PSB
Synchrony
Speaker system
November '07
As I said in my full test report, although I've never heard a bad PSB, I've never heard one as good as the company's new flagship Synchrony Ones. These elegant-looking, truly full-range towers can anchor a high-end 2-channel layout, or join its mates in a multichannel suite with equal grace. On their own, the Ones are a true 95% solution: They'll give you very nearly all the sonic precision and musical accuracy that money can buy, for about one tenth of what the world's most expensive 2-channel speakers ask. In home-theater array, the Synchronys proved superbly capable, too (and capable of awesome clean levels) — although a $10,000 system this good really deserves more/deeper/louder LFE-only subwoofing, which might ultimately make for an $11,000 system. At bottom, though, Synchrony bears the bell away for value. A surprising statement for so costly a system? Not really, because this is truly a product for which the confirmed music/home-theater nut might plan to save for several years, figuring, "Here are my speakers for the next decade or two."
psbspeakers.com
-Daniel Kumin
ONKYO
TX-SR875
A/V receiver
October '07
Onkyo's TX-SR875 receiver ($1,699) delivers excellent video-to-HDMI conversion and scaling, readiness for the latest audio formats on high-def disc, top-grade auto-setup/calibration smarts from high-tech firm Audyssey, and a painless user interface featuring fast, intuitive onscreen displays over all video outputs, including HDMI. Of course, you also get plenty of power (140 watts) for each of its 7 channels, both XM and Sirius satellite-radio expansion potential, and a quite usable system remote, along with Onkyo's usual, highly accomplished audio and video performance. Nothing individually groundbreaking here, but put it all together with the TX-SR875's decidedly value price (for a flagship-class receiver) and you're looking at a winner.
onkyousa.com
-Daniel Kumin
YAMAHA
RX-V1800
A/V receiver
December '07
With new home theater technologies arriving at a breakneck pace, finding an affordable A/V receiver that manages to incorporate all the latest buzzword features without any major omissions is an achievement by itself. Yamaha's RX-V1800 hits the bull's-eye, with a top-quality video processor and scaler that converts any incoming video signal to 1080p; onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio; and easy automated setup. Those features alone are pretty impressive for $1,300, but Yamaha has also included the exhaustive audio DSP functions that the company is well known for, along with options for an XM satellite-radio tuner and an iPod dock. All of this functionality would be wasted if the RX-V1800 didn't cut it sonically, but Yamaha has done a fine job in that department as well, with plenty of power for real-world speaker systems in all but the largest home theaters.
yamaha.com/yec
-Michael Trei
AXIOM
Epic 80/500
Speaker system
November '07
Judging from the many "Sound & Vision Certified and Recommended" stamps you see applied to speaker systems reviewed in this magazine, there's no shortage of good options available in that category. But what sets Axiom's Epic 80/500 rig apart from many others is its extraordinary value: For a bit more than 3 grand, you get a great-looking system that combines detailed, neutral sonics with the kind of bass extension and dynamics you'd expect only from much more expensive speakers. A key reason why Axiom is able to cut such deals is its reliance on direct sales via the Web. And the company's user-friendly Web site, with its extensive product information and library of home-theater-related articles, helps take the terror out of online speaker-shopping. Also, Axiom's free shipping and its 30-day in-home trial policy, which gives you more than enough time to realize just how good these speakers are.
axiomaudio.com
-Al Griffin
GENELEC
Play 6020
Speaker system
December '07
Before considering these speakers, you might need to recalibrate your thinking. While the idea of powered subwoofers seems self-evident, the idea of powered satellites might seem odd. But it makes perfect sense to dedicate an amplifier, and tailor its frequency response, to a specific speaker. This is often the case in studio monitors, but still a rarity in home models. You might also need to adjust your idea of playback accuracy. Many home speakers are hyped to sound good. By contrast, professional monitors are designed to be ruthlessly accurate. Enter the Genelec Play 6020 speakers ($3,999), home models derived from the company's legendary line of pro monitors. These self-powered speakers have a response that's flatter than Kansas and will faithfully reproduce your recordings. There's a very good chance that many of your recordings were mixed on Genelec speakers. So, by playing them back on Genelecs, you're a step closer to hearing what the mixing engineer intended. Besides, if you buy these speakers for your house, you can always open a recording studio.
genelecusa.com
-Ken C. Pohlmann
DENON
AVR-4308CI
A/V receiver
February/March '08
At the buzzer for this year came Denon's fresh-baked AVR-4308CI — for now, its second-from-the-top receiver at a price ($2,499) that looks downright cheap next to the $7,200 AVR-5808CI. This receiver has so much going for it that I'm willing to forgive — or at least gloss over — a few ergonomic issues, such as its inclusion of not one but two decidedly lackluster remote controls. The good stuff includes a sexy new full-color, high-def onscreen interface that comes up instantly on any video output and delivers detailed setup and tweaking menus and some cool visual feedback. You also get plenty of audio power and excellent upscaling/conversion to HD formats, including 1080p from any input; a useful Internet-audio streaming feature (with built-in Wi-Fi facilities) for Net-radio and music-file playback from your PC or a USB drive, plus extensive, multizone control via your local network from any Web browser (cool!); HD Radio on board, plus XM and iPod expandability; top-tier Audyssey DSP setup and EQ functions; and all-you-can-eat Dolby and DTS modes and features. It's a hell of a receiver, and combined with a decent third-party remote or system controller, it makes an impressive home-theater command center.
usa.denon.com
-Daniel Kumin
KEF
Reference 207/2
Stereo speakers
November '07
Some people listen to sound, and some really listen to sound. If your hearing is in the italics category, then you understand that poor sound quality to an audiophile is like Kool-Aid to an oenophile: You'd rather just die of dehydration. Which brings us to the most impressive speakers I heard in all of 2007, the KEF 207/2 Reference series. I've always liked British speakers, and I've always liked KEFs, but the boys from Kent outdid themselves this time. At $20,000 a pair, I was expecting awesomely handsome sound. But I wasn't expecting that my breathing would get fast and shallow and my toes would curl. These speakers really are good enough to trigger physiological reactions, not to mention the warm, fuzzy feeling you get from basking in their luxuriously warm sound waves. In my review, I compared these KEFs to a Rolls Royce. Actually, I was wrong. These speakers are better than a Rolls.
kef.com
-Ken C. Pohlmann
MERIDIAN
G95
DVD surround receiver
December '07
Plug-and-play home theater for the very well heeled. The "DVD receiver" concept might have been pretty well poisoned in the U.S. market by the innumerable cheesy home-theater-in-a-box systems stacked next to the over/under washer/dryers down at the big-box store. But to a rational mind, a high-end execution like Meridian's G95 ($8,495) makes enormous sense. Slim yet powerful (thanks to advanced Class D digital amplification) and intelligently exploiting the British firm's famed audio- and video-DSP chops, the G95 is an enormously elegant solution that delivers legitimately high-end home theater with matchless class. If I'd gotten an MBA (as if!) and gone to work on Wall Street instead of Broadway, I might very well own one today, and you can't say anything fairer than that.
meridian-audio.com
-Daniel Kumin
PARADIGM
Reference Signature Series
Speaker system
December '07
The Canadian maker's latest version of its long-running Paradigm Reference family includes this quintet of jewel-like compact speakers ($9,395). Dramatically curvy and beautifully finished, they sounded as good as they looked on both music and movies, with accurate, uncolored reproduction and dynamic power that was incongruous from so physically modest a suite. They also effortlessly delivered you-are-there chills from great surround-music productions. I was particularly enamored of the super-space-efficient DP1 dipole surrounds — and although the Signature Servo subwoofer is the very opposite of compact (what a beast!), it proved to be one of the best-performing subs we've tested.
paradigm.com
-Daniel Kumin
ULTIMATE EARS
UE-11 Pro
In-Ear Headphones
February '08
You won't find the boutique brand Ultimate Ears in too many stores, and you sure won't be able to just walk in anywhere and buy a pair of UE-11 in-ear headphones off the rack. That's because this $1,150 flagship model is a custom-fit product intended for use by performing musicians as stage monitors — or by music listeners hoping to extract the very best sound from their iPods. To be fitted, you pay a visit to your local audiologist (that is, hearing-aid expert), who takes a mold that gets sent off to UE. Your 'phones come back as the perfect earplugs: Imagine 26 dB of noise reduction with no active circuitry, and four tiny transducers with a crossover-on-a-chip crammed into each earpiece. I've tested four of the best noise-reduction 'phones on the market over the last 18 months, ranging in price from $200 to $450. None of them could match the UE-11s for sheer clarity and transparency of the midrange and high frequencies, nor for the quality of the bass, which was deep, taut, and extremely well defined. That, coupled with their superb ability to block background noise, has catapulted the UE-11 to a place at the top of my reference heap, with nary a contender in sight.
ultimateears.com
-Rob Sabin
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY
Mythos ST
Stereo speakers
July/August '07
From down in Terrapin country, Definitive Technology sent its latest Mythos model, the ST towers ($3,598 a pair). Electing to evaluate these in straight-no-chaser stereo (the Mythos line does include center and surround options), we figured the STs would be good because, well, they're DefTechs. But just how good? Real good. These incredibly slim floor-standers will look smashing astride that new on-wall flat-panel (that's pretty much the Mythos-line concept), but unlike so many made-for-plasma designs, they'll sound smashing, too. A "power tower" with built-in active low-bass sections, the Mythos ST yielded a depth and weight of sound that was hard to fathom from a speaker barely a hand's breadth across, with smooth, detailed mids and highs to match, as well as real audiophile-level imaging, depth, and detail. The essence of elegance, both visually and sonically.
definitivetech.com
-Daniel Kumin