The term "home-theater-in-a-box" has become an expletive in the A/V world. They're usually seen as catch-all, cheap, simple excuses for a carefully assembled home theater.
The main feature of the Nile theater is its unique “curtain” — actually two sculpted, automatic sliding doors. The doors are cast out of fiberglass and veneered with actual bronze particles that give them a very realistic metallic look. The two sculptures that flank the stage are also cast out of fiberglass.
By now, you’ve heard about the sudden death of actress Natasha Richardson. I wrote about her and husband Liam Neeson’s home theater for the January ’09 issue (“A Class Act”; see story), and I wanted to share a few thoughts about her:
Onkyo has introduced two new home-theaters-in-a-box, budget-priced for consumers looking to get a full-featured surround sound system for less than $600.
Home theater in a box takes on a whole new meaning. The Sonic Bed is a home theater system built into a massive bed. The bed, designed by Kaffe Matthews uses a series of loudspeakers and six subwoofers placed in the base of the bed.
Sure, plenty of companies make chairs designed for home theaters. And sure, plenty of companies make home theater surround sound systems. But, the BodySound chair does it all.
JVC introduced the company's first Blu-ray-equipped home theater in a box system. The TH-SB100 is a 2.0 system, with a Profile 2.0 player, powered soundbar and wireless subwoofer. The player provides BD-Live capability, and an Ethernet port.
The term "Home Theater in a Box" formerly had about as much cache as "wine in a box." HTiB was, in fact, a very pejorative acronym used only with extreme prejudice. But, that is changing. Increasingly, HTiBs are going upscale, with Blu-ray drives installed in their head units.
More details are now available on Samsung's new lineup of home-theater-in-a-box systems. Three systems are being unveiled, and all three have Blu-ray players with BD-Live capabilities.
Yamaha is just releasing a new home-theater-in-a-box, the DVX-700. It's a small system - 2.1-channel with an upconverting DVD player.
This elegant system features two front speakers with a 2.125-inch woofer and a 1-inch tweeter. The separate subwoofer features a 6.5-inch driver. The amplifier powers a total of 210-watts into the system.
One silver lining to the economic crisis, if there is one, is that we get bizarre new vocabulary. For example, Jimmy Carter brought us the fun new word, "stagflation." Now, we have another fun new word, "staycation."
