Innehållsförteckning för October/November 2020 från Sound & Vision

The new VPL-VW915ES SXRD projector from Sony ($20,000, available October 2020) is a native 4K-resolution (4,096 x 2,160) model that uses a Z-Phosphor laser light source capable of operating for up to 20,000 hours. The projector is specified at 2,000 ANSI lumens brightness. Dynamic Laser Control and Advanced Iris features work to deliver increased contrast, while a Dynamic HDR Enhancer provides scene-by-scene processing to optimize HDR performance. The VPL-VW915ES also features Sony’s new “X1 for projector” picture processing and Super Resolution Reality Creation to enhance lower-res images. The Invisa Home Theater Reference 7000 from GoldenEar Technology ($599 each) is designed for use as a ceiling-mounted left-, right-, or center-channel speaker, or as a side or rear surround. It can also serve as height-channel speaker in many home theater installations. A…

In my last column in the September issue (also on soundandvision.com), we considered the playlist used to tune the bespoke sound system in the Rolls Royce Phantom, a car that sells for a tidy $500,000. We discussed playlists generally and why they are so important. But is the Rolls Royce Phantom playlist a good one, and truly worthy of the marque? When a carmaker develops a new vehicle, audio engineers use reference music (as well as high-powered analytical software) to optimize sound quality. In a car, unlike home systems, the sound system is integral and unchanging in the listening space; engineers can precisely tune the system, dialing in its parameters to achieve incredible results. But that’s only possible if the playlist is up to snuff. Although it’s highly unlikely, if…

WE PREVIOUSLY reviewed Sony’s XBR-65A9G OLED, a member of the company’s Master Series Ultra HDTV family, in our October/November 2019 issue (also available at soundandvision.com). While that set is still available and remains a first-class option, the only advantages it appears to offer over the new XBR-65A8H OLED reviewed here are slightly more sophisticated sound features plus an ability to serve as a center channel in an outboard multichannel audio setup. The XBR-65A8H, meanwhile, is priced considerably lower than its Master Series predecessor at $2,800. FEATURES AND SETUP The XBR-65A8H rests on legs positioned 40 inches apart for a tabletop setup, allowing it to sit securely on any solid piece of furniture you might reasonably choose for a 65-inch diagonal (57-inch wide) television. Sony uses Google’s Android TV as its…

"Kaleidescape is the only digital platform that delivers movies with the same A/V quality as their disc counterparts." I’VE BEEN keenly aware of Kaleidescape since the company’s start when I first laid eyes on its beautiful onscreen interface at a high-end A/V store in Seattle. Since then, I’ve regularly encountered that same interface in the homes of my video calibration clients, in stores, and at trade shows. Back in Kaleidescape’s early days, when the only comparable media server was early Windows Media Center on home theater PCs, the company’s offering was not only innovative, but awe-inspiring. The home video world has changed drastically since then, and slick interfaces from the likes of Apple TV, Netflix, and others are now the norm. But Kaleidescape has also changed, with the company having…

SOUND & VISION readers will know Savant as one of two upstarts that, along with Control4, arrived in the early 2000s to challenge Crestron and AMX in the emerging home automation market. Today, some 15 years after its founding by tech entrepreneur/billionaire Bob Madonna, Savant continues to expand its Mac-based smarthome solution, and with some recent acquisitions, to broaden its market reach. Most notable is the high-profile purchase this year of GE Lighting. Lighting is an obvious element of home automation, but there are less visible benefits for Savant, starting with the strengthening of its position in lightingcontrol. More critically, GE is a respected consumer brand with strong retail distribution (including for its own “C by GE” connectedhome products), and its technical expertise runs deep. Craig Spinner, Savant’s senior VP,…

THE BIGGEST complaint I hear from clients when I’m out in the field doing video display calibration work involves problems with remote control systems. You’d think this would be because they have a stack of them to shuffle through, or they had bought some cheap off-the-rack universal remote at Walmart. On the contrary, the complaints are always about some high-end home automation system. As a happy Logitech Harmony remote control user, I’ve managed to avoid that direction. For the last few years, my remote of choice has been the Harmony Elite, which this review will focus on alongside its new cohort in the custom installation market, the Harmony Pro 2400. CHOOSE YOUR REMOTE Logitech’s Harmony line covers a large swath of remote control options with various capabilities and price points.…

AT FIRST GLANCE, Marriage Story seems like six (or so) characters in search of a Woody Allen film. But it soon settles into writerdirector Noah Baumbach’s own rhythm as two self-absorbed, narcissistic artistic personalities move toward a break-up and into the clutches of divorce lawyers. Charlie, an on-the-rise theater director, and Nicole, an actress in his New York City troupe, have shared a life that revolves around stage productions and a young son. But Nicole wants her own life—one beyond that of her not surprisingly controlling director/mate. Meanwhile, Charlie needs to be completely artistically absorbed, and to enjoy the freedom to reap the extramarital rewards of his celebrity and status. Painful, yet humorous scenes depicting each spouse’s interaction with manipulative, fear-inducing attorneys alternate with ones showing the couple’s individual sadness—along…

I previously reported in the September Track One column that CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) Expo, the largest U.S. trade show devoted to home theater and related technologies, would be going virtual for 2020. In this issue’s Wide Angle (page 16), you’ll find a preview of products scheduled to launch at CEDIA Expo Virtual 2020, and we plan to follow up with additional coverage in our December/January issue. In the meantime, you can find Sound & Vision’s complete coverage of CEDIA Expo Virtual 2020, which happened online September 15-17, at our website, soundandvision.com. Next up: all-digital CES 2021, the virtual version of the technology mega-tradeshow.…

Let’s play a quick word association game. When I say “bootleg,” you say—what? If you answered “hooch,” then let me direct you over to the land of Prohibition Aficionado for all your liquor-oriented needs. But if you said “tape traders” instead, then you’re clearly in the right place. Bootleg live recordings were always one of the holy grails for music fanatics prior to the Internet era, back when getting our hands on unauthorized releases of our favorite artists in concert was a risky, and often quite costly, endeavor. That’s why a site like nugs.net is such a godsend for all of us sonically hungry collectors. Among the nugs.net amenities are unlimited access to over 30,000 hours of live music, 15,000 ad-free shows, and 250,000 songs to create custom playlists, not…

ENTERING THE oak-paneled foyer of this Victorian manor in Toronto’s prestigious Rosedale neighborhood is like stepping back into the early 20th century. Built in 1901, the expansive estate has been meticulously restored to evoke the grandeur of the period—with a fantastic secret. Hiding behind the magnificent historical façade is a fully automated state-of-the-art smart home created by Moonshot Automation (moonshotautomation.com, formerly Custom Sound and Vision) in nearby Mississauga. “The home was acquired by our clients in 2014 and underwent an extensive renovation in an effort to modernize it to suit the family’s busy lifestyle while preserving the original feel of the residence,” explains Carmine Malatesta, Moonshot founder and president. The company was commissioned to discreetly deploy technology throughout the 10,000-square-foot estate that would provide effortless control over lighting, heating and…

The VA-LT002 beams a 100-inch image from a 7-inch distance and has a built-in 60-watt soundbar. VAVA’S VA-LT002 4K Laser DLP projector is the first product of its kind to arrive from a company that offers a range of lifestyle-type electronics such as camera/DVRs for your car’s dashboard and baby monitors. At the 2020 CES, the VA-LT002, an ultra short throw model with built-in streaming apps and a 60-watt Harman Kardon stereo audio system, was the centerpiece of the company’s suite. Paired with a 100-inch projection screen and playing 4K nature footage, I found the image it beamed absorbing. The subsequent arrival of Vava’s projector at my home for testing coincided with the start of pandemic-related stay-at-home orders. The timing couldn’t have been better. Working from home alongside bored kids…

Star Wars imitators were both inevitable and plentiful in the late 1970s. The Buster Crabbe science fiction/adventure serials of old were a strong influence on that blockbuster, and whereas Buck Rogers was destined for a television reboot, mega-producer Dino De Laurentiis had already acquired the movie rights to Flash Gordon years prior. And so the space-faring hero returned to the big screen, reimagined in a lavish international production. Merciless Emperor Ming has targeted planet Earth for destruction, but not before a bit of fun in the form of devastating natural disasters. Believing he can end the hostilities, wild-eyed scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov launches his homemade rocket to the planet Mongo to negotiate, and unwitting New York Jets quarterback Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) and companion Dale Arden are along for…

SUPERNATURAL horror film The Wretched, from sibling filmmaking duo The Pierce Brothers, follows a wayward teenage boy named Ben (John-Paul Howard) who goes to live with his divorced father over the summer and discovers a malevolent spirit has infiltrated the family living next door. The strange and violent being also seems to have an ability to wipe the memories of people it encounters, so no one will believe Ben when he sounds an alarm. This atmospheric scarer about an unknown entity possibly infecting you and your neighbors might be one of the most fortuitously apposite plots to come along in this era of the “new normal.” A Covid-19-era breakout success, The Wretched was the number one movie in the country in May 2020, having been released in drive-in theaters (yes,…

THE GRATEFUL DEAD couldn’t catch a break. Sure, they were the head-trip belles of San Francisco’s 1960s psychedelic ball, but they were unable to get their recording act together enough to cut an album that best captured their true spirit—that is, until they struck prospector’s gold with their fourth studio album, June 1970’s Workingman’s Dead. By dialing back on the overtly psychedeliccum-outré experimental modes that dominated June 1968’s Anthem of the Sun and June 1969’s Aoxomoxoa and instead zeroing in on their folk-bred songcraft for Workingman’s, the Dead had finally found their recording niche at last. Rhino has been curating the Dead’s extensive aural archives for decades, and seeing how they’re well into regularly recognizing the band’s ongoing half-century milestones, we now have a 3 CD deluxe edition for Workingman’s…

Audio Above Everything My Sound & Vision finally arrived—I sure missed your magazine! It’s one of the few I subscribe to, extending way back to the days of Stereo Review. (When Cindy and I got married, she wanted to get me a subscription to Playboy, but I told her I’d rather have Stereo Review!) As Al Griffin discussed in his September issue Track One column, Covid-19 has given me more time to do things that I previously never took time out to do. Lots of social distancing with the Harley, and I actually started buying vinyl again. I didn’t have one LP in the house before this summer, but I dusted off the turntable and started re-collecting albums I had cherished the most, ranging from Isaac Hayes to the early…

HISENSE has joined the ranks of LCD TV makers using quantum dots, a technology that enables sets to more closely approach the wider color gamut promised by Ultra HDTV. (Quantum dots generate red and green light when energized by a blue LED, with the sum total providing the backlighting that LCD TVs require.) Along with the 65-inch 65H8G reviewed here, Hisense’s H8G series also includes a 75-inch model, the largest flat-panel TV that the company offers. For larger screen sizes, the company manufactures a range of ultra short throw laser projectors. FEATURES Hisense is based in China, and the 65H8G is assembled in Mexico. The set’s design is conventional, with only a thin black edge of frame barely visible around the screen. For table installations, the 65H8G provides two pair…

The in-room measurements presented here were made using the Omnimic measurement system from Parts Express. The microphone was positioned at ear height and the speakers (and subwoofers) set up as described in the review. Measurements are for the left channel only and were 1/6th octave smoothed. The microphone was positioned for a single reading at ear-height in the listening chair. Prior experience has indicated that for my room and setup, multiple positioning averaging rarely does more than smooth out small ripples in the response curves. Specs F226BE ($7,000 PR) 6.5 in Deep Ceramic Composite aluminum cone woofer (2), 5.25 in Deep Ceramic Composite aluminum cone midrange, 1 in Beryllium dome tweeter with acoustic waveguide; 9.8 x 41.3 x 13.7 in (WxHxD); 58 lb. C426BE ($4,500) 6.5 in Deep Ceramic Composite…

I FIRST encountered the i·V 7 seven-channel amplifier at CEDIA 2019, where Legacy Audio founder and chief engineer Bill Dudleston was displaying it alongside the company’s many freestanding and on-wall speaker offerings. Although Legacy Audio is best known for those real wood-finished speakers that it designs for the high-end home and pro audio markets, the company also has an impressive portfolio of electronics, including the Powerbloc2 and Powerbloc4 Amplifiers that Sound & Vision reviewed back in 2017. With the 2- and 4-channel domains covered by the Powerbloc pair, the logical next step would be to develop more-channel options to handle the system expansion that Dolby Atmos and other immersive formats require. The i·V family of amps, which are available in configurations ranging from two to eight channels, is that next…

THE TIMELESS overclass/underclass struggle was never more memorably explored than in Spartacus, a film adapted from Howard Fast’s fact-based, heavily dramatized book. Directed by young up-and-comer Stanley Kubrick and starring old-school movie idol Kirk Douglas in the title role, it’s the sort of epic spectacle often aspired to but seldom achieved. (Its influence on Mel Gibson’s Braveheart is undeniable.) Born into slavery, later sold into the arena to fight and die, Spartacus was pushed too far and came to lead a revolt, first alongside his fellow gladiators and later liberating thousands of slaves of the Roman Republic. Humiliated, Rome dispatched a mighty army not only to defeat these troublemakers but to send a brutal message that would prevent future uprisings. Now 60 years old, the movie is compromised by a…

COMPOSER Michael Kamen had a vision. Back in April 1999, he convinced Bay Area metal overlords Metallica to team up with the San Francisco Symphony for S&M, a 2.2-hour concert wherein classical music met aggro-rock head-on. Not only that, but Kamen’s skilled orchestral re-arrangements of 20 Metallica classics also revealed how many of the band’s subversive originals were more progressively inclined than others may have previously thought. Though Kamen passed away in 2003, his spirit lingers all across S&M2, a sequel 20 years in the making performed over two nights at the Chase Center in San Francisco in September 2019. Two ace musical directors/conductors—the deeply respected Michael Tilson Thomas and the quite animated Edwin Outwater—trade off baton duties during the 2.5-hour show, each more than up to the task of…