Brent Butterworth

Whether it's a sofa, a spouse, or a new surround-sound technology, you never really know what it's like until you bring it home and spend some time with it.

That fact that projection screens have emerged as a subject of hot debate might make the general public question the sanity of A/V aficionados. After all, these are flat white sheets we're talking about, right? Are we as nuts as oenophiles who enthuse about aromas of freshly reaped alfalfa in their pinots?

It's not often that someone tosses me the keys to a new car, tells me to take it out for a few hours, and encourages me to crank up the stereo as loud as I want. But that's just what happened last week at the press junket that marked the debut of the new Lincoln MKT crossover vehicle.