Do I get letters? You bet I do! Everyone has a question for the Gear Guy. I get letters from people who want to buy high-definition TVs, minisystems, exotic speakers - you name it. I also get lots of eviction notices, subpoenas, and an occasional letter bomb. But that's another story. Our current batch is from folks with very different needs who are looking to buy complete audio/video systems. To help them out, I've pulled together three distinctly different rigs out of equipment that recently received a big thumbs up from Sound & Vision's reviewers. But enough of my gabbing - let's field our first question:

 

Dear Gear Guy,
I'm a professional in my 20s, living in a small studio apartment in the big city. I have a CD boombox and a good 27-inch TV, but that's it. I'd like to get a DVD player and some decent speakers. But I just don't have the room for a full-size home theater, and I don't want to settle for a simple home-theater-in-a-box system. What's a space-challenged yuppie to do?

Closet Man

Dear Closet Man,
Welcome to life in the big city, pal. It's hard to get full sound in a small space. You need gear that's physically compact but avoids the drastic performance compromises that usually accompany lightweight electronics. The trick is to balance the performance of the different components - you don't want to have one awesome piece of gear that can't show its stuff just because the rest of the system is holding it back. This is particularly tricky with budget systems because there's no margin for error.
Well, for $1,698 - before discounts - you can get a pretty nice rig. First, I'd recommend Sharp's $800 DV-A2000U (reviewed in April), which combines a DVD-Video player with a Dolby Digital receiver that delivers 40 watts to each of its five channels. The disc-loading tray slides right out the front of the receiver. Pop in a movie disc and you're in business. This integration means you don't have to have two separate components with their own power supplies, digital-to-analog (D/A) converters, and so on. And the single chassis takes up less space than two. If your TV can't handle the receiver's component-video output, you can use its S-video output.

The DV-A2000U isn't perfect, however. It lacks a DTS decoder (which won't be an issue for many people), digital audio inputs, and a six-channel analog audio input for jacking in a DVD-Audio or SACD player. But in his review, the always hard to please David Ranada said he was "perfectly satisfied with the DV-A2000U's sound and picture quality."

For your speakers, I'd recommend the JBL N Series home theater suite ($898, reviewed in January), which is made up of four identical N24 satellite speakers for the left/right front and surround positions, an N-Center speaker for the center channel, and the PB10 subwoofer. This 5.1-channel system is truly compact, and the ball-swivels on the N24s make them easy to wall-mount - you don't even need shelf space. The satellites blend well with the PB10 subwoofer, which has a 10-inch driver powered by a 150-watt amplifier. Overall, these JBL speakers should crank out more than enough sound for your small room. Daniel Kumin concluded his review by saying, "This JBL system's value for the money is obvious. Getting such well-balanced sound, with notable bass extension and no salient vices, from a package priced just under $900 is impressive."

               

Dear Gear Guy,
I want to junk my old dorm-room A/V system and buy a home theater setup. The picture on the TV should look impressive when my family and I are sitting on the couch, which is about 8 feet from our current TV. And I want a full-sounding speaker array - but my wife doesn't want it to eat up a lot of floor space. The system also has to accommodate all of my family's viewing and listening habits. My young daughter likes to watch children's shows, my son tunes in MTV and listens to CDs, my wife enjoys movies on DVD, and I watch a lot of sports. Is there one system that can meet all of our needs?

Family Man

Dear Family Man,
Kiss your dorm-room gear goodbye! I can recommend a terrific system that's perfect for suburbia. You should be able to buy all of the necessary components for less than six grand after discounts. Frankly, I think you'll be amazed at how good a system it is for the money, and how neatly it will fit into your living room.
Sony's DVP-CX870D DVD megachanger ($799, reviewed in February/March) holds 301 discs, which should accommodate most of your family's favorite CDs and DVDs. Moreover, you can create folders to keep everyone's discs organized. As Daniel Kumin explained in his review, the Disc Explorer system organizer "brings up a full-screen, scrollable list of all loaded discs, including each one's format (CD or DVD), title, artist (for CDs), genre, and even a little thumbnail image." You can sort discs by slot number, genre, or title, which will make it a cinch for everyone in the family to find what they're looking for.

This is the only changer I know of that can flip over a DVD to play the other side or flip a CD that was inserted incorrectly. It also has a great remote control and a component-video output, plus a Dolby Digital (DD) decoder. Kumin's review concluded by saying, "If you like the idea of one box that lets you play, program, store, and organize discs in your music/movie collection, Sony's got it, without sacrificing video or audio performance."

But you won't need the Sony's decoder with Denon's AVR-3801 receiver ($1,199, May) because it has DD and DTS decoding built in - including 6.1-channel decoding for the ultimate surround sound experience. It's rated at 105 watts per channel, which is more than enough for most living rooms, and it drives up to seven channels, so you can add a couple of back surround speakers if you want to go all out. It also sports some nice ambience-enhancement processing for stereo sources.
Reviewer Ranada raved that the AVR-3801 "gives you nearly everything to keep you going in the multichannel age: ample power reserves, ultra-low background noise, up-to-date digital multichannel decoding, and, at last, a stereo-enhancement mode that'll keep your older recordings from going flat. All of this comes in an unusually well-balanced blend of performance, versatility, and ease of use at a reasonable price."

For speakers, I'd recommend B&W's DM 303 system ($1,270, May), which comprises four DM 303 satellites (the photo at right doesn't show the surrounds), an LCR 3 for the center, and an ASW 500 subwoofer. These budget speakers, like most everything else B&W makes, provide high sonic quality and have styling to match. Reviewer Rich Warren said, "By using speakers for the front and surround channels that go deeper into the bass than is usual for their size, B&W avoids a common pitfall of sat/sub systems - the gap between the low end of the satellites and the upper range of the subwoofer - while maintaining such benefits as easy placement and excellent imaging from small enclosures."

 

The sub's amplifier is rated at 70 watts, and its cone is 10 inches, which should provide plenty of deep bass. One downside - the satellites aren't magnetically shielded, so you'll have to keep them away from the TV. And, of course, like any modest small-speaker ensemble, this one has its limits - it can play loud, but probably not loud enough to annoy the neighbors.

For your viewing pleasure, let's try the 36-inch RCA MM36110 multimedia monitor ($2,199, January). Its 4:3 aspect ratio screen can display a widescreen 1080i-format high-definition TV (HDTV) picture, but not with full resolution. The RCA set will accept progressive-scan component-video signals if you decide to upgrade to a DVD player with that capability, and it sports VGA-type jacks and USB ports for connecting a computer. Why would you want to hook up your TV to a computer? Well, so everyone can Web surf in the living room, for one thing. Reviewer Al Griffin pointed out that "the RCA did an excellent job of rendering fine text and graphics in both Web pages and word-processing documents." And he was pleased with the image quality overall. "In a high-def demo loop of Texas Wild . . . the familiar plants and critters looked crisp, with clean colors and eye-popping contrast."

The RCA set also features the free Guide Plus Gold interactive program guide, which displays listings for 48 hours ahead. The monitor doesn't have a line doubler, however, nor a 16:9 widescreen display mode, which shouldn't be a problem since the Sony DVD changer has better than average letterboxing capabilities.
Finally, the Philips DSR6000 DirecTV receiver/TiVo recorder ($399, May) is a nice way to take this system to the next level without spending a bundle. Once you pay the DirecTV programming and TiVo subscription fees, you'll get satellite access neatly integrated with time-shift recording. That means you can access a zillion (well, more than 200) channels and watch shows any time you want by simply dumping the satellite signal to TiVo's hard drive, which allows up to 35 hours of original-broadcast-quality recording. TiVo also lets you zap through commercials and watch football games in a fraction of their broadcast duration - it'll even search out programs you might like. Two bummers - there's only one Favorites list, and current systems won't let you watch one show while recording another (a planned satellite-delivered software upgrade will allow this).

Reviewer Teri Scaduto concluded that "placing the DirecTV and TiVo services together in the DSR6000 gave me the heady feeling of having absolute control over the entire spectrum of satellite-TV options. . . . Philips has melded DirecTV and TiVo into one smoothly operating system - with one number to call for support and one monthly bill. It's a match made in TV heaven."

               

Dear Gear Guy,
I sold my dot-com just before the crash and used the proceeds to buy a spacious suite overlooking Central Park. I require an A/V system that's impressive looking and powerful enough to fill my mammoth living area with sound. But you should know that I'm not a babe in the woods when it comes to A/V gear. I have owned many good systems, but now I want a damn good one. However, I simply don't have the time (or temperament) to deal with overly tweaky components or anything that needs endless programming. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

High-Powered Business Woman

Dear High-Powered Business Woman,
First, let me say that if you're single, I think we should get together to plan this important installation. Let's earmark about 18 grand for a top-of-the-line system that combines performance and beauty.

We'll begin with the Onkyo Integra DPS-9.1 DVD player ($1,800, reviewed in February/March). The first DVD-Audio/ Video player to bear THX Ultra certification, it has a look and feel that will immediately convince you it's light years beyond those dime-store plastic models. The progressive-scan component-video output looks superb. David Ranada pointed out in his review that "the battle-scene preliminaries of Braveheart, with masses of soldiers extending into the distance, benefited from the player's extended resolution" and that "both Toy Story films actually looked better onscreen in our viewing room than they did in the movie theater." He concluded that he had "no hesitation in recommending the Integra DPS-9.1. It's capable of extraordinary picture quality worthy of the finest projection monitors."

There's also full Dolby Digital and DVD-Audio decoding and a multipin DB-25 analog multichannel output, which can greatly simplify hookup with compatible components. Interestingly, the player also has an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) output - which could be used in the future to simplify hookup even further by routing all of the audio and video signals through a single cable (the requisite adapter card isn't yet available). Of course, the DPS-9.1 also plays CDs and both CD-R and CD-RW discs.

A fine player deserves a fine receiver, which is why I recommend the B&K AVR307 ($3,500, January), which Daniel Kumin called "a no-nonsense, high-performance receiver that gives up nothing significant in A/V performance to the more expensive receivers on the market." The front panel is elegantly sparse, but it has more features than a 32-screen cineplex. Also a THX Ultra component, it has both Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, and includes THX Surround EX and DTS-ES decoding for 6.1 channels (which will make you the envy of your geekier male business associates). The seven 150-watt amplifier channels - which should pump out more than enough power to fill your swanky Central Park digs with sound - include separate outputs for two back surround speakers.

     

A neat feature lets you choose how many speakers will play in any mode (you could play stereo CDs over five speakers, for instance). There are also comprehensive equalization, crossover, and tone controls so you can fine-tune your multichannel system's sound. This receiver lets you operate the basics with just a few buttons, but there are also plenty of sophisticated controls to satisfy any audiophile urges you might have. Kumin concluded that the AVR307 "will certainly please the more technically adventurous shopper, as well as those who demand very high power and performance levels along with tremendous adaptability to different kinds of system setups and room acoustics."

Let's be honest. A high-class system has to look at least as good as it sounds - and for a beautiful lady like you, I'd recommend the beautiful MartinLogan Scenario speaker system ($5,185, September 2000), made up of the Scenario left/right front speakers, the Script surround speakers (not shown), and the Cinema center speaker. This system looks as good as it sounds, and it sounds utterly fantastic. Electrostatic speakers like these have a wonderfully clean, transparent sound that seems precisely natural.

Al Griffin affirmed that this system's "unique looks are sure to satisfy listeners who care about styling, while its hybrid dynamic/electrostatic design yields a refined sound that's a clear cut above what you'll hear from your average home theater speakers." This system's presence, imaging, and sense of spaciousness will impress even the snobby audiophiles who somehow manage to crash your parties.

But electrostatics do fall short in the bass. That's handled here by using conventional cone woofers for everything below 500 Hz. So if you like to rock out now and then, you'll want to add a powered subwoofer like the Velodyne SPL-1200 ($1,399, June). This power-packed sub has a 750-watt Class D amplifier and a nice big 12-inch driver with a multilayer resin cone and die-cast aluminum basket. As Tom Nousaine put it in his report, "When I ventured underground with The Matrix, The Jackal, and End of Days, the SPL-1200 put me in the subway, surrounding me with heavy ambient sound, shaking my floor and rocking my chair." The cabinet - a 15-inch cube - is a little large, but its black woodgrain vinyl finish is unobtrusive.

Finally, for your video needs, I recommend the Pioneer Elite Pro-510HD 53-inch widescreen rear-projection monitor ($6,300, June). The 16:9 screen is set in a cabinet whose black lacquer finish rivals anything Steinway can offer. More important, it can display stunning high-definition pictures from an external HDTV tuner and almost as stunning standard-definition pictures from the Integra DVD player's progressive-scan output.

The Pioneer's line doubler also does a terrific job of converting standard interlaced video inputs to progressive scan. As a result, the set's picture "looked excellent with every source I tried," said reviewer David Katzmaier. "In the helicopter-attack chapter of Apocalypse Now, the deep orange and blue of the sky and sea look spectacular, and the shadows inside the choppers showed fine gradations of gray." But as with any videophile monitor, you might want to ask an expert for help in tweaking the factory settings a bit. So give me a call anytime.