Doug Newcomb

Is Everybody Happy?

How to get great home theater performance without having to file for divorce

By Doug Newcomb
Posted July 30, 2002

Photos by Tony Cordoza

I consider myself very fortunate to have a wife who indulges my obsessions. There's the time last summer when she sat in a rental car on a sweltering beach in Baja while I surfed for more than an hour.

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Road Gear: Top Five Mobile Entertainment Milestones

We site the most significant trends in mobile entertainment of the past 50 years.

By Doug Newcomb
Posted February 4, 2008

Entertainment in the car has come a long way since the first "fitted" AM radios of 1930. And even back then, a few killjoys wanted to ban in-dash radios for fear of distracting the driver. Thankfully, logic and the love of music prevailed - and with each evolution in mobile entertainment over the past 50 years, drivers and passengers have benefited.

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The 411 on 7.1 Surround

How to set up a 7.1-channel speaker system.

By Doug Newcomb
Posted April 10, 2008

A home theater is nothing without a first-rate surround setup, and a 7.1-channel system can give you the most compelling sound experience that today's technology can offer. But having the right receiver and the right number of speakers doesn't mean you'll magically get the most out of your system.

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Great Sound Outdoors

You now have more options than ever for moving your music out of the house

By Doug Newcomb
Posted June 23, 2003

Illustration by Bill Villareal Ah, summer. The warmth of the sun, the smell of fresh-cut grass, the taste of backyard barbeque - and your music playing too softly to hear on the patio but blasting as you walk inside for more ice cubes. As life migrates out of doors at this time of the year, your tunes don't have to get left behind.

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Moving Pictures Outdoors

With the drive-in theater largely a thing of the past, could outdoor video be the wave of the future?

By Doug Newcomb
Posted June 23, 2003

With the drive-in theater largely a thing of the past, could outdoor video be the wave of the future? Taking video outside isn't very practical unless you live in an area with a mild year-round climate.

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Xtremely Simple

Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk takes his home theater system back to basics

By Doug Newcomb
Posted May 19, 2005

Tony Hawk became the world's most famous skateboarder by "going big" and performing maneuvers no one else had even thought of. But when it came to his new home, the avowed "electronics nut" decided that less is more. Hawk in front of his home theater system.

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Plasma Partners

Inventive ways to make your new flat-panel TV feel at home

By Doug Newcomb
Posted November 7, 2005

A flat-panel TV is probably in your future, if not already in your home. But many new owners of big-screen plasma and LCD sets find that their setups need some reconfiguring to accommodate these newest and leanest members of their home-entertainment families. In other words, the big and bulky cabinets designed to accommodate large tube TVs are out and thin is in.

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Road Gear: April

Car toys seen at CES.

By Doug Newcomb
Posted April 3, 2008

Sirius Travel Link So where would this car A/V gear go best?

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Gallery: In-Car Bluetooth for any Budget

Five devices for streaming wirelessly to your car stereo

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Bluetooth Hits the Road

Five new devices let you stream music wirelessly to your car stereo — for a song

By Doug Newcomb
Posted February 23, 2012
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If you like listening to music in the car, things just keep getting better, thanks to an explosion of technology that allows more options for taking your tunes on the road.

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