists, these are easily created in Windows Media Player (which is what we use as our DLNA server software). The receiver supports, in addition to lossy MP3, WMA and AAC formats, FLAC and WAV. These last two are useful indeed. FLAC is a lossless format used by a number of online providers of high-definition audio, often with 96kHz sampling and 24 bits of resolution. It is becoming the audiophile format of choice. And WAV is, basically, native PCM, so it performs equally well, although with larger files due to the lack of compression. An unfortunate omission is WMA Lossless. This would be a useful inclusion because it yields significant space savings over WAV, and is natively supported by Windows

Media Player, the software that provides DLNA server functionality for most installations. You can encode to FLAC of course, but you will need to install plug-ins, or download special software to do so.

Conclusion This is not an inexpensive home theatre receiver, but it offers a high-end audio performance along with excellent new media facilities, plus Australiancompatible DAB+ digital radio. It definitely gets a strong recommendation from us.

Arcam AVR400 AV receiver Price: $3698 Warranty: Two years • • •

Excellent audio performance DAB+ radio built-in Good support for new media audio

•

Interface for long music lists a bit slow and clunky

Rated power: 7 x 130W, 8 ohms, 20-20,000Hz, 0.1% THD (two channels driven); 7 x 90W, 8 ohms, 20-20,000Hz, 0.1% THD (seven channels driven) Inputs: 5 x HDMI, 3 x component video, 4 x S-Video, 4 x composite video, 7 x analogue stereo, 1 x 7.1 analogue, 2 x optical digital, 4 x coaxial digital, 1 x USB, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x rLead/irDock proprietary accessory port Outputs: 1 x HDMI, 1 x component video, 0 x S-Video, 0 x composite video, 0 x analogue stereo, 1 x 7.1 analogue, 1 x 3.5mm headphone Zone: 1 x composite video, 1 x stereo audio, assignable amplifiers Other: 2 x 12 volt triggers, 2 x IR inputs, 1 x RS-232C Dimensions (whd): 435 x 172 x 440mm Weight: 15.5kg Contact: Absolute Audio Vision 02 9764 5092 www.absoluteaudiovision.com.au

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17/06/2011 9:02:32 AM

best buys home theatre Winter 2011

LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Paradigm MilleniaSub

subwoofer

he Paradigm MilleniaSub is, we reckon, just about the most unusual subwoofer that we’ve ever reviewed. In fact, when delivered, we didn’t even realise at first that it was a subwoofer, because it came in a carton roughly the size and shape of that usually containing an AV receiver. Let’s face it, the MilleniaSub hardly looks like much of a performer. But don’t let looks (and size!) deceive. It turned out to be a highly competent subwoofer.

Equipment It’s pretty hard to convey just how strange the MilleniaSub is. So we’ll just go clinical here for a little while and give the basic facts. Consult the picture on this page, too. The subwoofer is shaped more like a slab than a box. Only 125mm thick, it is 465mm by 356mm in the other dimensions. This slab is rounded along its two long edges. One side of the slab carries three rotary controls atop a backlit Paradigm ‘P’ logo, while the other side is smooth, except for four threaded holes for inserting short metal legs. One of the rounded edges of the slab is also smooth, while the other has a cut-out with a socket for the power cable, a single RCA socket for connecting to the LFE output of a home theatre receiver, and a mini-USB socket labelled ‘PBK’. PBK stands for ‘Perfect Bass Kit’, and is a set of hardware and software that allows the subwoofer’s bass performance to be calibrated for its environment. It measures the output and then, using a computer, loads a customised performance profile into the subwoofer’s DSP. This is a separate package, and we think you’ll see that you probably won’t need it, but it’s nice to know that it is available But back to the subwoofer. We’ve disposed of the main faces and of the rounded edges. So where is the driver? Actually, there are two of them, and they are on the ends of the slab. They conform to the shape of the space available — long thin

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rectangles with rounded ends. These drivers are 355 x 76mm units (in the old language, 14- by 3-inches). Paradigm says that they have reinforced polymer cones. The reinforcement is absolutely required. After all, the cones must remain rigid, even though being driven by 25mm voice coils, and they are rather long and skinny. And they have to alternate between compressing and rarifying the air in a compact, sealed enclosure. To make them move Paradigm has included a Class-D power amplifier rated at 300W ‘RMS’, and 900W ‘Dynamic Peak’. The amplifier has the usual automatic on/off via signal detection, a soft-clipping circuit to tame distortion if the unit is overdriven, and a thermal protection circuit to ensure the drivers aren’t damaged by heat. Also built in is a wireless receiver, which works with Paradigm’s PT-2 wireless transmitter (which costs $279). This can drive up to four subwoofers. The subwoofer can be mounted in three different ways. One is to use the included stand which has the slab standing more or less upright, as pictured. Another way is to lay it out flat using the four mounting points on the flat face and the supplied metal feet. (One location suggested by the manual is to mount it flat under a couch.) Alternatively, you can purchase a wallmounting kit, which we’re sure you will agree is a pretty peculiar place of installation for a subwoofer. The controls on the subwoofer’s face are level, phase and crossover. This last has an extreme position which puts it into ‘Bypass’, skipping the subwoofer’s internal filter entirely. This is the

position that should generally be used, since normally you will be feeding this subwoofer from the subwoofer/LFE output on a home theatre receiver, which has already done the necessary filtering. There are no grilles to offer any protection to the drivers, so some care should be exercised to prevent physical damage. The obvious way is to place the unit somewhere where it is unlikely to be kicked. Under that couch, say, but take care when vacuuming. The unit is available in either satin black or satin white. Normally we don’t mention the manual, but we have to with this one. It was almost sickeningly cute. It seemed to us to be engaging in a painful exercise of attempted hipness with section titles such as ‘Twins are more fun’, accompanied by a picture of two subwoofers holding hands. It even has cartoon bubbles. Still, this can’t hurt, we suppose, and if you ignore subheadings, the text itself is solid. So we’ll forgive the Canadians treating us as reluctant high school students.

Performance Obviously, by its very nature, this subwoofer is relatively easy to place. We simply resorted to our room’s subwoofer corner, placing it upright on the supplied stand. Subwoofers almost always work best in our room in that position.

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LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

Because the two drivers are horizontally opposed, always moving in opposite directions, the enclosure wasn’t subject to physical movement in the slightest. We ran through our usual range of subwoofer test material and, to be blunt, we were astounded. We have seen subwoofers with dimensions not entirely dissimilar to this one in the past. And in every case they have been subwoofers for show only, producing maybe 50 or 45 hertz and modest levels. But this subwoofer sounded just like a big one. It was clean, and extended. It was clearly producing well under 30Hz, or so our ears and experience with particular source discs suggested. We re-watched TRON: Legacy with this subwoofer in place, and it was startling the way it engaged with the air in the room, pressurising it in line with the movie content. At moments, it verged on the level of power and extension required to make the viewers’ whole body resonate in sympathy with the material appearing on the screen. Verged on it, but didn’t quite make it. It filled our ears with the full range of bass material, but didn’t quite shake our bodies. The surprising thing is that, for a subwoofer of this size, we shouldn’t even be considering the possibility that it could reproduce the infrasonic content necessary for that. It also seemed plenty powerful enough. We put it in a system with high quality satellite speakers rated to accept 150W of power, and Paradigm’s MilleniaSub handily kept up to the levels required. Most importantly, it was clean. When we ran various test tones through the subwoofer, all its

output was in the deep bass regions. Anything higher would have indicated the production of noise and distortion — since the latter in particular is necessarily higher in frequency. We were so surprised with this little subwoofer’s performance that we felt we needed to validate our impressions by conducting a brief measurement. That was done simply enough by feeding broadband pink noise to the unit, recording its output, filtering the output to remove the bass-bias of the pink noise, and inspecting the result on a frequency response graph. The result was very much like what we’d expect to see from a high quality subwoofer of about six times the size. The peak output (in our room, anyway; remember these are unsmoothed readings in our particular room with the subwoofer located in a corner) was at precisely 30Hz. Below that point the subwoofer rolled off sharply, the graph describing a straight line of about 27dB per octave. Clearly that eliminated any possibility of significant infrasonic bass, but it did mean audible bass down to 22 or 23Hz. At 22Hz the response was down 7dB from the average. The output was reasonably flat up to 80Hz, whereupon it rolled off fairly gently. In our room the response reached from 23Hz to 111Hz ±6dB. No wonder it sounded solid.

Conclusion Perhaps all that cuteness in the manual is indeed justified. After all, as far as most people might

consider possible in a subwoofer, this unit really is pretty cool. The Paradigm MilleniaSub turned out to be one of the few products that we have dealt with which genuinely moves forward the state of the art in home theatre: producing totally unexpected bass performance from a tiny package. To be fair, you could probably get similar or even better performance for the same dollars elsewhere, but you’d be looking at a much, much bigger box to achieve it.

Paradigm Millen iaSub subwoofer Price: $1799 Warranty: Five years (Two years on electronics) • • •

Amazingly compact Excellent output levels Good bass extension

•

Hmmmm

Drivers: 2 x 355mm x 76mm bass drivers Rated power: 300 watts ‘RMS Sustained’, 900 watts ‘Dynamic Peak’ Low frequency extension: 21Hz at -3dB (in room) Inputs: 1 x RCA analogue audio Other: 1 x mini-USB Dimensions (whd): 356 x 125 x 465mm Weight: 10.9kg Contact: Audio Active Australia 03 9699 8900 www.audioactive.net.au

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LOUDSPEAKERS & SPEAKER PACKAGES

sell for $4299 in Bubinga, whereas in Piano Graphite they retail for $4499.

Performance

Whatmough

Performance Series P28-SE and Signature Series P15-SE Loudspeakers

hatmough’s new Performance Series P28-SE floorstanding and Signature Series P150SE bookshelf/standmount speakers are brand-new models for Whatmough, and feature a new bass/midrange driver in common, which are made specifically for the company.

Equipment The floorstanding P28SEs are a three-driver, two-way design which has the two bass/midrange drivers arrayed vertically, above and below a Peerless XT25T ring radiator tweeter, ‘MTM’ fashion. The speakers stand 1032mm high, 265mm wide and 330mm deep. As with most Whatmough models, the cabinet alignment is bass reflex, with the port located low on the front baffle. One of impetuses behind Whatmough’s decision to develop and implement a new bass/midrange driver was research by the company during 2010 which indicated that cones based on cellulose fibre (wood pulp) sounded ‘more natural’ to the human ear than any other type of cone material, so long as the cone was moulded using a specific process and its surface coated to prevent ‘slippage’ of air molecules during cone movement. The same research also confirmed Whatmough’s long-held belief that drivers which use phase plugs are not simply technically superior to models that use old-fashioned ‘dust caps’; they also sound better. The driver that resulted from Whatmough’s research is superbly built, using an immense black anodised, cast-alloy chassis, a huge centre-vented magnet assembly and a conventional ‘spider’ suspension. The overall diameter of the driver is 180mm, but the Thiele/Small diameter that’s used to calculate the physics of the drivers’ interaction with the enclosure is 130mm. This results in a total cone area of (Sd) of 133cm²… a little less than you’d imagine because there’s no central dust cap to contribute. However, because both cones operate in parallel, the total Sd for the system is 266cm², which means that if Whatmough had

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used just a single driver to deliver bass, its overall diameter would have been around 224mm (nearly nine inches). Using two drivers in this way increases power handling capacity, improves maximum sound pressure levels and also has the effect of extending frequency response. The two bass/midrange drivers cross to the Peerless tweeter mentioned earlier. This model uses a standard, unshielded ferrite magnet and a black plastic faceplate. The small Signature Series P15 SE bookshelf/ standmount speakers use the same 180mm bass/midrange driver as the P28, but of course there’s only the single driver, which crosses to a ring-radiator tweeter. In the Signature Series P15-SE, the particular tweeter used is a special version of ScanSpeak’s ‘Revelator’ ring radiator tweeter, which has had additional ‘tweaks’ to reduce distortion and eliminate power compression. The model used in the Signature P15-SE uses a very large-ringed neodymium magnet to drive a 25mm diaphragm, via a ‘symmetrical drive’ motor system. The rear chamber has a non-resonant aluminium housing, and the front plate is made from machined aluminium that is coated in black anodising. Its visually most obvious feature is its ‘Madonna bra’ anodised aluminium phase plug, but since this ‘bra’ is now used on cheap, Chinesemade copies of this tweeter, you’re reliant on the reputation of the speaker manufacturer to ensure you are getting the genuine article — which, in the case of Whatmough, you most definitely are! The only problem with the ScanSpeak ‘Revelator’ is that its ex-factory price is ten times that of the Peerless XT25, which itself is not inexpensive, and it’s this that is responsible for the price of the ‘Signature Series’ version of the P15-SE. The pricing of the Signature P15-SE and P28-SE depends on the finish you want. A pair of the floorstanding P28-SEs in Bubinga real-wood veneer retails for $2699, but costs $2999 in Whatmough’s sensational ‘Piano Graphite’ finish. The smaller Signature P15-SE bookshelf models

We set both pairs of these speakers up alongside each other in stereo, and switched back and forth between them in the usual A–B scenario using a stereo source. Rather amazingly, the upper bass and midrange remained almost identical between the pairs, which is a tribute to the quality of the drivers and the designs. And although the P28s definitely dug deeper into the bass, particularly in terms of delivering more low-end ‘punch’, the tiny P15s surprised us with how well they were able to keep up, matching the P28s dB-to-dB to well below 100Hz. And whereas we thought the Signature P15s would easily run away with the ‘best sound’ award in the upper midrange and high-frequency areas, here it was the turn of the P28-SEs to surprise us, because under most listening conditions, the two pairs were almost (but not quite) level-pegging in terms of clarity and h.f. extension. It was only when we turned up the volume, and/or introduced high-frequency-rich musical information, that comparison became more ‘chalk and cheese’. The overall sonic similarities between the models made it clear that you could very easily ‘mix’n’match’ these models in a multi-channel home theatre system if you wished — just as you could also run four P28s or four P15s (adding a matching centre-channel, if you so chose). So we did, with the high-quality results you’d expect — though we did think that speakers of the Signature P15-SE’s quality were a bit over overkill when they’re used for surround duties.

Conclusion We raved about Whatmough’s P33i in our last issue. These newer models have essentially the same driver ‘DNA’ as the P33i, but are available at half the price and one-third the price respectively. Helps make your choice easy, really… Whatmough Perfo rmance Series P28-SE an d Signature Series P15-SE lo udspeakers Price: from $2699 (P28-SE), $4299 (Sig P15-SE) Warranty: Five Years • • •

Accuracy of voice-matching Bass extension Purity of treble (both models)

•

No grille inside ports

Contact: Contact: Whatmough Pty Ltd 03 9764 2111 www.whatmough.com

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17/06/2011 9:51:36 AM

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

Redeye

App-based Universal Remote

he small plastic base shown in the picture here is the RedEye, its minor role being that of a charging dock for your iPhone, iPod or iPod Touch, but its starring role being as a combined Wi-Fi receiver and infrared blaster. Together with the RedEye App (downloaded to your iDevice of choice), it becomes an impressively advanced universal remote control.

Equipment Got an iPhone? Or an iPod touch or a shiny iPad of either generation? Then the RedEye lets them become a universal remote control to replace those multiple remote controls cluttering up your lounge and life. You can design your own remote control to appear on your touchscreen. And you don’t have to point your iPhone or iPad at your gear; instead your instructions are transmitted by Wi-Fi (through your home network if you have one, the RedEye’s own if you don’t) to the RedEye, which then blasts the IR out to your receiving electronics, TV etc, either from the RedEye itself, or by up to three IR flashers attached to its 3.5mm infrared (IR) output port. And because you’re using the home Wi-Fi, this means you can work the system from anywhere within range, for example controlling your hi-fi volume from out on the deck with your iPhone.

Performance So that’s the goal, but as with any universal remote, the trick is teaching it to do all this with your particular electronics. Many such products either lack codes for unusual brands, or give you only a small number of their commands. The attraction of this software-based control via touchscreen is that you can add whatever buttons you like. It’s effective, but it takes time. The Quick Start Guide only takes you through connection to the Wi-Fi network. Beyond that you can either go to Thinkflood’s website to get the full manual, or stab along and see if the set-up screens are intuitive enough to get you through unassisted. We got quite far without the manual, first setting up a room, and then adding devices to it.

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We started with a Samsung TV, so on the RedEye App we selected television, told it ‘Samsung’ from a massive but thankfully alphabeticallyaccessible list of manufacturers, and the RedEye then offered a rather alarmingly 31 sets of codes to choose from. Pick one, and the App gives you a few test codes to try: ‘power up/down’, ‘channel up/down’. We’ve been here before, with programmable remotes that make you try dozens of codes before you get the one that works — you can spend half a day setting up a system this way. But by luck or good RedEye management, the very first set of codes we tried hit the mark. Next we tried a harder one — a Beyonwiz PVR, something many US-based products fail to include in their lists. But yes, Beyonwiz was listed, and only two sets of codes to choose from. The second set worked. Apple TV, even easier: one set. Panasonic Blu-ray player — another long list of codes, but again the first one worked. Only our AktiMate speakers weren’t on the list, so we used the RedEye’s ‘learning’ function with the AktiMate’s original remote, which didn’t take too long, since we needed only volume and power instructions. So with five devices set up fairly quickly, what next? How do we actually use the RedEye? Not just yet, proved to be the answer. First you have to set up ‘activities’, using combinations of your devices. We set up a ‘Watch TV’ activity which powered up the TV and switched it to ‘Component 2’ input, then powered up the PVR. The RedEye app automatically adds time delays, many of which you don’t really need, in which case you can set them to zero. Exit the set-up menu, try it out. All was good, except the TV went to the wrong input. Turns out there were three different possible ‘Component 2’ commands, and only the middle one worked. These are the little variations that hamper ease of set-up, but reasonable application of technological common sense should get you through. That corrected, a single press of ‘Watch TV’ had everything working, and, for the first time, a virtual remote control popped up on the right of the iPad screen, with basic directional buttons,

a numberpad and a few others. RedEye generates these custom layouts automatically, but it wasn’t quite right — for example the number keys called up TV channels, but we wanted to control the Beyonwiz. How to do that? You could call up, on the left side of the screen, all the possible commands alphabetically in a scrolling list. So if you want to pause, you select ‘PVR’, scroll to the Ps, find ‘Pause’, and press it. We can’t imagine anyone preferring this to a normal remote control. Happily we discovered, by downloading the PDF instruction manual that strangely doesn’t come with the product, that the button layout is also editable. Much more fun. We were soon throwing buttons around to create our perfect room remote. You can even add multitouch control, so without looking at the iPad you can go ‘channel up’ with a one-finger swipe right, ‘channel down’ with a left swipe. Lots of possibilities. While we never got those working, we spent about three hours fine-tuning our really useable button layout. Very nice. And you can back it up to RedEye’s online storage, so you can’t lose everything. It had one bad quirk, a tendency to issue double codes, so it would go ‘channel up’ twice, ‘go right’ twice, instead of once, obviously preventing reliable navigation. But get this. If you really know what you’re doing, you can download the advanced programming menu, call up the RedEye’s web interface and get deep into its structure as a full Linux server with a relational database, able to build up to multiple iPhones and Pads accessing a house full of RedEyes and other interfaced equipment. (If this is all sounding a bit much, you could always pay someone to do that for you.)

Conclusion There’s a fair bit of set-up work before you can start using the Redeye, but we love the result — full touchscreen control of devices and activities, with potential for expansion around the home. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to press a single button and go directly to our PVR playback menu. RedEye Wi-Fi-toinfrared-bridge App-based unive rsal remote control Price: $299 Warranty: One year • • •

Genuinely customisable universal remote Finds the right codes quickly Unusually large code list

• •

Double codes Long set-up & test time

RedEye Wi-Fi-to-infrared bridge • 360° infrared blaster via 6 onboard LEDs • 3.5mm IR out port (150mA @ 5V, enough to drive up to 3 IR flashers • Integrated charging cradle — dock adapters for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPhone 3G/3GS • Compatibility: all iPhones, iPads and iPod touches Contact: Snap AV 03 9646 8511 www.snapav.com.au

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bbht_schaub_jul11.pdf

Page

9/6/11,

1:07

Size Availability: 32 inch, 37 inch, 42 inch, 46 inch & 55 inch

Quality Matters. Advanced engineering, slimline design and impressive technology – the new Schaub Lorenz range is nothing but quality. Featuring new LED backlighting technology, PVR recording capabilities and an integrated USB 2.0 Media Player, these brilliant televisions are purpose-built for quality AV specialists and their discerning clientele. The new Schaub Lorenz range of LED televisions delivers optimum picture quality at an affordable price. Visit your nearest specialist dealer to experience the Schaub Lorenz quality. • LED Edge Lit Panel • Slimline design • Integrated USB 2.0 Media Player • MPEG 4 technology • PVR Out recording • High energy ratings

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best buys home theatre Winter 2011

SYSTEMS & SINGLE PRODUCT SOLUTIONS

installed around your home, and you can divide them into two zones, since the transmitter has two inputs and can send its wireless music streams out on two separate channels. Each LightSpeaker has a switch on the back to select Zone 1 or Zone 2, and a second to choose left or right, so you can set two LightSpeakers up as a stereo pair.

midrange and a top-end only slightly lacking sparkle, partly as a result of the speaker construction (Amber had left the top caps off ). There was no stereo soundstaging possible, given one light was off high on the left and the other low on the right, and we also realised quite a limitation of using more than two LightSpeakers — there’s no way to individually control volume within one of the two zones. So if one zone includes, say, two LightSpeakers in the lounge and two in the bedroom (you have to have two in each area, because they can’t work in mono), you’ll then have to make do with a volume suitable for both rooms at the same time. And you can’t have only one set playing; it’s all or nothing.

Performance

Conclusion

One surprise is the physical size of the LightSpeakers, which are larger than your average garden floodlight, let alone any of today’s elegant modern fixtures. The screw-thread emerges directly from the back of this bulk, and this prevented it fitting into any of the few screw-thread sockets in our house. We could at least set up the transmitter, which is a fairly chunky unit itself, with big push buttons on top to control zones, sources, lighting and volume; even more useful is a small RF remote which can do the same from anywhere in the house. Round the back of the transmitter are two sets of RCA phono inputs doubled up with minijack inputs, plus a power input and switch, and the pairing button. The pairing procedure is impressively simple — turn off all your SpeakerLights, press that pairing button on the transmitter, and then turn all the lights back on. They pair automatically, also logging their selected zone and left-right setting. From there it’s just a case of plugging in your sources (which you control as you normally would), and turning on. Without any suitable socketry for auditioning the LightSpeakers, we visited Amber Technology’s showrooms for a demonstration of the LightSpeakers’ audio prowess. We heard the standard package of two LightSpeakers both with and without the W6.2.0 subwoofer. It sounded pretty good. There were definitely volume limits, which were fairly quickly reached, but then you might guess this is not a system meant for party animals, more for dinner parties. So at moderate volumes the system created an enjoyable balance, with good support of fairly directional bass (the subwoofer crossing over fairly high), while the LightSpeakers themselves presented natural vocals and enjoyable instrumentation, tonally accurate, with a clear

If you’re after precision of hi-fi sound and happy to deal with the requisite cables, look elsewhere. If you’re after good background music and you care about your décor, this is a clever solution. Such priorities and skills are widely present in the worlds of interior design and custom installation, and the relative invisibility of the LightSpeakers, coupled with their perfectly enjoyable sound, should find many takers.

Luxsound

LightSpeaker

e knew we were on to something interesting when three people stopped us to check out the Luxsound package we were carrying on our way to the car, striking up conversations to enquire what it was, and how (and whether) it worked. This is obviously an application with potential.

Equipment It’s not hard to see why. The Luxsound does as its name suggests — it creates both light and sound. You might expect something that screws into a light socket to create light. The sound is the surprise, this being both a 10W LED light and a 20W active speaker in a single unit. Being LED the 10W light should yield the brightness of ye olde 65W incandescents, and should also enjoy the long life of LED — 25,000 to 45,000 hours, so potentially 20 years. The standard package consists of two LightSpeakers and the transmitter system for $799 the lot; we were also loaned the $489 Luxsound subwoofer. The simplicity of installation is another surprise. You just replace any normal lightbulb with the LightSpeaker — although it’s a screw-thread, not a bayonet, and for ceiling-mounting you’ll need Luxsound’s ‘Open Can’ five-inch install bracket, which is available separately. Otherwise you can screw it straight into any table lamp, pendant lamp or floor lamp that uses an Edison E27 screw fitting. The quick install guide advises turning off both the light switch and the relevant circuit breaker before screwing it in, turning the circuit back on to check the light comes on OK, and heading over to set up the transmitter. You need a transmitter because, needless to say, you’d have a hard time running audio cables all the way to the desired light fitting (even in a home like ours, where cables are loved and put on proud display, rather than being treated as ugliness). We’ll get back to the transmitter shortly, but first a word on the extendable powers of Luxsound. Up to 16 LightSpeakers can be

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Luxsound LightSpeaker Price: $799 (two LightSpeakers and transmitter system) Luxsound subwoofer: $489 Additional LightSpeakers: $299 each Warranty: Two years direct replacement • • •

Light and sound! Enjoyable sound Two zones possible

• • •

No mono operation No volume control within zones Limited volume

Drivers: 80mm micro cellulose Light brightness: 10W LED Wireless band: 2.4GHz Quoted frequency response: 90Hz-20kHz (+-3dB) Power: 20W (no specs quoted) Quoted max SPL: 93dB SPL LightSpeaker dimensions: 145mm (+ 22mm screw + 14mm lens) x 130mm diameter Weight: 1.14kg Subwoofer dimensions: 230 x 230 x 305mm Driver: 6.5-inch (165mm) micro cellulose-fibre cone body with natural rubber surround Contact: Amber Technology 1800 251 367 www.ambertech.com.au

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17/06/2011 10:49:14 AM

revtek

Join the Revolution | www.revtek.com.au

BRING IT HOME WITH EPSON Bring all the excitement of the big game or the latest blockbuster movie home with the Epson TW3600. Boasting Full High Definition 1080p resolution and 3LCD technology, the TW3600 delivers larger-than-life image quality like no other. With the TW3600 your High Definition viewing experience is so real, its just like being there.... all in the comfort of your own home. For more information on our 1080p projectors visit www.epson.com.au or www.epson.co.nz

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