2008 was pretty remarkable — in home-entertainment as well as in the world at large. For instance, this is the first time we’ve ever given the Product of the Year award to essentially the same piece of gear twice in a row. Why? Because in 2007 we concluded that the Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-110FD was the best TV ever made, and this year Pioneer surprised everybody by making it even better. But that doesn’t mean LCD TVs aren’t catching up. For instance, Al Griffin says that Sony’s KDL-55XBR8 can produce the kind of true black formerly seen only on the best plasmas.
On the audio side of things, A/V receivers continued their evolution from glorified switchers to astonishingly sophisticated do-everything powerhouses. With features like Audyssey room correction becoming standard issue even in entry-level models and with upscale receivers able to handle with ease any media you throw at them, these able command centers managed to keep the PC out of your home theater for at least another year. Another PC killer is the custom installer’s dream product, the Sooloos music server. With its 17-inch flat-panel control screen, it might look like a computer, but no all-purpose number cruncher could ever offer the reliability and ease of use of this elegant upscale music librarian. For home entertainment at least, 2008 was a very good year.
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
PIONEER
Elite Kuro PRO-111FD 50-inch plasma HDTV
October 2008
Sound & Vision’s Product of the Year, two times running! You read that right: Pioneer’s PRO-111FD ($5,000), the company’s latest 50-inch Elite Kuro plasma, actually improves on its PRO-110FD, a TV that struck us as being pretty much perfect when we reviewed it in 2007. Not surprisingly, a key area where Pioneer upped the ante is contrast — you’ll be hard-pressed to find a TV that delivers a punchier-looking picture with deeper blacks. Also, the set has a dead-on accurate color balance, which is the way we like it. Other improvements include an elegant new onscreen menu that’s a pleasure to navigate, reference-quality video processing and noise reduction, and a useful Tool feature that lets you perform before-and-after comparisons when making picture adjustments. And if you’d prefer to just let the TV calibrate itself, a sensor-driven Optimum mode can automatically adjust contrast, brightness, and color on the fly to adapt to various room-lighting conditions. But enough with the details. Here’s what you really need to know: the PRO-111FD is the best all-around TV that money can buy — the one model
that we unconditionally recommend without any caveats or hesitation. — Al Griffin
pioneerelectronics.com
AUDIO PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY
Mythos STS SuperTower home theater speaker system
January 2009
When S&V handed out a 2007 Editors’ Choice award to Def Tech’s Mythos ST SuperTower speaker, we called it “the essence of elegance, both visually and sonically.” Well, the same thing can be said of the newest Mythos model, the STS.
A slightly smaller version of the ST with the same built-in 300-watt powered sub, the STS also manages to deliver dynamic, full-range sound from a stylish, slender — and, in this case, less costly — package. When bundled with the company’s Gem surrounds and its new, multi- purpose Mythos Nine speaker for a center speaker, the performance of this $4,616 package was
nothing short of stunning. The STS SuperTower-based system might not be playing in the cost-
no-object high-performance leagues, but it manages to get all of the music and home theater basics exactly right, and does so for a reasonable price. And that’s why Def Tech’s STS rig richly deserves to be named Sound & Vision’s 2008 Audio Product of the Year. — A.G.
definitivetech.com
INSTALLER OF THE YEAR
Eric Eidelman
Audio/Video Interiors, West Hollywood, California
“A Tale of Two Theaters,” October 2008
It’s hard enough to get one home theater right, let alone two — especially when you’re working for a high-profile couple that has radically different houses in radically different locations, and especially when you’re working with the most demanding designer in the business. But installer Eric Eidelman of Audio/Video Interiors in West Hollywood, California managed to make best-selling authors Jonathan & Faye Kellerman happy with their Beverly Hills and Malibu installs while also meeting the expectations of his long-time collaborator Theo Kalomirakis. For creating deceptively simple yet dramatically powerful systems for these two divergent theaters, we’re giving Eric our Custom Installer of the Year Award.
avinterior.com
VIDEO
SONY
Bravia KDL-55XBR8 55-inch LCD HDTV
February/March 2009
LCD TV performance has ramped up considerably over the past year, with models from a handful of companies finally starting to nip at the heels of the top-shelf plasmas. One of those sets is Sony’s KDL-55XBR8. This 55-inch LCD model uses an RGB LED backlight with local dimming (LED Dynamic Control, in Sony-speak) to render images with deep, film-like shadows and rich color. And the set’s film-judder-fighting Motion Enhancer processing is capable of delivering smooth yet completely natural motion on its 120-Hz display. As with other LED-backlit LCDs we’ve tested, the 55XBR8’s one shortcoming is a tendency to lose contrast when viewed from off-center seats. But when I watched movies front-and-center before the Sony’s screen, I found myself forgetting about the technical stuff and simply losing myself in its expansive picture. At $7,000, the 55XBR8 is undeniably expensive (you could buy a 60-inch version of our Product of the Year-winning Pioneer Elite Kuro plasma for less), but if you’ve got the cash, along with a center seat on the couch, this Sony will send you to TV heaven. — A.G.
sonystyle.com
PANASONIC
TH-50PZ800U 50-inch plasma HDTV
September 2008
Each generation of Panasonic plasma TVs that I’ve checked out has offered very good performance at a reasonable price, and the TH-50PZ800U ($2,400) is no exception. It has everything you’d expect to find in a new 1080p TV, including four HDMI 1.3 inputs, a 24p input mode, and plenty of video adjustments for picture tweaking. And there are a few unexpected touches as well, such as its slick, all-glass façade and its front-panel A/V convenience jack with both HDMI and SD card inputs. But as one of the first THX-certified TVs, the TH-50PZ800U also offers something new: a THX preset that delivers a near-perfect picture for watching movies. Note that I said near perfect — the Panasonic’s THX mode, the settings for which are fully adjustable, actually will benefit from additional tweaking. But if you’re the kind of stickler who’s too lazy to pull out a test disc or too cheap to call in a TV-calibration professional, the TH-50PZ800U’s THX mode will get you 95% of the way there. — A.G.
panasonic.com
PANASONIC
DMP-BD55 Blu-ray Disc player
November 2008
Tapping Panasonic’s DMP-BD55 for an award this year was easy, since it’s one of the first Blu-ray Disc players we tested that delivered the full grab bag of goodies promised by the format, including Profile 2.0 BD-Live interactivity and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack decoding. It also offers excellent video upconversion for regular DVDs, with a 4:4:4 chroma upsampling mode that can enhance color detail with a compatible TV. And its 7.1-channel analog-audio output will convey high-rez soundtracks on Blu-ray Discs to legacy audio processors and receivers. Hell, there’s even an SD card slot that lets the Panasonic display high-def video captured with an AVCHD camcorder on your TV! Figuring out the DMP-BD55’s audio options during initial setup might cause your hair to turn prematurely gray, but once that chore is done, you’ll be more than happy. One more reason to smile: Panasonic’s exceedingly well-rounded BD player lists for a very reasonable $399. — A.G.
panasonic.com
SAMSUNG
LN55A950 55-inch LCD HDTV
December 2008
Samsung is the only major manufacturer that still has a finger in each of the major HDTV display-technology pies, including LCD, plasma, and DLP rear projection. But when you consider the attention to detail that went into its flagship 950 series sets, it becomes clear that LCD is where the company sees TV tech headed. The LN55A950 ($4,999), which uses a grid of LED backlights to illuminate its screen, can dynamically modulate light intensity at specific points in the picture, dimming or cutting off the backlight altogether in shadowy areas. By doing this, the 950 manages to produce the deep, inky blacks and refined shadow details that have long been plasma technology’s trump card. Combine this with a top-notch video processor and impressive out-of-the-box color accuracy, and you have a TV that can deliver the goods for just about any viewer in any type of environment. — Michael Trei
samsung.com
SONY
VPL-VW70 SXRD front projector
January 2009
Even $10,000-plus super projectors might have a hard time outshining the $7,999 VPL-VW70, a fire-breathing 1080p model employing Sony’s SXRD projection technology. The VPL-VW70’s picture dazzles with intense color, deep blacks, crisp detail, and brilliant whites. The sample I evaluated had a few minor calibration issues, but after a mere half-hour with a color analyzer, I had it dialed in. Controls like a manual iris and Sony’s Real Color Processing provide extraordinary adjustment range, and the remote’s many dedicated picture functions make fine-tuning quick and easy. This projector is better suited for constant-height 2.35:1 ultra-widescreen projection than most competitors, thanks to its internal image processing and its trigger output for controlling a motorized sled for an anamorphic lens. Complementing the VPL-VW70’s video performance is its extraordinarily quiet fan, which is practically inaudible when the projector is hanging from a ceiling. A striking industrial design with motorized lens doors adds to the projector’s many merits. — Brent Butterworth
sonystyle.com
SONY
XEL-1 11-inch OLED TV
April 2008
What can be said about Sony’s XEL-1, the first OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TV to hit the consumer market? Let’s start with the basics: It has an 11-inch diagonal screen, and displays pictures at 960 x 540-pixel, sub-HD resolution. And then there’s the price: $2,500. Does $2,500 sound like too much for an 11-inch TV? Well, consider this next spec: the XEL-1’s screen is a mere 3 mm deep — about the same thickness as a stack of three credit cards. Now imagine that same 11-inch diagonal, 3 mm-deep screen blown up to 100 inches. Sony’s tiny, wafer-thin OLED is more than a pricey techno-fetish object; it’s a sign of what we can expect to see in the future from video displays. And when you consider the XEL-1’s astonishing picture, with blacks as deep as those delivered by today’s best big-screen TVs, the future is looking mighty good. — A.G.
sonystyle.com
EPSON
Ensemble HD home cinema system
November 2008
Until the Ensemble HD came along, home theater enthusiasts had three choices: an underperforming home-theater-in-a-box system, a good but cumbersome do-it-yourself system, or an expensive custom-installed system. Now there’s a refreshingly practical fourth option. Epson and partner Atlantic Technology designed the Ensemble HD to be installed in just a few hours at a total cost that’s easy for average homeowners to handle: $4,999 to $6,999, depending on the projector, plus a typical installation fee of $500 to $1,000. Ensemble HD starts with one of Epson’s PowerLite Home Cinema LCD projectors, in either a 720p or a 1080p version. The projector hangs in a slick-looking white cradle that also incorporates the surround speakers. The screen rolls down automatically whenever the system is turned on, and the screen housing incorporates the front left, center, and right speakers. The system also includes a potent 10-inch subwoofer, a DVD player/surround processor with a built-in AM/FM tuner, and all necessary cabling and mounting hardware. It wouldn’t be easy to assemble a substantially better system for the price, and it’d probably be downright impossible to put together a comparably priced system that looks so great and is so easy to operate. — B.B.
ensemblehd.com
ROKU
Netflix Player
Web exclusive
While other Internet-based movie-delivery services have foundered by sticking customers with pay-per-view or pay-to-download charges, Roku’s Netflix Player succeeded by enticing an installed base of 8 million Netflix subscribers to make a one-time $100 purchase of a player that lets them instantly view 12,000 movies and TV episodes for free. Even if that number of titles represents only 10% of the Netflix library, it’s a nice bonus on top of those DVD- and Blu-ray-Disc-stuffed red envelopes that members regularly receive. Once you use your computer to make a selection, the Wi-Fi-capable Roku player displays the disc’s cover art on your TV and plays the title directly over the Internet. Viewers can watch movies as often as they like and bookmark up to 500 different titles. Since the Roku player was introduced, Netflix streaming has been incorporated into LG and Samsung Blu-ray players, TiVo DVRs, and Xbox 360. And Netflix’s major competitor, Blockbuster, has since introduced its own on-demand player. But Roku was there first, and its pioneering little box is also prepared to meet new challenges by being HD-ready. — Michael Antonoff
roku.com
CUSTOM INSTALLATION
SOOLOOS
Music storage and server system
February/March 2009
Digital music players are everywhere, and many of them seem to be “me, too!” clones without any design innovation to set them apart from the pack. So leave it to Mother Necessity to produce a product that elevates the category to a new level. Coming from the music industry, Sooloos’s founders were looking for a way to manage their own massive music collections. They also wanted the experience to be fun, social, and lightning fast. Unable to find a system that met these demands, they set out to build one. While the Sooloos system ($11,600) — which consists of Source, Store, and Control components — scores high marks all around for its build quality, design, and audiophile sonics, it’s the 17-inch Control One touchpanel that steals the show, with an interface that can tame your library whether you have 1,000 songs or 1,000 albums. Browsing with it, you’ll explore your collection in ways you never imagined. Want to focus on a genre? Simple. Want to dive deeper and pinpoint subgenres and certain moods? Sure. Want to find every album you own that features Slowhand on guitar or Bill Evans tickling the ivories? Can do. Sooloos actually gets you excited about listening to music again, and that makes it a winner. — John Sciacca
sooloos.com
AUDIO
ANTHEM
Statement D2 A/V processor
June 2008
Anthem’s D2 A/V preamp/processor ($7,499), which the company modestly calls The Statement, is just that: a statement of where technology was at the time of its design. (The D2 has HDMI 1.1 connectors, which means you must depend on your Blu-ray Disc player’s internal high-rez audio decoding.) The D2 is a perennial prizewinner, and I hate bandwagon-jumping, but if you want the most configurable, customizable, and capable A/V pre/pro available, this is it. The recent addition of Anthem Room Correction, a proprietary, automatic calibration/setup/EQ-correction scheme, only enhances the D2 that much more. The Anthem’s video digital signal processing makes the D2 just about as state-of-the-art on the video side as it is on the audio side, while its very slick, high-def onscreen menu and interface deliver a user experience that’s almost as uptown as its A/V performance. Sure, the Statement D2 is for people who don’t really have to ask how much it costs, but I try not to hold that against it. ’Twas a sad day when Anthem made me send it back. — Daniel Kumin
statement.anthemav.com
SVS
MTS home theater speaker system
October 2008
The speakers in this SVS system ($4,400) don’t hang sleekly on the wall, they’re not a quintet of palm-size cubes or a pair of shining aluminum obelisks, and their transducers don’t rely on the latest post-Einsteinian physics from the Star Trek labs. (They do use a sophisticated new hex-magnet soft-dome tweeter from Denmark’s Scanspeak, however.) But if you seek a system that has a highly accurate tonal balance, plays loud as hell with very little dynamic compromise, and goes all-the-way low with real authority — and you don’t want to pay a fortune for it — these are your boys. Along with the MCS-01 center and MBS-01
surrounds, SVS’s first higher-end full-range system relies on a massive subwoofer (the PB 13-Ultra is the best under-$2K sub I’ve tried in my system) and the big, somewhat bulky MTS-01 towers. But it’s all nicely finished and quite handsome — and about half the price of many high-end comparables. A Corvette among the Ferraris. — D.K.
svsound.com
THIEL AUDIO
SCS4 speakers and SS1 subwoofer
September 2008
Jim Thiel has knocked one out of the park with the SCS-4 speaker ($990 each), the fourth generation of his Small Coherent Source (SCS) design. This simple-looking two-way coaxial speaker is an object lesson in phase coherence, and has an uncanny ability to generate the most open and detailed soundstaging you’re ever likely to hear. Equally at home with both movies and music, the SCS4 has perfectly satisfactory bass extension when used solo, but adding Thiel’s SS1 subwoofer ($3,400 with PX05 passive crossover) turns it into a true full-range system. And because its drivers are coaxial, the SCS4 delivers identical sound whether it’s set up vertically for the main or surround channels, or horizontally as a center speaker. If you’re looking for speakers that can wake up the neighbors and break your lease, the SCS4 might not be for you. But it you value sound quality over quantity and seek something exquisite at a realistic price, this system is hard to beat. — M.T.
thielaudio.com
INTEGRA
DTR-8.8 A/V receiver
July/August 2008
The Integra DTR-8.8 was simply the best A/V receiver I reviewed in 2008, especially in the bang-per-buck department. A few factors set this model above the herd. Power: It managed to produce more than 100 watts even with all 7 channels driven simultaneously, an ability that only a select few receivers have demonstrated. Video: Integra uses the Silicon Optix HQV/Reon chip, one of the most capable solutions available to process and scale incoming video to your preferred high-def format. Room correction: Top-tier Audyssey MultEQ XT/Pro auto calibration and room-EQ processing can bring real sonic improvements. Bonus: Ethernet and USB ports let the Integra both surf Net radio and serve up music from a PC or Mac using the DLNA protocol, giving you a primitive but usable music server for free. There’s a good deal more, of course, all of which make the DTR-8.8 just about unbeatable at $2,400. — D.K.
integrahometheater.com
ONKYO
TX-SR706 A/V receiver
November 2008
Ho hum, another new HDMI 1.3 A/V receiver. Hardly news, except that this latest example — Onkyo’s TX-SR706 ($899) — turned out to be a stellar performer, combining near-ideal test-bench results, surprising power, and a gaggle of honestly useful features, beginning with a price about a third less than some comparable models. Better yet, in addition to the usual HDMI 1.3 perks (like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio decoding), the TX-SR706 includes basic-level Audyssey auto-setup/room-correction processing, plus both of the new “smart” low-volume-compensation systems: Audyssey Dynamic EQ and THX Loudness Plus. The Onkyo’s Faroudja DCDi video processing does very solid work upconverting standard-def video to the 1080p format over HDMI, and its impressive audio performance and real-world multichannel power keep pace. I don’t think you’ll find another receiver that offers more for less. — D.K.
onkyousa.com
REVEL
Ultima Salon2 stereo speakers
April 2008
The phrase “you get what you pay for” might seem naive when you confront a $22,000-a-pair speaker set, but the Revel Ultima Salon2 is really worth its stratospheric price tag. I doubt any speaker can credibly claim to sound more neutral and natural. I doubt any drivers on the market can exceed the clarity and output of the Salon2’s beryllium-dome tweeter and its titanium-cone midrange and midwoofer drivers. And I doubt any speaker’s lab measurements would best the Salon2’s. No matter what you feed it — movie soundtracks, two-channel music, even TV shows — the Salon2 puts on quite a show, with incredible stereo imaging and floor-shaking bass. Intelligently conceived bass and treble controls allow fine-tuning to suit the speaker’s positioning and the listener’s taste. There’s no question that the Salon2 places demands on its owner — there’s the automotive price tag, the 178-pound-per-speaker weight, and the speaker’s need to sit about 3 feet out from the wall behind it for the best sound. But those who understand that getting the best is never easy will cherish the Ultima Salon2. — B.B.
revelspeakers.com
PSB
Imagine home theater speaker system
December 2008
Combine some of the speaker industry’s most exacting engineering with tasteful industrial design, and you get the Imagine series, PSB’s latest attempt to soften its hardcore tech image while retaining near-perfect performance. The $2,000-a-pair Imagine T tower speaker delivers immaculate reproduction of movie soundtracks and stereo music, with nary a significant sonic coloration. Few speakers at any price exceed its tonal accuracy, and its compact, elegant design makes it a welcome addition to stylish living rooms. The $800 Imagine C center speaker and the $1,200-a-pair Imagine S surround speaker turn a pair of Imagine Ts into a compelling $4,000 home theater sound system. Meticulous timbre matching of all the Imagine speakers produces an exciting, enveloping ambience with 5.1- or 7.1-channel soundtracks. And the Imagine S’s second set of speaker terminals lets you split the speaker sonically to create surprisingly realistic 7-channel sound using only five speakers. You need to add a subwoofer for surround sound, though — the Imagine T’s little woofers can’t cut it for the LFE channel on action-movie DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. — B.B.
psbspeakers.com
SOUNDMATTERS
FoxL portable sound system
Web exclusive
On first listen, the FoxL sounds as miraculous as the original Sony Walkman. And it’s no less impressive on the 100th listen. This tiny powered speaker system packs two 1-inch long-throw midrange/tweeters, a rectangular woofer, and digital amplifiers into a rugged metal chassis tiny enough to fit in any brief-case. The $199 unit completely blows away its plasticky mass-market competitors, sounding clearer and more natural than many conventional speakers costing several times its price. Its nearly perfect lab measurements only reinforced my impressions. The FoxL’s tiny woofer delivers a shocking and satisfying serving of bass, although its rather violent motions can cause the unit to scoot around on slick surfaces. The FoxL is no party system, but it is loud enough to fill a typical hotel room with sound. A 3.5-mm stereo input jack lets it connect to any device with a standard mini headphone output, such as iPods and computers. A $249 Bluetooth version wirelessly interfaces with Bluetooth-equipped cellphones and computers, and can also serve as a speakerphone. Peripatetic audiophiles will find no better way to get great sound everywhere they go. — B.B.
soundmatters.com
REGA
P3-24 turntable
June 2008
U.K. manufacturer Rega never stopped developing and making new turntables, even as demand flattened during the peak years of the CD boom. Sure, the company makes digital gear, too, but it’s always seemed like vinyl playback has remained Rega’s No. 1 priority. Upon listening to its new P3-24, my ears instantly tuned in to the clarity, focus, and weight it brought to my LPs. In some cases, this was a good thing: high-quality recordings in my collection sounded better than ever. In other cases, bad: a few records I’d considered audiophile-grade no longer made the cut. Either way, with the P3-24 plugged in, I felt I’d stepped up to the vinyl big leagues, where discovering the nuances between pressings is all part of the game. With a base cost of $895 (plus $200 for the company’s Elys 2 phono cartridge), the P3-24 is a reasonably priced option for vinyl enthusiasts seeking something better than an entry-level table. But I’d go the extra step and spend another $375 on the TTPSU external power supply that feeds the P3-24’s motor with a conditioned, 24-volt AC input, and also has a front-panel switch to toggle between 33 and 45 rpmplayback. — A.G.
www.rega.co.uk