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A/V Cabs & Extras From Sanus, BDI & Others Can The TC-65AX900U UHDTV Live Up To Plasma’s Legacy?

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JUNE 2015 VOLUME 80 NO.5

•
Where Technology Becomes Entertainment ™ soundandvision.com JUNE 2015
HEAVY METAL: Paradigm’s Prestige Speakers Use High-Tech Drivers For High-End Sound
ULTRA HDTVS

CHOCK-FULL &
• RECEIVERS • SPEAKERS • AMPLIFIERS • PROCESSORS • BLU-RAY PLAYERS

FUTURE-PROOFED
FROM ATMOS TO AURO, MARANTZ’S NEW
AV8802 SURROUND PROCESSOR
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soundandvision.com

THE NILES AURIEL MRC-6430 TAKES THE CURVE

MULTIROOM AUDIO CONTROL TO ANOTHER LEVEL CONTROVERSY
WHAT GOOD IS
A CURVED SCREEN,
AND ARE THEY REALLY
HERE TO STAY?
www.definitivetech.com
DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY W STUDIO

SPEAKER OF THE YEAR

CES 2015

The Definitive Technology W Studio Wireless Soundbar was named

Speaker of the Year at this year's CES.

And while we're honored with the accolade, we can't say we're
surprised. We created the Definitive Wireless collection to redefine
what multi-room wireless music systems should sound like.

Because we understand you want flawless audio quality no matter

what room of the house you're in.

WHAT OBSESSION SOUNDS LIKE

JUNE 2015 Volume 80 No. 5

ON THE COVER Chock-Full and Future-Proofed: Marantz LOG ON TO soundandvision.com and sign up to receive our
AV8802 surround processor. Additional gear from Dynaudio, ON THE new, free eNewsletter for first-rate, up-to-the-minute reporting
Niles, Panasonic, Paradigm, Samsung, and Sanus. WEB of everything that’s hot in the world of home theater.

64 34

30 State of the Arc

COLUMNS FEATURES
Rob Sabin Track One: State of the Arc Why TV screens are curved.
Upgradeitis 8 by Bob Ankosko 30
John Sciacca The Connected Life: Luxury Housing Spruce up your home
Apple Watch(es) Home Automation 19 theater with these unique upgrades. 34
Al Griffin Ask S&V:
All About Atmos—and Auro-3D 21 Escapes The Sky’s the Limit.
64
Ken C. Pohlmann Signals:
Saving Hi-Res Audio 22 62
Michael Antonoff Apptitude:
VR for the Rest of Us 24
 THE DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY
IRELESS COLLECTION

Brings the latest music Audiophile–grade Audiophile–grade Sound Bar System Transforms existing speakers
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The Definitive Technology Wireless Collection brings our award-winning, high-performance sound
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WHAT OBSESSION SOUNDS LIKE

Available at:

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 18 42

DEPARTMENTS REPORTS
Letters Help for lightning strikes, and is
your calibrator color blind? 12 TEST REPORTS P38-65
Marantz AV8802 Surround Processor
Perfect Focus
New gear, top news, how to, and more. 16 Hitting new heights.
by David Vaughn 38
New Gear A look at the hottest new A/V
gear and gadgets. 28 Dynaudio Xeo6 Loudspeaker
Rage against the machine.
42
by Mark Fleischmann
Entertainment Gone Girl, Fury, The
Theory of Everything, and more. 66 Panasonic TC-65AX900U LCD Ultra
HDTV Picture near-perfect.
by Rob Sabin 46
Premiere Design LG 65EG9600 4K OLED
UHDTV 74 Phase Tech nology Teatro TSB3.0
Soundbar Three in one.
by Mark Fleischmann 52
Paradigm Prestige 15B Speaker
System Paradigm’s silver surfers.
by Mark Flesichmann 54
38 Niles Auriel MRC-6430 Multiroom
Audio Controller Old school, new tricks?
by John Sciacca 58
Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD Blu-ray Player

58 Format warrior.
by Al Griffin 62
52
66
46

soundandvision.com ON THE
WEB
Visit The “How We Test” link on our Website for a
detailed explanation of our testing regimen and a list of
our reference gear. soundandvision.com
 oldenEar’s
3D Array Soundbar ®
is “Absolutely
Unbelievable”
— Darryl Wilkinson, Home Theater Magazine
'$UUD\ )) Huntington, NY, politely complaining about the speed with
“Most exciting soundbar demo I heard”
— Brent Butterworth, Sound Vision Magazine
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TrackOne
June 2015
UPGRADEITIS
A Reader Asks, Fairly, “Is It Worth It?”
I received an e-mail recently from reader Francesco Tenti in
which A/V technology seems to be progressing.
“Back in the old days, when you purchased a good audio
system, you were set for years to enjoy high-quality music,” he
wrote. “You were not attacked by new technology and pushed
to update your equipment every other day. With the digital
revolution, it seems that whatever is new today is kind of
outdated the minute you take your new gear home.”
He went on to say, “We went from 5.1-channel surround
BY ROB SABIN, systems to 7.1, 7.2, 9.2, 11.2, and now Dolby Atmos systems,
EDITOR for which you need new electronics and speakers. Traditional
HDTVs are becoming obsolete; the new 4K is here, but there
are no products to view through it, so people will have to wait for new programming,
buy new disc players, and so on. Is it really worth it? Is it really worth it to have a new
technology where the human eye cannot see the difference? The list of new and evolving
technology is endless, but does it really provide more visual and listening pleasure, or is
it just self-serving?”
Lest you think Francesco comes at this as a reticent Scrooge unwilling to part with a
few shekels to update his ’70s-era gear, he went on to describe a modern system any of us
would be proud of, including a Cambridge Audio A/V receiver, GoldenEar speakers mated
with an SVS sub, an Oppo Blu-ray player, and a 50-inch Panasonic plasma TV. But having
invested in that, I can perhaps understand his frustration and guess it might strike a chord
among other readers.
It’s a fair question. We at Sound & Vision plead guilty to
There will always
planting those seeds of upgradeitis, though we don’t
automatically get behind every new thing the industry
be something new
shoves down our throats. Until Atmos came along with its around the corner.
discrete, object-based height channels, we told readers not to
5LEERQ7ZHHWHU+9)5 %DVV0LGUDQJH'ULYHU
“Awesome just got redefined”
— Darryl Wilkinson, Home Theater Magazine
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www.goldenear.com
Follow us on:
facebook.com/goldenear
& twitter.com/goldeneartech
bother with 9.1-channel and 11.1-channel systems; and until Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD
Master Audio came along with discrete 7.1-channel soundtracks, we said pretty much the
same thing about 7.1- and 6.1-channel systems. We’ve not been boosters of curved TVs (see
our report on page 30), nor fans of the poor-quality 3D playback that has plagued that
technology since its introduction.
But it’s true that the advances seem to have accelerated in recent years, and we’ve
come to accept that there will always be something new around the corner, often just after
you’ve updated your system. So, is it worth it? The answer is always “sometimes,” but more
often than not lately, it’s been “yes.” It’s worth it to have the experience I just had testing
Panasonic’s top-of-the-line, 65-inch 4K television which, from 7 feet away, blew my socks
off with its picture quality on a native 4K download of Men in Black 3 (see review page 46).
It’s worth it to actually remodel your living room to accommodate Atmos ceiling speakers,
as our own David Vaughn did, and to hear that bird in the Atmos “Amaze” trailer flap fully
around your room above your head and have everyone in the family flip out at how cool it
is. (His two-part upgrade diary, “Atmos Makeover: A Space Odyssey,” can be found at
soundandvision.com.) It is worth it to strap on a decent pair of headphones, plug them into
a standalone asynchronous USB DAC, and hear for the first time what’s really in a well-
mastered hi-res audio file.
Will there be other things coming up behind these technologies? No doubt. Will they be
worth it? We don’t know yet. But for now, anyway, we’ve got plenty enough
upgrades to keep us busy.
Customer Service And Subscriptions LOG ON TO soundandvision.com
soundandvision@emailcustomerservice.com, call (800) ON THE and sign up for our free monthly
264-9872 (international calls: 386-447-6383), or write to: P.O. WEB eNewsleer. You’ll get exclusive tips,
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 oldenEar’s New “World Beating Triton Five”
“They absolutely rock the speaker world’s foundation to the core … delivering the
kind of musical bliss some pay upwards of $10,000 for” – Caleb Denison, Digital Trends
Dual 6 High-Definition
Cast Basket Bass/Midrange
Drivers in a D’Appolito Array
High-Velocity Folded
Ribbon Tweeter (HVFR)
Linear-Phase Balanced
Crossover Network
Angled Front Baffle to
Precisely Align and Focus
the Driver Array to Ear Level
Frequency Dependent
Damping Bass Loading
Non-Parallel Front and Rear Baffles
and Side Cabinet Walls to Better
Control Internal Standing Waves
Four Inertially Balanced 8
Planar Infrasonic Radiators;
Two on Each Side of Cabinet
Accelerometer Optimized
Non-Resonant Cabinet
Triton Five Tower
$999 ea.
– Mark Fleischmann, Sound & Vision
“ Showstoppers … they sounded obscenely good”
– Jerry Del Colliano, HomeTheaterReview
In keeping with GoldenEar’s tradition, the Five’s auspicious debut at the
2015 CES Show had a jaw dropping effect on the world’s audio press.
Sound&Vision’s Rob Sabin wrote that the Fives were, “spectacularly open and
transparent with wide deep sound staging” and “nearly brought me to tears
thanks to the tremendous detail the Fives rendered on a Buddy Holly recording”.
Stereophile’s Herb Reichert wrote, “These loudspeakers disappeared better
than any I have ever heard” and then added, “While the music was playing I
swear I could see nymphs and goddesses dancing around the soundstage”.
Normally outspoken writers like Sound&Vision’s Darryl Wilkinson said, “I
am running out of superlatives”, and HD Living’s Dennis Burger raved, “Quite
frankly stupefying … bowled away doesn’t scratch the surface”.
“ The value for the money here is clear off the charts”
– Chris Martens, HiFi+
GoldenEar’s goal is to deliver to you absolutely the best sound possible for
the money. Superbly lifelike three-dimensional imaging, ultra high resolution,
tremendous dynamic range, extraordinary deep bass response, silky smooth
high frequency extension along with you-are-there clarity and presence are
all a result of GoldenEar’s most advanced components and technologies.
Best of all, the Fives will deliver exceptional performance with moderately
priced receivers, while also allowing you to appreciate the subtle qualities
of the world’s finest audio components. And, just as importantly, they deliver
state-of-the-art sound quality with two channel music as well as multi-channel
home theater, including Dolby’s new Atmos technology, when paired with our
perfectly matched center channel, surrounds, height speakers and subs.
“ Best Sound for the Money at CES 2015”
– Robert Harley and Neil Gader, The Absolute Sound
The Triton Five is already adding illustrious new awards to GoldenEar’s
impressive collection. Although many focus on value for the money, some
writers, like Sound Advice’s Don Lindich, go further, giving them “Best Sound
at the CES Show” and writing, “this is a cost-no-object preference for me”.
HD Guru’s Gary Merson gave them “Top Pick Speaker at CES” and wrote,
“They blew us away … breaks new ground, outperforming competitors costing
thousands more”. SoundStage’s Doug Schneider awarded a “Best System”
honor. You owe it to yourself to visit your nearest GoldenEar dealer today!
www.goldenear.com
PO Box 141, Stevenson, MD 21153 (410) 998-9134
Like us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter!
facebook.com/goldenear twitter.com/goldeneartech
 oldenEar’s
ForceField Subs:
“Near perfect...
a tour de force”
— Andrew Robinson, HomeTheaterReview.com
)) Web Monkey: Jon Iverson
)) Contributing Photographer: Jorge Nunez
))
“Thunderous...Room-Shaking”
— Al Griffin, Sound Vision Magazine
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June 2015 Volume 80/Number 5
Editor-in-Chief: Rob Sabin
Executive Editor: Claire Crowley
Managing Editor: Courtney McKinnon
Senior Editor, Technical Editor, Video: Thomas J. Norton
Audio Editor: Mark Fleischmann
Technical Editor, Audio: Mark J. Peterson
Editors-at-Large: Bob Ankosko, Darryl Wilkinson
Contributing Technical Editors: Kris Deering, Michael Fremer, Barb Gonzalez,
Al Griffin, Steve Guenberg, Michael P. Hamilton, Daniel Kumin, Fred Manteghian,
Geoffrey Morrison, John Sciacca, Michael Trei, David Vaughn
Contributors: Michael Antonoff, Anthony Chiarella,
Lauren Dragan, Corey Gunnestad, Fred Kaplan,
Josef Krebs, Ken C. Pohlmann, Leslie Shapiro, Kim Wilson
Music Editor: Mike Meler
Movies Editor: Chris Chiarella
Logistics Manager: John Higgins
Technical Consultant: Joel Silver, Imaging Science Foundation
Art Director: Heather Dickson
Copy Editor: Ken Richardson
MANUFACTURING & PRODUCTION OPERATIONS
VP, Manufacturing & Ad Operations: Greg Parnell
Senior Director, Ad Operations: Pauline Atwood
Advertising Coordinator: Joseph Robinston Vinoj
$UFKLYLVWThomas Voehringer
General Manager: Keith Pray, NHLWKSUD\#VRUFFRP
Associate General Manager: Ed DiBenedeo,HGGLEHQHGHWWR#VRUFFRP
National Retailers, Classifieds: Laura LoVecchio,/R9HFFKLR$VVRFLDWHV
ODXUDBORYHFFKLR#VEFJOREDOQHW
Sales Coordinator: Rosemarie Torcivia, URVHPDULHWRUFLYLD#VRUFFRP
Marketing Director: Shawn Higgins
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ENTERTAINMENT GROUP MANAGEMENT
ORQJWKURZKLJKJDXVVPDJQHWVWUXFWXUHGULYHUV 3URGXFWLRQ'LUHFWRU Kasey Kelley
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“Extraordinary bass prowess...
I’ve never heard a sub this small
go that deep”
— Steve Guttenberg, The Audiophiliac
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(GLWRULDO'LUHFWRU'LJLWDO Chris Mauro
)LQDQFH'LUHFWRU Adam Miner
DIGITAL GROUP
'LJLWDO'LUHFWRU(QJLQHHULQJ Jeff Kimmel
6HQLRU3URGXFW0DQDJHU Rishi Kumar
6HQLRU3URGXFW0DQDJHU Marc Bartell &UHDWLYH'LUHFWRU Peter Tracy
TEN: THE ENTHUSIAST NETWORK, LLC
Chairman: Peter Englehart VP, Sales Operations: Ma Boice
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President, Automotive: Sco Bailey
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EVP, Chief Creative Officer: Alan Alpanian EVP, Aermarket Automotive: Doug Evans
EVP, Sports & Entertainment: Norb Garre SVP, Content Strategy, Automotive: David Freiburger
EVP, Chief Content Officer: Angus MacKenzie SVP, Digital, Sports & Entertainment: Greg Morrow
EVP, Operations: Kevin Mullan VP, Digital Monetization: Elisabeth Murray
SVP, Enterprises: Tyler Schulze SVP, Marketing: Ryan Payne
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Back Issues: To order back issues, visit www.circsource.com/store/storeBackIssues.html.
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6LOYHUEDFNμDQG$QGUHZ5RELQVRQZDUQV Subscription Customer Service:(PDLOsoundandvision@emailcustomerservice.com,
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www.goldenear.com
Follow us on: &23<5,*+7%<7(17+((17+86,$671(7:25.
facebook.com/goldenear 0$*$=,1(6//&$//5,*+765(6(59('35,17(',17+(86$
& twitter.com/goldeneartech
 oldenEar has Engineered Our New Triton One
to Perform Like a $20,000+ Super Speaker!
“Revelatory … cosmically orgasmic … astounding performance-vs-price …
these speakers absolutely embalm the competition” – Darryl Wilkinson, Sound & Vision
Two 5.25˝ High-Definition Cast-
Basket Bass/Midrange Drivers
w/ Multi-Vaned Phase Plugs
Optimized Dual-Chamber
Upper-Bass/Midrange Enclosure
with Angled Rear Walls
High-Velocity Folded Ribbon
Tweeter (HVFR) w/ Zobel Network
Open-Cell Polyurethane
Foam Damping Pads and
Complex Internal Bracing
Three 5˝ x 9˝ Quadratic Sub-Bass
Drivers in Semi-Line-Source Array
Hybrid Phase-Perfect
Electronic/Passive Low
Frequency Crossover
Linear-Phase Fully Balanced
Crossover Network
Four Inertially-Balanced Quadratic
Planar Infrasonic Radiators:
Two On Each Side of Cabinet
1600-Watt 56-Bit DSP-Controlled
Class D Digital Amplifier
Accelerometer-Optimized
Non-Resonant Cabinet
w/ Non-Parallel Walls
Triton One Tower
$2499 ea.
“ Triton One shames some speakers costing ten times
as much … it is an absolute marvel”
– Caleb Denison, Digital Trends
“ Best High-End Value at CES 2014 … Sandy has
created a speaker that defies its price point”
– John Sciacca, Residential Systems
“ Best of CES 2014 … stunning realism … the sound
was truly grand and majestic” – Roger Kanno, SoundStage
“ Best Sound for the Money at CES 2014”
– Jonathan Valin, Kirk Midskog and Neil Gader, The Absolute Sound
Introducing Triton One, an evolutionary speaker that builds upon advanced
technologies that have made Tritons mega-hits around the world. Stereophile
called them, “A Giant Killer Speaker” and Robert Deutsch further added, “it’s
not unreasonable to compare the sound of the $4998 Triton One with speakers
costing tens of thousands of dollars more”. This new top-of-the-line flagship was
engineered to deliver even better dynamics and bass than the extraordinary
Triton Two, along with further refinement of all aspects of sonic performance.
How well have we succeeded? In the words of HD Living’s Dennis Burger, the
Triton One delivers, “… the sort of upper-echelon performance that normally
only comes from speakers whose price tags rival a good luxury automobile”.
Triton One “creates visceral, tangible waves of pure
audio bliss” – Dennis Burger, HD Living
Great sound is what it is all about and the Triton Ones deliver, as The Absolute
Sound’s Anthony Cordesman wrote “they provide sustained musical pleasure
and exceptional realism … extraordinary sound quality and value … one of the
best buys in speakers … highly recommended”. The Ones were specifically
engineered to excel with all types of music as well as movies. Best of all, they
offer previously unheard of value, as Brent Butterworth wrote in Sound & Vision,
“I heard a few people saying the Triton One sounded like some $20,000-and-
up high-end towers, but I disagree: I think they sounded better than most of
them”. Hi Fi+’s Chris Martens raved the Ones are, “jaw-droppingly good …
one of the greatest high-end bargains of all time with a dazzling array of sonic
characteristics”. And Darryl Wilkinson summed them up best, “A Masterpiece
… GoldenEar has fully ushered in the Golden Age of the Loudspeaker”. Hear
them for yourself and discover what all the excitement is about.
www.goldenear.com
PO Box 141, Stevenson, MD 21153 (410) 998-9134
Like us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter!
facebook.com/goldenear twitter.com/goldeneartech
?djheZkY_d]j^[D[m

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“ GoldenEar’s new Triton Seven is downright unbelievable …
gets my vote for the high-end audio bargain of CES 2013 …”
– Chris Martens, HiFi+

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 Those Lirpa Lovers

Letters We welcome
questions and
comments

E-mail them to HTLetters@sorc.com. Please note: Questions about the features and functions of a
particular product are best directed to the manufacturer. Questions about what product you should buy are
best directed to a dealer who knows all the details of your system, your preferences, and your personal habits.
Based on Geoffrey Morrison’s April 2015
review of the Lirpa MZ1-949r soundbar, I
purchased one. The review failed to mention
that the electronics require a dedicated 30-amp,
120-volt feed. This info can be found in fine
print on page 944 of the user’s manual. Also, no
mention was made as to the best placement for
this soundbar. I placed mine as pictured in your
All submissions are considered the exclusive property of Sound & Vision magazine and TEN: The Enthusiast
April issue, directly in front of my 45-inch TV.
Network. We reserve the right to edit letters for brevity. Due to the volume of mail that we receive, we regret Because most of the TV picture was blocked
that we cannot respond to every letter. (and, as you mentioned, had a red tint), I
turned it off and discovered
those inky blacks you always
talk about.
F. Richard Firth
Sarasota, FL 

Seriously How can a soundbar tint an image red? Oh,

yes, it’s from Lirpa Labs! That explains

INTO AUDIO
everything!
Steve Hanson
Austin TX

It’s good to be reading Geoffrey Morrison again

since 1974 (“The Greatest Soundbar Ever,” April). Nothing
says perfection like a bunch of $8 plastic
speakers designed 40 years ago. I’m immedi-
ately getting one for my 36-inch Toshiba CRT.
I’m not one to be fooled by this 16x9 LED
craze, and when it’s over, I’ll be the one
laughing.
Chris Gregory
The perfect Shipped Supported Roanoke, VA

gear. free. forever. I was elated when I saw the article on the Lirpa
Labs MZ1-949r soundbar. I was fortunate
enough to find the Lirpa self-propelled phono
cartridge at a yard sale about 10 years ago. The
motor was still functioning, but there were a
couple of problems with its operation. My wife
suggested we rotate the tires and that solved the
See our full product selection or sign up problem. I guess with it going round and round
for our email newsletter and catalog at in the same direction, it wore down the ones on
the inside. We eventually had to get replace-
crutchfield.com/svs ment tires from Monster for $50 each, and it’s
1-800-319-8843 working perfectly. I did find out later, though,
that I could have gotten them from Monoprice
for $2 for the set, with free shipping. I missed
out and never was able to find the Lirpa Labs
steam-powered turntable but will keep
checking eBay.
Thanks so much for the fine journalism, and
I’m looking forward to the next Lirpa
invention.
Jim Wilson
Via e-mail

We received a number of e-mails from longtime

readers about our review of Dr. Lirpa’s latest
advance, mostly positive, a couple not-so,
including one from a clearly very serious reader
in Columbus, Ohio, who thought Lirpa product
reviews represent a waste of otherwise good space
in our magazine, and a similar note from our
general manager after I informed him that the
good doctor never buys advertising (with
products like his, he doesn’t need to). But we hear
from Lirpa so infrequently—barely once a year,
in fact—and his inventions and claims are
12 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
 LETTERS
typically so outlandish that we can’t resist dipping
into the other side of A/V madness. Long live
Loof.—RS
ZZZZZAP!
I’m a longtime Stereo Review/Sound & Vision
subscriber, and I don’t believe I have seen my
particular issue discussed. I have spent years
upgrading my home theater and finally got to
where I wanted to be—55-inch Panasonic
plasma, Yamaha A/V receiver, and an Oppo
Blu-ray player—only to have it all destroyed in
an instant by a bolt of lightning that struck my
home. Standard surge suppressors are of no use
when it comes to lightning. Was there anything I
could have done to protect my gear?
Brian Newell
Via e-mail
CORRECTIONS
In our April New Gear department, pricing for the
Triad Inroom Bronze LR-H Dolby Atmos Speaker
should have been listed as $1,000 each, not
$1,000 per pair.
The editor’s response to a letter in the April issue
about factory image settings for TVs (“Why Yes,
They Should”) cited Joel Silver (a technical
consultant to Sound & Vision) as founder of the
Imaging Science Foundation. In fact, he should
have cited Silver as a co-founder along with Joe
Kane, who first championed consumer awareness
of image quality and remains among the industry’s
most respected experts.
This is a good subject that we can look into, but
for now, I’m going to throw this out to our readers
and experts more knowledgeable than I. Does
anyone have experience where a conventional
surge protector proved to be the critical fuse
between your gear and a significant lightning
event? Are there installers and engineers among
you who understand the nature of how these
strikes snake into our equipment and have
methods to mitigate the concern? Send us your
story, and we’ll share.—RS
That Stupid Dress
I am nauseated from hearing opinions on the
viral white/gold versus black/blue dress
controversy. But at least there has been a
scientific explanation that credits the physiology
of each individual’s eyes with the different
perception of color.
This brings us to the argument of the validity
of TV picture calibration. Based upon the
scientific community agreement on this current
burning sociological issue, it would lead to the
conclusion that any calibration process would be
flawed by the color perception of the person
performing the technical process. And different
technicians adjusting the same set would possibly
produce different setting levels according to that
individual’s unique color perception.
Does this not diminish the value of profes-
sional or even novice color adjustments? Isn’t it
valid to simply adjust for the most pleasing
balance for the primary viewer?
Bruce Domenella
Bradenton, FL
If you do your research on the dress controversy
(wired.com ran one of the better scientific
explanations I’ve seen), you’ll discover that this
ordinary image was actually kind of extraordi-
nary. This photo, by the nature of its subject
matter (which was in fact a blue and black dress)
and the sunlit background behind it, sat on the
edge of a particular boundary of human vision
wherein we are usually able to easily eliminate the
effects of background color on the foreground
subject. That photo, it turns out, just messed with
our eyes—or our heads, depending on your
perspective. Our collective perception of it hardly
qualifies as a reason to abandon display
calibration.
That said, there are indeed some real and
consistent variations in our visual perception of
color among those suffering from color blindness,
a condition that is almost strictly found among
men. I reached out to ISF’s Joel Silver on this, who
commented that “with 7 to 10 percent of the male
population being afflicted” by some level of color
blindness, “this is one of many reasons we use
meters instead of our eyes. This is also one reason
that novice calibrations are often worse than the
right factory calibration.”
If you’d like to test your own eyes for color
blindness, one resource is the Website of
Enchroma, a company that makes color-boosting
glasses for the color blind. Visit enchroma.com
and click on the link for “Color Blindness Test.”
And in case you’re wondering, yes, I took the test
and found out I have normal color vision.
Whew!—RS

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Perfect focus
NEW GEAR, TOP NEWS, HOW TO, AND MORE...
Edited by Claire Crowley
Taking TV to
the Next Level
Introducing the Ultra High Definition Alliance
When we first heard about the Ultra
High Definition Alliance, an industry
coalition that has set its sights on
establishing new standards that
raise the bar on video quality, we
were eager to learn more, especially
after perusing the “who’s who” list of
member companies: DirecTV, Dolby,
LG, Netflix, Panasonic, Samsung,
Sharp, Sony, Technicolor, Walt
Disney Studios, Twentieth Century
Fox, and Warner Bros. We caught
up with Vince Pizzica, senior execu-
tive vice president of strategy at
Technicolor, to find out what makes
the UHD Alliance tick.
S&V: How and why was the UHD
Alliance formed, and what is its
mission?
VP: The UHD Alliance is a collection
of companies from across the
creation, distribution, and display
ecosystem that have aligned to
agree on interoperable open
standards and best practices for
the latest innovations in video
technology, with the ultimate goal
• Vince Pizzica
16 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
of optimizing consumer experi-
ences. The innovations under
consideration include 4K resolution,
high dynamic range (HDR) video,
and wide-color gamut.
S&V: What are the Alliance’s goals?
VP: The goal is to define what a
higher-quality UHD experience
should mean for consumers and to
establish and communicate quality
standards for new video technolo-
gies that will allow industry players to
align and seamlessly integrate their
offerings. Color depth, luminance,
and color space are all within remit of
the Alliance. It’s necessary for the
Alliance to address fundamental
issues for HDR like, “how bright
should bright be?” and for color
gamut, “how wide should the color
space be?” and then determine how
we explain these benefits to
consumers.
S&V: How will the Alliance
accomplish these goals, and what is
the timetable?
VP: The UHD Alliance is committed
to establishing an open, collabora-
tive framework. What we want
to avoid is new innovations in
consumer technologies that are not
compatible with other devices or
specific pieces of content that are
only available on certain devices.
A single, open specification will
eliminate the “chicken and egg”
scenario of content and hardware
availability.
S&V: The press release announc-
ing the Alliance talks about a
“technology road map.” Can you
elaborate?
VP: Everyone in the Alliance is in
agreement that we need to agree on
a standard and to do so with relative
speed. One of our objectives is to
allow innovation to bloom on top
of those specifications, so as the
technologies continue to evolve, we
anticipate companies will strive for
even higher levels of excellence.
The Alliance is currently working to
establish specifications and best
practices for so-far-undefined home
entertainment features. Specifica-
tions up for discussion are con-
fidential until the Alliance makes a
specific announcement.
S&V: Which advance will benefit
consumers most?
VP: While the extra resolution of
UHD provides enhanced quality,
especially on larger displays, we’re
most excited by higher dynamic
range video, which will provide a
radical increase in video quality. HDR
is not just increasing brightness.
At Technicolor, we believe that
enhancing dark shadow images is
equally important. HDR technology
allows us to both raise the ceiling
and drop the floor, to the point where
dark blacks and gray gradients
reveal incredible detail that the
consumer has never before been
able to see. Expanding the dynamic
range also has a side benefit of
increasing the perception of
saturation of any particular color, so
even without expanding the color
gamut, HDR can create richer colors
in addition to higher contrast.
There’s a huge benefit to
widening the color gamut beyond
the current Rec. 709 specification
(which is 25 years old this year). But
it’s hard to explain to a consumer
because they don’t know what
they’ve been missing. The exact red
of a London phone booth or green of
a freeway sign in Los Angeles are
both examples of colors that do
not currently exist in the consumer
display color space. That means that
whenever they are represented on
TVs, you are actually not seeing
them as they are in real life
S&V: When can we expect to see
HDR content from Hollywood?
VP: We’re expecting HDR titles,
graded to an interoperable standard,
to be available later this year.
S&V: Any closing observations?
VP: We expect the adoption of HDR
displays to be very rapid once
consumers can experience those
displays at retail. TVs next to an HDR
display will look strangely washed
out, pale, and dull in comparison.
—Bob Ankosko
An extended version of this interview
appears on soundandvision.com.
This Just In...
By Mark Fleischmann
Live DSD Audio
Streaming
is getting a tryout in April from
Sony, Korg, Internet Initiative
Japan, and Saidera Paradiso.
The streams feature the Berlin
Philharmonic in two concerts at
the Spring Festival in Tokyo...
Sling TV
launched following its
introduction at January’s
Consumer Electronics Show.
The app is available on iOS,
Android, PC, Mac, Roku, and
Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV
stick, with LG and Samsung
smart TVs to come...
Six New Ultra HD
Services
will make their debuts in
2015, according to research
by Fairmile West, many of
them using efficient HEVC
compression. But content
scarcity and production
problems are going to be
hurdles...
Two “Proof of
Concept” UHD
broadcasts hit Time Warner
Cable’s closed-circuit
SportsNet, including an NBA
season game and a high
school football champion-
ship. Cameras and
everything else in the signal
path were UHD capable...
Panel Prices
will have a strong impact on
profitability of TV makers this
year, says DisplaySearch.
The panel module accounts
for 70 to 80 percent of TV
pricing, and many
value-added features are
embedded in it...
Traditional TV
Viewing Plummeted
12 percent in 2014 over the
previous year, says a
Nomura study, with Netflix, et
al. luring away eyeballs in the
U.S. In the U.K., Ofcom
measured a smaller 4
percent drop...
Xbox One Is Getting
DTS-HD
surround for Starz, Encore,
and Movieplex subscribers,
enhancing more than 2,000
movies, TV episodes, and
original programs. The
streaming version of
DTS-HD is also used by
CinemaNow and Ultraflix
Streaming Network...
HBO’s Streaming
Service
would attract 17 percent of
U.S. broadband households,
says research from Parks
Associates. Of those
potential subscribers, 91
percent now get pay-TV, but
half would cancel it after
getting HBO streaming...
Dish Network’s
AutoHop,
the ad-skipping feature in its
Hopper DVR, got thumbs up
in federal district court, along
with the PrimeTime Anytime
and Slingbox technologies.
However, while Dish claimed
victory over the networks
litigating against it, the judge
did agree with Fox that
transfer of recordings, and
copying to watermark
commercials for ad
skipping, violated the
retransmission agreement...
Comcast Is Busy as a
Bee
rolling out IP-only video
gateways, including the Xi3,
arriving early this year, and
the Xi4, just approved by the
FCC. The company is also
working on a new
generation of the XG1
HD-DVR gateway and is
mulling over smaller IP
devices that consume less
power...
NBC Universo,
the new network for Latinos,
made its debut with a
Spanish-language version of
Super Bowl XLIX. DirecTV is
the first operator to carry it,
though presumably others
will follow...
CBSN, the 24-Hour
News Channel
just launched by you-know-
who, has come to iOS
devices, and Android
support is imminent. It is
already available on
browsers, Roku, Amazon
Fire TV, and Windows Phone
8.1...
The FCC Slammed
Viacom
and ESPN with $1.4 million in
fines for transmitting
Emergency Alert System
tones to promote Olympus
Has Fallen, a movie about a
terror attack on Washington.
“Danger to public safety,”
declared the commission...
Sony and Spotify
have agreed to bring the
audio streaming giant to 64
million PlayStation users.
Sony’s Video Unlimited and
Music Unlimited services will
be renamed PlayStation
Video and PlayStation Music
as they move to the
PlayStation Network...
URC Is Combining
its two control systems, Total
Control and ccGEN2,
converging their software to
ease purchasing, training,
programming, and
marketing. The company’s
Sonos interface became
available as a free app
upgrade in January...
Sears’ Connected
Solutions
shops are popping up at
200 Sears and 300 Kmart
stores. More than 100
featured products will
include garage door
openers, locks, monitors,
motion sensors, thermo-
stats, and wearables...
Expanded Hotel TV
Options
are being tested by Marriott
with streaming services
such as Netflix, Hulu, and
Pandora. Cost undeter-
mined...
The Parents Televi-
sion Council
is petitioning cable
operators to remove We TV
from their bundles, citing the
reality show Sex Box. This is
the first time PTC has urged
the removal of an entire
channel...
National TV Safety
Day
delivers the disturbing
message that a kid goes to
the emergency room every
45 minutes due to TVs that
tip over or are poorly
secured. So dump that
heavy CRT set, make sure
your flat panel is secured
with a safety-certified mount,
and get more information at
safekids.org/tv...
soundandvision.com 17
Hands
ClearView Clio Bluetooth Speaker
By Bob Ankosko
Crystal Clear
PRICE $349
THEY CALL CLIO THE FIRST
invisible speaker. And even though
it’s not really invisible, when you put
this unique specimen on a kitchen
counter, end table, or fireplace
mantel, it’s pretty darn hard to spot
with its low-profile base and acrylic
glass “windshield” that disappears
into the room.
The flexible and slightly curved
windshield (my term, not theirs) is
actually a dipole speaker that
radiates sound to the front and back
when excited by a couple of small
piezoelectric actuators hidden in the
base—one for the left channel, one
for the right channel. High-frequency
sound generated by the acrylic
panel is supplemented by a 2-inch
“woofer” that fires down from the
bottom of Clio’s base; rubber feet lift
the base just enough for the speaker
and a tiny port to breathe.
Clio is super simple to set up and
use. Decide where you want to put it,
run the supplied power cord to a
nearby AC outlet, and either plug in
an iPod or other audio source or pair
it with your Bluetooth device of
choice. (Someday we’ll be able to
dispense with the power cord for truly
wireless sound—it’s coming, don’t
worry—but for now, we’ll just have to
tolerate those unsightly wires.)
Controls are minimal like the Clio
itself: Four buttons on the right side
of the base for volume up/down,
mute, and Bluetooth pairing. An LED
AT A GLANCE
Plus
Q Blends into any décor
Q A cinch to setup
Q Clear, clean sound with
vocal and acoustic music
Minus
Q Volume and bass are
limited
Q Sound is confined
Q Pricey
on the front indicates status (white
for standby, red when using the
lone minijack input, and blue for
Bluetooth). The speaker is available
with a Charcoal, Silver, or Dark
Bronze base.
Here, There, Everywhere
Setting up my Samsung Galaxy S5
and iPad for streaming was quick
and easy. Press and hold the
Bluetooth button to put Clio in
pairing mode, select “Clio” from the
list of Bluetooth devices on the
phone or tablet you want to use, and
start streaming. It’s that simple. If you
plan to use more than one Bluetooth
source, Clio automatically connects
to the most recently used device, or
you can select Clio on the device you
want to use.
I spent several hours setting up
Clio in different rooms around the
house, including an acoustically live
kitchen and living room, a carpeted
family room, a small guest room, and
a decent-sized bedroom.
I listened to a broad selection of
music on Pandora via my iPad, and
the sound was generally clean and
clear no matter where I set up the
speaker, but it can’t play very loud
and bass output is limited, neither
of which is surprising given Clio’s
diminutive size and light weight (just
under 2 pounds). Moving Clio closer
to the wall bolsters the bass but at
the expense of clarity; vocals, in
particular, can sound cupped if you
move the speaker too close to the
wall (remember, it radiates sound in
both directions).
ClearView describes Clio as a
stereo speaker capable of delivering
“panoramic room-filling sound,” but
that’s quite a stretch. Clio can fill a
small room with sound, but it’s not
terribly full-bodied, and it’s definitely
not panoramic. In an e-mail
exchange I had with a company
executive, he admitted that, like
many compact all-in-one systems,
“separation is not great” and said
they chose to exclude spatial
processing because they didn’t want
to degrade the sound. ClearView is
planning to offer an accessory cable
for those who want to use two Clios
as a stereo pair.
All that aside, Clio is fine for
background music and casual
listening in spaces where bulky
speakers are not practical or
welcome. It’s particularly adept at
reproducing acoustic music,
particularly vocals. Gavin James’
acrobatic falsetto
on “Nervous” (Live
at Whelans) was
remarkably clear,
as was Scotty
McCreery’s
baritone on “The
Trouble With Girls”
(Clear as Day). The
interplay between
violin, cello, and
guitar on Natalie
MacMaster’s
“Farewell to Peter”
(Yours Truly) was
also an acoustic
Clearview Audio • clearviewaudio.com
ClearView Clio Bluetooth
Speaker
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
THE VERDICT
Clio is an unobtrusive, one-of-
a-kind speaker that is capable of
producing clear yet confined
sound with limited volume and
bass potential.
standout, along with anything
from acoustic guitar master Will
Ackerman. Rock—old and new—
didn’t fare as well, often sounding
thin and congested. The signature
crunch-guitar crescendo leading
into to the chorus of Weezer’s
“Undone (The Sweater Song)”
lacked the power it’s known for. If
you’re looking for a party companion
or just like to rock out, you’ll be much
better off with a conventional—albeit
much clunkier—speaker setup.
If you’re intrigued by Clio, as I
was, ClearView offers a 60-day,
money-back guarantee, so go
ahead and try it. Worst case, you
send it back.
SPECS
Driver Configuration: 1 down-
firing 2-inch woofer, clear acrylic
glass dipole transducer with left-
and right-channel peizoelectric
actuators • Amplifier: Custom-
designed Class D • Controls: But-
tons for mute, Bluetooth mode,
volume up/down • Features: LED
status indicator on front panel •
Dimensions (WxHxD, Inches):
12.75 x 9 (to top of acrylic glass) x
3.75; 12.75 x 1.5 x 3.75 (base only)
• Weight (Pounds): 1.9 • Con-
nections: 3.5mm analog audio in-
put • Accessories: Male-to-male
minijack audio cable, microfiber
cleaning cloth • Available Colors
(Base): Charcoal, Silver, Dark
Bronze • Warranty: 1 year, limited
PERFECT FOCUS
The Connected Life
john sciacca
Apple
Watch(es)
Home
Automation
For years, I’ve considered the
wristwatch a generational
barometer. I was born in 1970
and have worn a watch for as
long as I can remember. I started off with a
Mickey Mouse model, then went through a
Swatch phase before moving on to a Casio
calculator model, then graduating to
a Gucci and eventually settled on
a luxury Swiss dive model
when I could finally afford
it. I got it in 2003 and still
wear it literally 24/7, and I
can’t tell you how many
times a day I roll my left
wrist over to check the
time or date.
I notice other people
my age and older are also
usually wearing watches.
Will Apple’s spin make
wearing a watch cool
again?
Some as jewelry or fashion pieces, but most
as functional timepieces because, well, they
just always have and that’s what they’re
comfortable with. But people born after the
late ’80s just don’t seem to wear watches
anymore. That generation prefers referring
to an omnipresent smartphone.
As I write this, Apple’s Spring Forward
event just finished and the company finally
announced details on its long-awaited
Apple Watch. With a starting price of $349,
the watch will be available on April 24,
meaning at least some of you reading this
will be wearing a watch on your wrist for
the first time in many years.
There was certainly a massive wearables
trend at this year’s International CES, and
there are definitely facets of the Apple
Watch that seem very appealing—and cer-
tainly far beyond the realm of just being a
timepiece. With health monitoring, alerts,
messages, phone calls, and the ability to
use Apple Pay to spend money more
securely and quickly than ever before, tell-
ing time seems to be one of the Watch’s
ancillary functions.
More exciting for me are the potential
benefits the Apple Watch could bring to
home automation and control. I already
use my iPhone and iPad to interact with
virtually every aspect of my Control4,
Crestron, and Lutron controlled home, so
could my wrist become the next point of
must-have control?
Watch apps from Honeywell, Lutron,
and Alarm.com are already announced,
which will offer simple and intui-
tive interaction with your
home’s HVAC, lighting, and
security systems, but the
Apple Watch could harness
geofencing and Siri to facili-
tate automation in new and
exciting ways.
Geofencing uses GPS or
other radio signals to define
geographical boundaries to
create a virtual barrier, and
once this barrier is broken,
events or activities can be trig-
gered. Imagine leaving your
“house boundary” and having the
doors lock, the lights turn off, the security
arm, and the HVAC go into an away mode,
all automatically. With locational aware-
ness, the watch could know which room
you are in and automatically configure
itself to control that for you. Say, walking
into your bedroom and knowing the TV
you want to control, or walking into any
room and just tapping the watch to turn
on the lights.
Crestron offers something similar with
its PP-100 PinPoint Proximity Detection
Beacon, which can tell iOS devices which
room they are in; but the watch could take
these features to the next level, and the
company is already looking at ways to
integrate its automation systems with
the Watch.
Apple certainly has a track record for
reinventing or reimagining a product cat-
egory as they did with the iPod, iPhone,
and iPad. And these iDevices all went on to
play huge roles in the tech industry, literally
reshaping the way systems were designed,
installed, and used. Will Apple’s spin be
enough to make wearing a watch cool and
necessary again? Time will tell.
FCC Panel Mulls
Cable Security
The CableCARD was intended to liberate the
TV from the dreaded cable box, but spotty
implementation doomed it. Now the security
integration ban that mandated the card is
sunsetting, and a long-envisioned down-
loadable successor is being considered.
Determining how that should work is the
task of the Downloadable Security Technol-
ogy Advisory Committee (DSTAC). The
Federal Communications Commission has
appointed 18 people to the committee from
a variety of backgrounds.
Recent bipartisan federal legislation orders
the committee to set “performance objectives,
technical capabilities, and technical standards
of a not unduly burdensome, uniform, and
technology- and platform-neutral software-
based downloadable security system” for set-
top boxes, TVs, and anything interacting with
a cable, satellite, or telco-TV system.
Yes, the cable, satellite, and telco-TV indus-
tries are represented via Comcast, Cable-
vision, Charter, Dish Network, and AT&T
Labs; plus their tech suppliers Arris, Evolu-
tion Digital, and Nagra. But consumer elec-
tronics manufacturers are also on hand in the
form of Samsung, Sony, Vizio, and TiVo, as
are tech giants Google and Amazon. Other
committee members hail from the consumer
advocacy group Public Knowledge, Columbia
University, and on the content side, the
Motion Picture Association of America.
Chairing the committee is attorney Cheryl
Tritt of Wilkinson Barker Knauer, a
communications-related law firm.
Whether this will result in a new genera-
tion of cable-ready TVs and other devices
remains to be seen. The last time the FCC
mandated a cable-ready solution, the Cable-
CARD, it was widely supported at first by TV
makers, but only grudgingly by cable opera-
tors, who objected that the unidirectional
standard didn’t support lucrative bidirectional
services like video
on demand.
When a bidirec-
tional Tru2Way
version became
available for volun-
tary compliance—
no mandate—a few TV makers supported it,
but it went nowhere. Eventually TV makers
gave up on both versions, and now it’s hard to
find a recent model with a CableCARD slot.
Today most CableCARDs are deployed in
set-top boxes, which defeats the no-box intent
of cable-readiness. And most of those set-top
boxes are rented, preserving a profitable line
item on the cable bills of millions of subscrib-
ers. How convenient.
Will this time be any different? The com-
mittee will conduct its meetings in public
and deliver its first report to the FCC on
September 4.—MF
soundandvision.com 19
Hands
Focal Spirit One S Headphone
By Steve Guttenberg
The Joy of Listening
PRICE $249
HERE WE GO AGAIN. THAT’S
what I remember thinking when I
heard that Focal, France’s largest
speaker manufacturer, was going to
start making headphones. After
Beats by Dre opened the
floodgates, a number of speaker
and electronics companies that
never made headphones started
jumping into the market. We all
know about Bower & Wilkins and
Klipsch, but then there was KEF,
NAD, Polk, PSB, RBH, and
more—so when Focal joined the
pack a few years ago, it wasn’t a
shocker. Thing is, making great
speakers is a completely different
20 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
AT A GLANCE
Plus
Q Smooth tonal balance
Q Euro design flair
Minus
Q High-ish head-clamping
pressure
skill set than crafting headphones.
After all, speakers “play” the room;
headphones only have to make your
ears happy. Apparently, that’s harder
than it seems.
Focal currently offers three
Spirit series headphones: the
Pro, Classic, and the model
I’m reviewing here, the
One S. Focal doesn’t
specify whether it’s
an over- or on-ear
because that
depends on
how big your
ears are. For
my average-size ears, it’s
almost an over-the-ear.
In any case, it’s a
closed-back
design and does
a decent job of
blocking
external noise.
The One S uses
the same 40mm
Mylar/titanium
dome driver and ear
cup as the Classic, but
the two headphones
differ in fit and finish.
The three Spirit models
are tuned differently: The
Pro is the most accurate, the
Classic has a bit more bass and
sweeter highs, and the One S has
more bass than the other two,
though it’s definitely not excessive.
The engineers alter the position of
the driver in the ear cups, bass
venting, and damping materials in
each model, but no active
processing or electronics are used.
The Pro is $349; Classic, $449; and
the One S is $249.
I like that the ear cups swivel side
to side and vertically to conform to
virtually any size/shape head, but the
One S’s moderately high head-
clamping pressure made wearing
this headphone for more than an
hour or so a bit of a challenge. The
One S was conceived as a portable
design, so it’s going to be listened
to on the go in noisy environments,
with phones and MP3 players.
One thing’s for sure: It’ll stay put on
your head!
The 56-inch-long cable is
user-replaceable and sports an
Apple-compatible in-line remote/
mic, conveniently located just a few
inches from the left ear cup. You
also get a semi-hard, zippered travel
case and a soft travel bag. The
hinged headband allows for
compact storage.
The One S doesn’t overtly boost
or bloat the bass; it’s nothing like
Beats’ or V-Moda’s fat bottom ends.
On Anna Von Hausswolff’s splendid
Focal • focal.com
Focal Spirit One S Headphone
Performance
Build Quality
Comfort
Value
Ceremony CD, the One S
plumbed the depths of
Hausswolff’s lowest
church organ stops. There’s
no flab down there! Even
Prince’s extra funky “Cream”
didn’t rattle the One S. The
beat goes on.
More audiophile-oriented
fare, like trombonist Thurman
Green’s Dance of the Night
Creatures CD upped the One
S’s credibility. The sound was
transparent and very open
for a closed-back head-
phone, with solid, clearly
defined bass. The One S’s keen
balance was beyond criticism.
THE VERDICT
Focal’s latest-generation
headphone strikes a keen
balance of resolution and a
sweet tonal balance.
NAD’s sweet Viso HP50 headphone
did nothing to alter that opinion. It
was less transparent on Joel
Frederiksen’s gorgeous Nick Drake
tribute album, Requiem for a Pink
Moon. Vocals in particular sounded
incredibly present and natural; the
One S just let them be.
A quick switch-over to the newly
revised Bowers & Wilkins P5 Series
2 on-ear headphones put the One
S’s accomplishments in perspective.
The P5 S2 is super easy to listen to,
but Frederiksen’s vocals and the
recording venue’s room sound were
more fully brought to life over the
One S. They’re both excellent
headphones, but the Focal Spirit
One S revealed more about the
sound of my recordings.
SPECS
Type: Closed-back, on-ear/over-
the-ear • Weight (Ounces): 9.9 •
Impedance: 32 ohms • Sensitivity:
102 dB/1mW
 PERFECT FOCUS
Q&A
al griffin
All About Atmos--
and Auro-3D
I’m planning a signifi-
cant overhaul of my
home theater and am
leaning toward using
the configuration
suggested for Auro-3D: 10.1, with
four corner speakers and one
overhead voice-of-god speaker. In
replacing my current A/V receiver
with separates, I am concerned
about buying amplifiers that I can
keep over the next several advances
in surround sound tech/
features. Here’s my question: When
using height speakers, is it important
that they be amplified at the same
power as those near ear-level?
Quest Fanning / Brooklyn NY
Yes. Since the audio signal directed to
individual speakers in object-based Atmos
and channel-based Auro-3D systems are
full-bandwidth, it’s important that each
speaker receives the same level of power.
This will be true for both height and
ear-level speakers. When planning your
system, you should seek out amplifier
combinations that deliver equal power—a
7 x 200-watt plus a 3 x 200-watt model, or
two 5 x 200-watt models, for example. As
for future advances in surround sound,
amplifier tech is unlikely to change
much—they are perhaps the most stable
components of any sound system. You
won’t have to worry about replacing them
in the near term.
Should I amplify my height
speakers at the same power
as those near ear level?
I have a 7.1 setup and am interested in
upgrading my receiver/processor to
one that supports Dolby Atmos. My
situation won’t allow me to easily run
new wires. Is there a good wireless
speaker option for adding channels
from a receiver/processor? Or would
I be better off trying to retrofit/hide
new wire runs?
Mason Guy / via e-mail
Along with buying a new receiver,
upgrading your system for Dolby Atmos
will entail one of two things: adding
in-ceiling height speakers, or adding
Atmos-enabled speakers to the front and
rear of your current system. A wireless
speaker solution might sound good in
theory, but the reality is that there aren’t any
good options available for Atmos setups.
Also, wireless speakers still require a power
cable, which essentially defeats the whole
wireless notion.
Since you can’t easily run new wires, I’d
recommend going the Atmos-enabled
speaker route. Atmos-enabled speaker
modules, which are available from
companies like Def Tech, Atlantic
Technology, Pioneer, and Onkyo, are
designed with angled drivers that bounce
sound off the ceiling to convey overhead
effects in Atmos-encoded soundtracks.
Such modules can either be placed on
top of or near your current speakers.
And you don’t have to worry about
compromised performance since Dolby
strongly recommends this solution for
those who, like yourself, are unable or
unwilling to retrofit their home theater
with in-ceiling speakers.
I am new to the world of home
theater, but I’m building a house
soon and want to plan for the
possibility of a home theater setup.
I like the idea of having in-ceiling
speakers running the surround
sound. Is it possible to set up a Dolby
Atmos system that exclusively uses
in-ceiling speakers?
Jonathan Huizingh / via e-mail
Yes, but to be honest, that strategy is not
recommended anywhere in Dolby’s
literature for home Atmos installations.
For Atmos, the height speakers (either
in-ceiling or Dolby-enabled models) are
meant to extend the sound coming from
the main (ear-level) speakers, as well as
convey vertical effects such as rain falling
or helicopters flying overhead. Dolby has
even created a naming system for Atmos
layouts that specifies the number of main
speakers plus subwoofers and height
speakers: i.e., 5.1.4 (five main speakers, one
subwoofer, four height speakers) or 7.1.2
(seven main speakers, one subwoofer, two
height speakers).
Of course, home theater installations
that use all in-ceiling speakers are fairly
common; I’ve experienced a number of
them that conveyed an effective surround
sound experience. If you do go that route,
I’m sure you’ll probably be happy with
what you get. Just don’t expect it to
necessarily deliver the goods with
Atmos-encoded soundtracks.
Will VidiPath
Succeed CableCARD?
In the beginning, there was broadcast TV, then
cable, then cable boxes, then cable boxes with
security, then an FCC ban on integral security—
the CableCARD was required instead. The intent
was to develop a robust market in CableCARD
TVs and retail set-top boxes. But the Cable-
CARD failed to gain traction, the security inte-
gration ban expired last December, and the cable
industry is ready to move on to a new solution
that would be both secure and IP-based. One
possible solution is VidiPath from the Digital
Living Network Alliance (DLNA).
A/V receiver owners may recognize DLNA as
the standard-setting outfit that enables receivers,
computers, and many other devices to share
media over a home network. DLNA’s VidiPath is
a new way for set-top boxes and other devices to
securely deliver pay-TV from cable, satellite, and
telco TV operators. It has the support of Com-
cast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications,
and the cable-industry R&D arm CableLabs.
DLNA is getting ready to certify VidiPath devices
from 20 companies—potentially including not
just set-top boxes, but smart TVs, smartphones,
tablets, and gaming consoles.
Will VidiPath get the FCC’s nod as the Cable-
CARD’s successor? DLNA has asked to be part
of the FCC working group that is examining
options. In the past, the FCC has pushed its own
AllVid gateway specification, which has the sup-
port of Best Buy, Google, Sony, and TiVo, among
others—but no cable companies. We’d love to
see a solution that has the support of both the
consumer electronics industry and the pay-TV
providers.—MF
Petitioners Protest
Cable Billing
As the regulatory wheels grind
through the proposed mega-
merger between Comcast and
Time Warner Cable, activists
are turning up the heat, filing a
petition with the FCC protest-
ing TWC’s billing practices.
Bruce Kushnick of New Net-
works Institute and Tom Allibone of Teletruth
say that TWC added “made-up fees” to its Triple
Play, charged rate increases to all subscribers in
exchange for free Internet service to schools but
never provided the service, sold broadband ser-
vices that were never delivered, and price-gouged
its way from $22.95/month to $93.16/month for
standard basic cable service from 1992 to 2014.
Have a look at their annotated bill (above). In
related news, Comcast and TWC have extended
the merger’s end date to August 12, 2015, while
the FCC and Justice Department continue the
vetting process. The merged entity, if allowed,
would succeed Comcast as the nation’s largest
cable company.—MF
soundandvision.com 21
 PERFECT FOCUS
Signals
ken c. pohlmann
Saving Hi-
Res Audio
Hi-res audio is having
problems. Not your
garden-variety prob-
lems. These are the life-
threatening problems. Where do I begin?
Well, Neil Young used Kickstarter to
raise $6 million to fund his Pono project
and deliver it into the hands of music
enthusiasts. Good for him. Good for
music. Good for hi-res playback. Of
course, nothing is ever that simple.
Mr. Young’s bright spotlight spilled
over onto hi-res itself, and people took a
closer look. For example, David Pogue
conducted an informal listening test
comparing Pono to an iPhone. In Mr.
Pogue’s test, listeners preferred an
iPhone over a Pono. Partly in response
to that, hi-res audio is now urgently
controversial.
Other listening tests are appearing,
and a certain “piling on” appears to be
taking shape. Some are calling Mr.
Young a charlatan, or worse. In a follow-
up article, Mr. Young responded to Mr.
Pogue’s criticisms in a friendly and sup-
portive way—you know, the way adults
respond to each other. In the blogo-
sphere, things are quite different. The
Hi-res audio is now
urgently controversial.
formerly good-natured debates among
audiophiles is taking a turn for the worse
with commentary ranging from childish
to downright unprofessional.
The world has enough worries and
doesn’t need the supporters or denigra-
tors of hi-res audio to add another one,
particularly since hi-res audio is a prime
example of a first-world problem. Seri-
ously, can’t we all just get along? Appar-
ently not, and the juvenile name-calling
now popping up on everyone’s search
engines is going to diminish hi-res audio.
The solution seems easy. Let’s set up
some rigorous critical listening tests
and determine how the sound quality of
22 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
hi-res audio compares to a reasonable
reference such as Compact Disc. Easy,
right? Well, of course, it’s not, and it’s
naive to suggest it.
Some argue that comparison testing is
flawed and inherently fails to demon-
strate the benefits of hi-res or indeed any
high-fidelity playback. But unless you
can demonstrate the improvement, why
should people buy hi-res files? The retort
comes quickly: Why stay rooted in the
30-year-old CD standard? Even if the
difference is slight, let’s err on the side of
caution and use hi-res.
I have a modest proposal. It avoids the
central question because the answer to
the question will never end all the argu-
ing, which is an industry unto itself.
Instead, I propose that those who stand
to profit the most from hi-res make a
short-term sacrifice, for a potential long-
term gain.
My proposal starts with this premise:
Consider, for example, your phone, your
television, your computer or tablet. Each
new generation is better than before; you
expect that, and that’s why you buy into
each new model. And, adjusting for
inflation, the price of those products
stays constant or, factoring in their
improved performance, often drops.
Meanwhile, sellers of hi-res music
want to charge you a steep premium for
it. They cannot obviously demonstrate
the benefit and usually don’t reveal the
provenance of the product (a whole
other kettle of fish), yet they demand
a premium.
So here’s my proposal: Sell hi-res
music files for the same price as any
other file. Once the cost issue is
removed, maybe people will just treat
hi-res files like any other, and tempers
will calm. Then we can debate something
really important, like how many angels
can dance on the head of a pin.
My friends in the music industry, con-
sider this: If people can hear the benefit
of hi-res, they’ll buy more music—you
win. If they can’t hear it, they won’t buy
less music. Now, I don’t really care about
music industry profits. I just want people
to have a fair opportunity to listen as
carefully as they want and never be dis-
appointed. Also, it would be good if the
zealots took a chill pill.
FCC Boradband
Goal Supports UHD
In its 2015 Broadband Progress Report, the
Federal Communications Commission has
voted to change the definition of broad-
band from 4 to 25 Mbps for downloads
and from 1 to 3 Mbps for uploads.
That got the approval of Netflix CEO
Reed Hastings. He said consumers need 15
Mbps for a single Netflix Ultra HD stream,
and higher speeds would also foster ser-
vices such as video-conferencing and home
monitoring, so 25 Mbps is “baseline for the
next five years.”
FCC chair Tom Wheeler (below, left)
didn’t get a unanimous vote, however. Dis-
senting commissioner Michael O’Rielly
(right) derided the new definition, saying
UHD is “not expected to be widely adopted
for years to come.” Apparently he hasn’t
seen sales figures and projections on the
fast-growing UHDTV market. But com-
missioner Jessica Rosenworcel (center)
pushed for an even more ambitious goal, a
download speed of 100 Mbps: “Anything
short of that shortchanges our children, our
future, and our new digital economy.”—MF
Amazon Goes to
the Movies
Jeff Bezos—movie mogul? Don’t be sur-
prised if the next movie you see at the local
cineplex was bankrolled by Amazon. Says
Roy Price, VP of Amazon Studios: “Our goal
is to create close to 12 movies a year with
production starting later this year.” Amazon’s
Original Movies would be exhibited in the-
aters before moving on to Prime Instant
Video. Of course, Amazon has already pro-
duced content for the small screen, including
a couple of dozen pilots and eight series,
most recently including Bosch, an L.A. crime
drama based on the bestselling novels of
Michael Connelly.—MF
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 PERFECT FOCUS
Apptitude
michael antonoff
From Smug to
Snug: VR for the
Rest of Us
Paul McCartney and Candlestick Park are
more likely to be linked to endings (the last
Beatles concert, 1966; the last big gig at the
Stick, 2014) than new beginnings. But thanks
to an innovative app that incorporates a 360-degree perspec-
tive from the stage of McCartney’s performance of “Live and
Let Die” at the San Francisco ballpark, the man and place will
now be coupled to the birth of an exciting way for everybody
to enjoy music like never before.
Simply called Paul McCartney, the free app available on
Google Play from Jaunt, Inc., allows you to use a modest
headset to wander the stage, look down at the audience, look
up at the lights, gaze at band members, see the pyrotechnics,
or scrutinize Sir Paul at the piano.
By the way, the experience is not meant for viewing on a
television or computer.
With the smartphone absorbing the functions of so many
dedicated devices—cellular phone, music player, video player,
camera, camcorder, voice recorder, map navigator, and por-
table gaming device—it should come as no surprise that it’s
also a virtual-reality headset.
What’s remarkable about the phone’s entry into VR is that
its screen, accelerometer, and gyroscope replace the most
expensive components of a head-mounted display. Download
one of the growing number of free or paid apps, and place the
phone in a tab-to-slot box made largely of corrugated paper
called Google Cardboard.
Your smartphone is also a virtual-
reality headset.
Peer into the box’s stereoscopic lenses and turn your head
every which way. The effect is astounding. The 360-degree
view is not unlike what Linda Blair would have seen as she
surveyed her bedroom in The Exorcist. Objects appear to
have depth, an illusion created by the app’s split screen seen
through lenses that anyone who has ever held a View Master
toy will instantly recognize. But this is a View Master with
sound and motion. The app’s performance was latency free,
and though I was disoriented at times, I felt none of the nau-
sea sometimes associated with virtual reality.
Cardboard comes on the heels of Google’s withdrawal of
Google Glass, the company’s enhanced-reality eyewear. The
$1,500 frame, which contained a tiny connected computer
display and camera, was offered to invited geeks who were
quickly dismissed by others as glass-holes. Google has taken
the opposite tack with Cardboard, whose homey name sug-
gests a device affordable by anyone and whose main require-
ment is already in your pocket.
Demo apps include rotating objects as if they were in
your hand, chasing a hat in the wind, touring the Palace of
24 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
Versailles, and appraising a wall of TVs showing different
YouTube videos. Exploiting the magnetometer in the phone,
you flick a magnet controller along Cardboard’s edge to
make a selection.
With the phone perched inches from your eyes, the display
captures your peripheral vision as if you were seated in front
of a big screen. An important distinction from traditional
home theater is that the picture doesn’t end at the TV’s bezel.
You need to be looking everywhere to see the entire show. My
most important accessory was a swiveling desk chair. You’ll
want to watch the performance more than once since what
you see as McCartney sings “this ever-changing world in
which we’re living” depends entirely on where you’re looking
at the time.
If you plan to use your phone’s built-in speaker, make sure
to turn up the volume before you enclose it in Cardboard. For
superior sound and its own volume control, use a Bluetooth
speaker. But the best way to experience Paul McCartney is
private listening. Cardboard accommodated my wired stereo
headphones, delivering audio that was louder as I looked at
the band than when I turned to the audience. Better still were
a pair of Bluetooth headphones that beyond being wireless
had their own volume controls. Still, the app doesn’t approach
the audio sophistication of a demo I once experienced where
I donned a dedicated headset and “walked” between musi-
cians to lean into the sound of each instrument.
Being nearsighted, I found the viewing better without
glasses. The picture resolution is dependent on your phone’s
screen. I used a Moto X with a 4.5-inch display that easily fit
into Cardboard once I took off a thick protective case. By
showing two fields of the image side by side to create the pas-
sive 3D effect, resolution is sacrificed. The overall effect is
worth it, but it would seem the perfect opportunity for a
developer to take advantage of the higher-resolution Retina
Display available on newer Apple iPhones.
According to a Google spokesman, “There are a number of
apps in the Apple Apps Store that can unofficially work with a
Cardboard viewer. However, the Cardboard SDK [Software
Developer’s Kit] does not yet officially support iOS.”
In the app, the voice of the 72-year-old McCartney didn’t
soar like the Wings of 1973. And the explosive light show
seemed a little too close for comfort. Still, he was in better
form than his subsequent appearance on the Saturday Night
Live 40th Anniversary Special.
So, how cool is gazing into a cardboard box? Let me count
the ways.
See google.com/get/cardboard.
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 PERFECT FOCUS

Reference Tracks
mikemettler
Jorma Kaukonen Fingerpicks His Way Through

Photo by Barry Berenson

an Unhurried Embryonic Hi-Res Journey
To modify a phrase,
fingerpicking guitar
maestro Jorma
Kaukonen just
keeps on innovatin’. For over a
half-century, Kaukonen has fol-
lowed his own path and applied
his folk roots to variations on
psychedelia with Jefferson Air-
plane and free-form blues with
Hot Tuna, not to mention his
own solo rock and unplugged
outings. On his acoustic-driven
new disc, Ain’t in No Hurry (Red
House), Kaukonen continues to
push forward on tasty, intense
tracks like the hopeful timeless-
ness of “In My Dreams,” the tra-
ditional riches-to-rags lament of
“Brother Can You Spare a Dime,”
and the down-home grit of “The
Terrible Operation.” Observes
Kaukonen, “One of the cool
things about the way the album
is mixed is there’s this magnifi-
cent, transparent presence of all
the instruments, no matter who’s
playing and where they are. You
can hear them all; they’re there.”
Kaukonen, 74, and I recently
discussed his recording tech-
niques and the hi-fi gear that’s
served to enhance listening expe-
riences all throughout his life.
The man may not be in a hurry,
but he sure is getting somewhere.
MM: You made some interesting
choices in terms of stereo sepa-
ration on certain tracks on this
Photo by Scoy Hall
album where [mandolin player]
Barry Mitterhoff is in the left
channel, and you’re in the right
one.
JK: I listened to the CD on my
tube stereo yesterday, and yeah,
Barry and I are left and right on
“Brother Can You Spare a Dime.”
I would never have deigned to
want to mix one of my own
records because I just don’t have
those sensibilities. But when I
listen to this stuff, it just sounds
live to me, which is cool.
MM: Tell me more about your
stereo gear.
JK: OK, well,
you’re going to
love this. I have a
couple of turn-
tables—a Thorens
and a Denon, plus
one you use to
digitize records.
I’ve got a 20-
year-old high-
performance Sony
we’re talking. I’ve got a Marantz
preamp, and I have a Michaelson
& Austin valve tube amp. The
last time I put new tubes in it
20 years ago, it cost me about
a thousand dollars. I’m using
Polk Audio speakers I got from
my dad, but when I feel like lis-
tening to rock ’n’ roll the old
way, I put on the JBL 4312s
[studio monitors].
MM: Some of your live record-
ings are available in 24-bit on
HDtracks. You must like that,
considering the subtleties and
detail apparent in how you
fingerpick.
JK: Anything at 24-bit is happen-
ing. I don’t download, because I
live in an area that has moderate
download speeds. But my guys,
like Jason [Guip, engineer and
drummer], are totally into this
stuff. They tell me we have to do
it because guys like us will love it,
so I go, “Rock on.” Everything is
thought out, as you know. Things
laugh) In terms of microphone
placement, did you tell Justin
and Larry [Campbell, producer
and guitarist] where you want
everything positioned?
JK: No, what I talk with them
about is, “How do you want me
to approach this? How do you
want me to hold my guitar?” I’ve
been playing long enough, so I
can hold a guitar pretty much in
any way necessary. And what I
realized when we worked with Al
Schmitt back in the day [as pro-
ducer on various Jefferson Air-
plane and Hot Tuna albums] is
Al is a master of microphone
placement. As it’s been explained
to me, I guess the demon in get-
ting sounds not just for record-
ing but also by ear is phase can-
cellation and phasing problems.
What I see is his talent in being
able to place microphones where
there is none of that, or it’s mini-
mized. I’m also aware of the cre-
ation of a sonic landscape where
you have various and sundry
instruments in whatever range
they occupy. Al’s able to put
them together in an ensemble so
everything can be together, and
that helps people discover more
about what I’m playing.
An extended version of the
Mettler-Kaukonen No Hurry
Q&A appears in The S&V Inter-
view blog on soundandvision.
com.
CD
LABEL: Red House
AUDIO FORMATS: 44.1-kHz/16-bit
PCM Stereo
NUMBER OF TRACKS: 11
LENGTH: 46:55
PRODUCER: Larry Campbell
ENGINEER: Justin Guip

CD player that don’t just happen by accident, so

plays CDs the way guys like you will notice.
it was meant to be.
My amps—now MM: Oh, I definitely notice. (both

26 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

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soundandvision.com 29
 State of the
Curved screens are here,
but why? By Bob Ankosko
Are curved screens going to
take over the world? If you
walk into one of the 500 Best
Buy stores featuring Samsung’s
impressive Entertainment Experience display
area, you might think so at first glance. Styl-
ish curved-screen TVs are front and center
in the ultramodern space, displayed under
glowing “Curved UHDTV” signs that beck-
on you to come over and take a closer look.
But the reality is, curved screens are still new
and account for only a tiny piece of the over-
all TV market. The Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA) and retail sales tracker
GfK project worldwide shipments of 3.4 mil-
lion units this year, up from just under a mil-
lion units in 2014—an impressive jump but
not unheard of for a new category and still
less than 2 percent of the global market.
Curved screens are so new that you can’t
really call the phenomenon a bona fide trend
just yet, observed Paul Gagnon, director of
TV for IHS Technology (formerly NPD Dis-
play-Search), a research firm with expertise in
the television market. “There’s a trend in that
it went from nothing in 2013 to something in
2015,” he said, noting that IHS expects curved
TV shipments of 700,000 to 800,000 in the
U.S. this year—about 2 percent of the total
market. “As we look at the curved market-
• The Consumer Electronics Association and
GfK Research predict big growth for curves in
2015.
30 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
place as a whole, we’re curious to
see if it takes root considering there
is really only one proponent [Sam-
sung] kind of creating the category.”
Indeed, 2015 is shaping up to be
a pivotal year for curved screens.
Over the next 12 months, we’ll
learn whether they have what it
takes to capture the imagination of
a fickle TV-buying public driven
largely by price. But for now, there’s
a more pressing question: Why
curved screens in the first place? Do they
bring tangible benefits to the viewing experi-
ence, or is the curve simply cosmetic?
Doubling Down
In what amounts to its most ambitious offer-
ing to date, curved screen models account for
about half of Samsung’s 2015 UHD TV line-
up or about a quarter of all models. As of this
writing, two dozen curved-screen models in
sizes from 55 to 78 inches were listed on the
company’s Website. Most are new models, a
few of which were not yet available, and all
but one are 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) resolution.
So why curved? “First and foremost is
aesthetics,” said Dan Schinasi, senior market-
ing manager for TV product planning. “It’s a
differentiator, and it looks beautiful, but there
are considerable technical merits as well. If
you’re at the proper viewing distance, a
curved screen offers some
unique advantages. It slightly
increases your field of view,
and there’s somewhat of a
correlation between field of
view and immersion. The
curve is very gentle—it’s not
like it wraps around you, but
you get about a 4-percent
boost in field of view. It also
helps minimize stray reflec-
tions, so if you have lamps in
your room, reflections are
•
reduced, by some calculations, Samsung
Dan Schinasi of
up to 36 percent—not
insignificant.
“There’s also more of a sweet
spot to the TV,” Schinasi continued. “A lot of
folks say, it’s curved so therefore it’s distorted.
There’s actually less [geometric] distortion.
We’ve done extensive studies with UC Berke-
ley to look at the perception of objects on a
curved screen to discern when and if they
can’t be comprehended. As long as you’re not
at the very extremities and looking at the
screen from anywhere in that sweet spot,
even from the left or right side, a curved
screen actually delivers less geometric distor-
tion than a flat screen. That translates into
more ideal viewing conditions.” (More on
this in a moment.)
Having sung the praises of curved TVs,
Schinasi is quick to point out that the com-
pany also sells plenty of flat screens. “If
there’s a strong preference for
one or the other, we have it.”
Academia Weighs In
The study Schinasi refers to was
conducted in conjunction with
Martin Banks, professor of
optometry and vision science at
the University of California,
Berkeley and principal investi-
gator at the Visual Space Per-
ception Laboratory, and Mari-
na Zannoli, PhD, a postdoc-
toral researcher at the univer-

• LG 55EC9300
sity. We contacted Banks and Zan-
noli to learn more about the study’s findings
on how a curved screen affects field of view,
reflections, and geometric distortion.
Field of View. They characterized the
research as a formal study that will eventually
be published in a scientific journal, and con-
firmed that with a curved-screen UHD TV, a
viewer sitting at the recommended viewing
distance of 1.5 times the height of the screen
will experience a slightly expanded field of
view of about 4 percent and around 2.5 per-
cent for a standard HDTV. Interestingly,
“those values aren’t very dependent on lateral
position (sitting too far to the left or right)
unless of course you’re way off to the side,
which no one would do,” Banks explained.
“The numbers also depend on the curvature
of the screen. We used Samsung’s current
65-inch (diagonal) screen, and the radius of
curvature was 418cm [which is Samsung’s
standard curve].”
What does the expanded field of view
mean in the real world? “We found that an
increase in field of view does have a positive
effect on immersion,” Banks said. “Does a
4-percent increase have a positive effect on
immersion? I don’t know. A tad unlikely, but
in the right direction, anyway.”
Reflections. The question of a curved
screen’s ability to minimize stray reflections
reveals the study’s most noteworthy finding.
“A nice feature of the curved screen is curved, the slant angle is reduced,
screen is that it does reduce so an object on the screen will appear to be
the set of positions in a room less distorted than it would have been when
where lamp placement viewed on a flat screen.”
would reflect off the screen
and into the viewer’s eye,” Curved, Schmurved
Banks said. “And that’s a fair- Vizio, the second largest seller of TVs in the
ly significant effect. Even if U.S. behind Samsung, wants nothing to do
you’re sitting to the side, you with curved screens and even went so far as
still get a positive benefit. It’s to produce a fake ad entitled “Revolutionary
completely independent of Anti-Curved Glasses” that pokes fun at
position.” curved screens (search “anti-curved glasses”
Geometric Distortion. on YouTube). Done in the style of a hard-sell
The relationship between a TV pitch offering “anti-curve glasses [that]
curved screen and geometric turn your curved TV into a beautiful flat
distortion is more compli- screen,” the ad opens with a man holding his
cated. “We head and grimacing while a
focused in the
research on
• Martin Banks (top)
and Marina Zannoli
voiceover asks: “Is your new
curved TV causing you frustra-
what’s called the (boom) of UC tion?” The video logged more
wide-angle dis- Berkeley than 205,000 hits in three
tortion that peo- months.
ple can see with John Hwang, director of
widescreen pan- product management, HDTV,
els,” Banks explained: “We wanted to point
explained. “Even out in kind of a humorous way
though images some of the things we think of
presented on the and have experienced with
screen may be curved screens to kind of send a
correct in shape message to consumers that says,
for a person at hey look, our focus is to
the recommend- improve the overall experience,
ed position, and we feel from a Vizio view-
viewers tend to point that curved TVs do not
see objects near do that.”
the edge of the In making the argument
screen as dis- against a curved screen, Hwang
torted. The criti- said, “The most obvious thing you
cal thing is what we call the slant don’t see is a uniform image. Even
angle. Imagine a line coming out from a front view, you’re not see-
perpendicular from the point on ing a rectangular-shaped screen—
the screen that we’re looking at it’s kind of bowed at the top and
(somewhere off to the side). bottom, and when viewed from
Imagine another line from the different angles the picture gets
viewer’s eye to that point. The slant angle is distorted pretty massively in a nonuniform
the angle between those lines. When that way. Even with a flat screen, if you go off
angle becomes greater than 30 degrees, per-
ceptual distortions start to arise. When the • LG 65EG9600
soundandvision.com 31
 STATE OF THE ARC
angle, you’re skewing the image, but you’re
skewing it in a more natural perspective as
opposed to an unnatural curved perspective.”
Hwang also takes issue with the often-
heard statement that a curved-screen TV can
deliver a more immersive experience than a
flat-screen set with the same screen size.
“Unless we’re talking about an extremely
large IMAX-like screen, the curve doesn’t
really deliver the whole immersive experi-
ence that’s promised by some manufactur-
ers.” He also claims curved-screen sets that
use full-array direct LED backlighting—
which Vizio is introducing across its entire
lineup—exhibit “some extremely strange
moiré effects. We’re curious to see if some of
the competitive products incorporate tech-
nology that solves this.”
A Happy Medium
At LG, which holds the number three posi-
tion in U.S. TV sales, curved screens are
reserved for its growing line of OLED TVs,
which comprises five new UHD OLED mod-
els with screen sizes from 55 to 77 inches.
“For us, curved is a great way to show off
the attributes of OLED, which is a totally
different technology [than LCD] with perfect
black levels and vivid colors,” said Tim Alessi,
director of new product development. “The
other thing about OLED is its extremely slim
form factor, which enables us to do different
things with design. Our first OLED, you may
recall, had a clear crystal base. The overall
aesthetic was very attractive. Our belief is
that if you want a curved screen, the best way
to experience that is with an OLED TV
32 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
• Samsung
JS9500 Series
because of its superior viewing angles. There
are no sacrifices in picture quality when you
curve an OLED.”
Although LG makes curved LCD TVs, it
does not sell them in the U.S. “We decided to
keep our regular LCD lineup all flat,” Alessi
explained. “There are some downsides to
curving a TV screen—with reflectivity, with
viewing angles, especially with a non-IPS
(in-plane switching) screen [IPS panels pro-
vide a wider viewing angle than the VA, or
vertical alignment, technology used by Sam-
sung]. We’ve done a lot of side-by-side com-
parisons between our curved
OLED and some of the competi-
tive curved LED screens, and • Paul Gagnon of IHS
Technology
there are distinct differences in
picture quality, especially when
you get a little bit off axis.
OLED doesn’t have the narrow
sweet spot like an LCD does.
“If you were to compare an
OLED and LCD side by side,
both curved, the superior black
level and viewing angles of
OLED is what’s going to strike
you right away, even if you get • Stephen Baker of
just a little off axis,” Alessi contin- NPD Group
ued. “Now, if you were to do
detailed measurements, it may
come out that the color accu-
racy is better as well. When you
curve an LCD, you’re taking
something that was meant to be
flat and curving it so there’s the
possibility of misalignment and
light going through adjacent
color filters simultaneously, which means
color may not be as accurate, whereas OLED
makes its own light, so you don’t have any of
those issues.”
Like many, Alessi sees aesthetics as the
primary benefit of a curved TV screen. “If
you read a lot of the reviews, for example, I
think the general consensus among the expert
community is that a curved screen doesn’t
really add anything to the picture, and most
people seem kind of happy that it doesn’t
detract from it as much as they thought. So I
think it’s mainly an aesthetic thing. When you
get to the larger screen sizes, there is an
immersiveness of the picture that appeals to
some people. It does kind of draw you in a
little bit, especially when I see our 65-inch
OLED, but it’s more of a personal choice.”
What About Sony?
How about Sony, which introduced the first
curved-screen TV in 2013 but has since
pulled back on the category. What’s its cur-
rent stance on curves?
Taka Fujita, vice president of home enter-
tainment, said in a statement: “There are
benefits to curved TVs and benefits to flat
TVs. While Sony was the first to introduce a
curved TV to market and does now offer a
curved model in other regions, we do not
currently plan to carry these models in the
U.S. We look at each market individually and
determine our product offerings accordingly.
In the U.S., most people tend to hang their
TVs on a wall, so an ultra-thin [flat] TV inte-
grates better into the American lifestyle. Sony
will continue to evaluate the market and will
consider introducing curved TVs again in
the U.S. when we think the market condi-
tions are appropriate.”
The Big Push
Samsung has come out swinging and appears
intent on building a market for curved-
screen TVs, leaving some industry pundits to
wonder if there’s more to the
story than the obvious desire to
be different.
“I think Samsung is looking
to continue to cement its posi-
tion as the premium TV brand,”
observed Stephen Baker, vice
president of industry analysis for
the NPD Group, a top-ranked
market research firm specializ-
ing in consumer electronics.
“The curved screen is an upsell
on a big screen—an enhance-
ment for that really big televi-
sion.” TV manufacturers operat-
ing in a competitive market are
looking for ways to prevent 4K
from becoming commoditized
as prices come down, Baker
noted. “I think it’s an industry-
friendly way to maintain some
kind of premium in pricing.”
IHS’s Gagnon has another
theory.
 “OLED has been a topic of NPD’s Baker thinks it’s too the middle and your field of vision is better.
great interest by both Sam- early to tell whether curved It’s similar to going to an IMAX theater.”
sung and LG. Both compa- TV will prevail but said, “My Best Buy doesn’t comment on sales, but a
nies have been talking about gut is that it has more legs spokesperson said “a curved TV is something
it as the next generation of than 3D. Whether or not it many customers look for” and noted that they
display technology for many really adds value, I’ll let con- are “primarily part of our premium HDTV
years. I think it’s quite clear at sumers decide if they see a assortment. Because of this, our Ultra HD
this point that LG has figured value proposition there.” and OLED products are really the only avail-
OLED out with their solu- “I have a difficult time able models that have a curved screen. For
tion, but for Samsung, it’s saying curved—a design- both Ultra HD and OLED, having a curved
back to the drawing board. related attribute—is some- screen complements the incredible picture
So rather than cede new thing you can capture a pre- quality found in those TVs with an immer-
technology to LG, they’ve mium for in the market,” sive IMAX-like viewing experience. Custom-
become one of the leaders of said IHS’s Gagnon, but he ers have always gravitated toward technology
being able to do curved
LCDs. And, oh, by the way,
• Tim Alessi of LG acknowledged that it’s still
too early to make a call one
improvements that focus on picture quality,
and the combination of curved screens and
it’s quite difficult for LG to way or the other. Ultra HD/OLED does just that.”
curve LCDs because of the Retailers we spoke with
IPS panel technology they report success selling curved To Curve or Not to Curve
use.” TVs and seem to have It may be too early to predict if curved-
Meanwhile, Chinese bought into the notion of screen TVs will catch on, but we know
brands, such as Hisense and curved screens presenting a through our conversations with retailers that
TCL, have curved screens on more immersive experience. some shoppers are attracted to the design
their 2015 product road “IMAX-like” came up in aesthetic, while others have no idea curved
maps but are waiting to see conversations with Best Buy, screens exist—let alone offer subtle benefits
how curved plays out in the the country’s largest elec- they may or may not perceive—until they see
marketplace before fully tronics retailer, and India- a display or the salesperson directs
committing, Gagnon said. napolis-based hhgregg, their attention to one. We also know
Convincing consumers to which operates 228 stores that many enthusiast readers of
pay the higher price com-
manded by curved screens is
• Brian Markwalter of CEA in 20 eastern states.
“The trend right
Sound & Vision abhor the idea of a
curved screen. Will the findings of
a huge challenge, he added. “From our point now is new 4K technology, and UC Berkeley’s research sway them?
of view, we see the curved attribute as being everybody is going to the larger Probably not, but we’ll see. Ultimate-
more related to design and aesthetics than an size televisions,” said Jeff Clark, ly, the success of curved TVs will
improvement in consumer enjoyment. And who manages sales training and come down to whether the TV-buy-
as a result, it’s subject to things like fashion, management development for ing public relates to the modern aes-
and you know fashion is in the eye of the hhgregg, which devotes about 10 thetic and thinks it can bring value to
beholder. It’s tough to ask the consumer to percent of its TV inventory to the entertainment experience. And,
pay 300 bucks more for this TV that has a curved TVs. “Overall sales of as LG’s Tim Alessi noted, that’s a
fashionable attribute.” curved sets are better than what we personal choice.
But Schinasi said price premiums are not expected. And the nice thing about the
“quite that black and white.” The higher pric- screen being curved is you’re able to sit in
ing on some of Samsung’s curved-screen TVs
is not just for the screen. “It’s also for the step
up to 4K in many instances and the TV per-
formance itself—the backlight performance,
which contributes to brightness and color
accuracy.”
Another factor is the material cost of
curved panels. “We know curved panels
themselves carry a roughly 20 to 30 percent
premium,” Gagnon noted, “which leads me
to believe Samsung is not making much
money on curved sets.”

Curved Here to Stay?

“I think curved screens will have staying
power,” said Brian Markwalter, senior vice
president of research and standards for the
Consumer Electronics Association, producer
of CES, the world’s largest consumer
technology show. “It’s definitely differentiating
and attracts some attention. I think we’ll see
combinations of improved display character-
istics and form factors. We saw a 65-inch
curved OLED at 2015 CES that weighs 35
pounds. That’s a pretty stunning form factor,
and the picture is better than what most
consumers have.” • Samsung JU7500 Series

soundandvision.com 33
 Luxury
Housing
Spruce up your home theater with
these unique upgrades.
You’ve got the gear, but when it comes time to show it off, can you walk the walk? There are many approaches to
displaying or hiding your home theater equipment and a multitude of furniture, mount, and accessory products
out there. Here are just a few that, we think, put their own unique spin on your personal space.

Flexible Flying
BDI offers many high-quality standalone home theater cabinets, but its
Semblance modular system, offered in various configurations for storage,
office, or theater use, offers an uncommon level of design flexibility. The
pre-selected 5423-TJ system ($6,840 as shown) is available in natural
stained cherry, walnut, espresso stained oak, and chocolate stained
walnut; dimensions are 79.5 x 130 x 22 (HxWxD). The open-backed shelves
feature fingerprint-resistant micro-etched tempered glass shelves and are
16.5 inches deep to accommodate tighter spaces, while the Mirage main
cabinet when included boasts a 22-inch depth for hiding larger compo-
nents. Optional wire-management kits conceal cables and route them
down the back edges of the thick side panels for a clean, contemporary
look. Additional modules include enclosed storage units with opaque
glass doors and soft-close hinges, desk and drawer units, and others.
bdi.com

34 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

You’re Fired!
Bello’s newest line of A/V furniture, including the
Manhattan cabinet shown here ($1,000), puts the heat
on with a highly adjustable Spectrafire Plus electric
fireplace that offers users control of flame colors (five
of them), speed, and intensity, as well as a thermostat
for the integrated space heater. There’s even a remote
control and sleep timer. Measuring in at
26 x 76 x 18 inches (HxWxD), the
cabinet comes in cocoa finish with
black trim and handles TVs up to 175
pounds and 80 inches diagonal.
There are dark-tinted tempered glass
doors that pass IR signals to the four
hidden component shelves, a built-in
cable-management system, and
internal air slots to allow convection
cooling of your gear.
bello.com

Yes, You Can Sit on It

Theater seating can range from low-budget specials you
might think twice about putting in your home to high-end,
uber-pricey lounges and sofas with fancy flourishes and
custom upholstery. Salamander Designs now offers an
attractive alternative to its premium, custom seating in the
T3 recliner ($1,300 each), part of its AV Basics line. By
offering a standardized package, the company keeps costs
down and quality up. The T3 is shown here in black bonded
leather—the only color it comes in—with included black
steel cupholders. You get solid construction in a motorized,
“wall-away” recliner at an affordable price. Of course, if
you’re looking for something fancier, you can always visit the
Custom Configurator at the company’s Website to create
your own dream seating arrangement from any of their
premium lines.
salamander.com

Third Screen’s the Charm

Diamond Case Design is both furniture maker and home theater installation company, so they come
at their products from a “what’s possible” perspective. Example: the Triple Play (starting at $5,999),
which can house up to a 70-inch main television plus two hidden screens up to 32 inches on
retractable wings. It’s offered in two standard styles, a modern design (shown here with a 65-inch TV
and speakers) and traditional styling with raised
doors, fluting, and crown moldings. Dimensions
are typically 81 x 76 x 22 inches (HxWxD), though
every piece is made to order and customizable
for size, style, and finish (including a match to
existing furnishings). For additional cost,
Diamond Case can even motorize the wings or
add matrix switching for the TVs.
diamondcase.com

soundandvision.com 35
Sweet Reflections
Mirror-hidden TVs that make themselves visible when powered up aren’t brand new,
but Hiframe’s approach is unique. You start with your own flat-panel TV and purchase
any of Hiframe’s self-contained designer wall cabinets to enclose your set behind the
glass, either mirrored or various colors. At top, the Dual Electric Fireplace wall (102 x 79
x 16 inches (HxWxD), $21,495 as shown) accommodates TVs up to 80 inches and
integrates electric fireplace units that use LEDs and water vapor from refillable water
cartridges for a convincing flame effect; it’s seen here with a 65-inch TV and is available
in Mirabello Mirror or Black glass, both of which allow the TV image to pass through
when the set is active. At right, the Kastiel Cube (87 x 87 x 4 inches (HxWxD), $19,495
as shown) handles TVs up to 70 inches behind mirror or black glass; the custom-order
outer frame is included (there are several colors/designs to choose from). Both models
can be outfitted with LED edge-lighting around the frame.
hiframe.com

Sonos Sitting Pretty

The Sonos wireless multiroom audio system is so popular now that, in almost Apple-like fashion,
third-party accessory makers are stepping up to provide customized solutions. The recently introduced
WSS2 pedestal floor stands from Sanus ($100/pr) are made to support the Sonos Play:1 speakers (below)
or the larger Play:3 (left) in either horizontal or vertical orientation. Stand height is 34 inches, and three
different mounting brackets are included to accommodate the two models without blocking the power or
Ethernet ports. Features include an integrated wire channel through the column and base that hides
cables, adjustable carpet spikes and rubber feet, and a choice of black or white finish.
sanus.com
TEST REPORT

Hitting New Heights

By David Vaughn
there are connectors for HDMI,
headphone, Audyssey mic, and

Marantz AV8802 Surround auxiliary analog audio/video.

The rear panel is well laid out and
accommodates 15 individual

Processor that have twice the reserve than

balanced and unbalanced output
connections. This includes dual
subwoofer outputs with XLR and RCA
PRICE $3,999 AT A GLANCE what was in the vaunted AV8801. connections for each. These are on a
As with its predecessor, the build single channel, but there are
IT’S BEEN A LITTLE MORE THAN Plus quality of the AV8802 is outstanding. independent level settings for each
two years since I reviewed the Q 11.1 channels with Audys- In addition to the upgrades listed subwoofer. Note that even with all
Marantz AV8801 surround processor sey MultEQ XT processing above, the unit has a dual-layer these connections, a maximum of
(Home Theater, May 2013, and Q Dolby Atmos, Auro-3D, and copper chassis that’s carried over 11.1 independent channels may be
soundandvision.com), and I liked DTS:X surround from the AV8801, which helps isolate playing at once. There are seven
that model so much, it never left my Q Full 4K video processing the electronics from outside HDMI 2.0 inputs, three outputs
system. At the time, I thought it was upgradable to HDCP 2.2 interference. (Monitor 1 with ARC, Monitor 2, and
the best-sounding pre/pro I had ever If you’ve liked the look of past Zone 2), dual component inputs/
owned, and I had no real desire to Marantz AVRs and pre/pros, then outputs, and enough gold-plated
upgrade anytime soon. That all
Minus you’ll be happy to know that the analog inputs and outputs to satisfy
changed last fall when Dolby Q Limited range for remote design philosophy hasn’t changed. most every audio need you could
announced that Atmos for the home sensor The AV8802 has the same classy think of. Rounding out the features on
was on its way. I started thinking how curved front panel and sparse layout, the back panel are a moving-magnet
I could finagle four extra speakers which includes a volume knob on the phono input, dual antenna hookups
into my room—because for some feedback HDAM-SA2 modules, right, a source select knob on the left, for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, HD Radio
reason, I have this overwhelming along with improved jitter-reduction a power on/standby button, and a (AM/FM) connection, a single set of
desire to stay on the cutting edge of circuitry for the optical, coaxial, and simple porthole display showing the XLR balanced inputs, and a second
home theater technology, regardless HDMI inputs. If that’s not enough, selected source and volume level. USB input in case you want to
of the personal expense. the engineers also included a There’s a flip-down door beneath the permanently attach a storage device
lower-noise toroidal power porthole that reveals navigation and loaded with music and photos.
Upping the Ante transformer (derived directly from other controls along with a large Video processing is handled by an
The AV8801 was tricked out to the the PM-11S3), 768-kilohertz/32-bit traditional LCD. In addition to the Analog Devices ADV8003 chip, which
nines with virtually every bell and DACs (AKM4490), and capacitors plethora of discrete control buttons, performs admirably. Additionally, the
whistle that could be found at the
time in a pre/pro, and the same is true
of the AV8802. Networking goodies
include Apple’s AirPlay, Pandora,
SiriusXM, Internet Radio, Spotify
Connect, and Flickr. In lieu of the
four-port Ethernet hub that was on
the AV8801, there’s a single Ethernet
jack on the rear, but now you get
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as DNLA
1.5 support for streaming audio files
from your local computer network.
The upgrades don’t stop there.
Marantz’s engineers dissected every
critical component for the AV8802—
including the transformer, the DACs,
the HDAMs (the company’s
proprietary amplifier modules),
and the filter capacitors—and relied
on trickle-down technology from
the company’s Reference line,
specifically the PM-11S3 integrated
stereo amplifier. The 11.1-channel
preamp section utilizes balanced
outputs. Enhancements include
brand-new, fully discrete current-

38 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com


Marantz AV8802 Surround Processor
Audio Performance
Video Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
AV8802 has 4K video processing with
the ability to scale current sources to
UHD (3840 x 2160), and while the
initial units shipping into retail won’t
comply with HDCP 2.2, Marantz says
it will begin offering a free hardware
upgrade at some undesignated point
in the future in order to conform with
the new copy-protection scheme
(you’ll have to pay for one-way
shipping). One thing I love about
Marantz’s video implementation is the
ability to customize the video output
by source, so if you want the
1080p/24 signal from your Blu-ray
player to be unprocessed but your
cable/satellite signal to be upcon-
verted to 1080p or 4K, you can make
this choice in the setup menu.
The included remote is competent
in its layout and fits nicely in your
hand. Thankfully it’s backlit, so it’s
easy to see in a darkened room.
However, as with my reference
Marantz AV8801, the remote sensor
on the AV8802 is quite a bit less
sensitive than those on my other
components, and in my space, it only
responds to commands if you are
within 15 feet of the unit. While this
may not be an issue for most folks, I
sometimes watch or listen from an
adjoining room, and these pre/pros
have been the only pieces in
my rack that won’t
THE VERDICT
Noticeably improved sound quality over its prede-
cessor plus Atmos, Auro-3D, and DTS:X surround pro-
cessing make the Marantz AV8802 a top-notch
upgrade.
respond from 16 feet away to either
the factory remote or my URC
universal. Of course, if you use an RF
remote or control system with a
receiver hub, it won’t be a problem.
Setting Up
Marantz has the best user interface
system I’ve come across (shared by
sister company Denon). It’s extremely
intuitive, and it looks pretty, too.
When you fire up the AV8802 for the
first time, a guided setup “assistant”
will greet you and walk you through
hooking up the various components
to your new toy. The only downside
of this setup is that I’ve never been a
big fan of hooking up wires while the
unit is powered up, but if you need it,
it’s there. Regardless, once you have
all your amplifiers hooked up—I used
a total of 11 channels in order to
take full advantage of the Atmos
capabilities—you can then perform
an Audyssey calibration by plugging
the supplied mic into the front of the
AV8802.
My first calibration didn’t go very
well, with the unit setting my trims
much too low, especially for my
subwoofers. Perplexed, I ran through
the process a second time, which
worked perfectly. I may not have had
the mic situated properly the
first time.
Whether you’re a fan
of Audyssey or not, I
love how the
company’s auto
calibration simply nails
the speaker distances
down to a tenth of a
foot, at least in my
space. The AV8802 has
the Platinum Suite of
Audyssey technolo-
gies, including MultEQ
XT32, Sub EQ HT, and
LFC (Low Frequency
Containment).
Additionally, the unit is
Audyssey Pro–ready for
even more acoustical
calibration accuracy
when implemented by
a qualified professional
using Audyssey’s Pro
Installation Kit. My
colleague Kris Deering
has opined that
Audyssey should allow
• A sleek flip-down
door covers the front-
panel controls.
MARANTZ AV8802 SURROUND PROCESSOR
PRICE: $3,999
Marantz • (201) 762-6500 • us.marantz.com
more flexibility (such
as only equalizing the
subs or telling the
software to only
measure below 200
hertz for further
customization), which
I agree with
completely. That said, I
think Audyssey and theirr
implementation partners are trying to
keep things as simple and automated
as possible to make standard
calibration a plug-and-play solution
for their customers.
Another Format War?
Dolby isn’t the only company out
there promoting new audio formats
that make use of overhead height
channels. Along with Atmos,
Auro-3D was also well received at
last September’s CEDIA Expo, and
as I write this, DTS’s answer to the
object-based Atmos system, DTS:X,
is said to be nearing introduction.
Marantz, in an unusually thorough
commitment to future-proofness,
has you covered on all three fronts.
The AV8802 ships with Atmos
capabilities, and an Auro-3D
firmware upgrade costs $199. The
company also told us that, before
the end of 2015, a DTS:X update will
be available (no decision has been
made about whether this will be free
or incur a nominal charge). What’s
more, while Atmos and Auro-3D, at
least, normally require you to commit
in advance to different speaker
locations for some of the surround
channels, Marantz plans to mitigate
this by allowing a unified speaker
layout for all three formats, leing
you switch easily among them to
accommodate different soware.
Format war? Not with the AV8802.
Look Out Above!
My audio system consists of three
M&K S150 speakers across the
SURROUND PROCESSOR
front, four SS150 surround speakers
mounted approximately 6.5 feet from
the floor (not conforming to Dolby’s
recommendations for Atmos, but I
own them and there’s no other way
to place them in my living space),
four Atlantic Technology IC-6-OBA
in-ceiling speakers for Atmos height
duties, and dual subwoofers—a Hsu
Research VTF-15 MK2 and an SVS
PC-Ultra. Amplification is provided
by a Parasound Halo A 51 for the
three front speakers and L/R
surrounds, with a Parasound
ZoneMaster 1250 bridged to six
channels for the rear surrounds and
four Atmos overhead speakers.
When I finally got to audition
Atmos-enabled discs at home, I
found that they really help draw you
into the film much more than I had
anticipated. In The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay, Part 1, the Capitol has
grown tired of District 13’s rebellious
ways and decides to bomb its
citizens into submission. We’re taken
into the command center of the
district as the explosions begin, and
wowza!—your fight-or-flight
instincts will have you ducking for
cover as the roof seems ready to
cave in. This is just one of many
scenes that make great use of the
additional channels.
Unfortunately, the number of
Atmos-enabled titles on Blu-ray can
still be counted on two hands—and
the number of really high-caliber
movies for the moment is limited to a
couple of fingers. But thankfully,
Dolby has a new derived-surround
soundandvision.com 39
TEST REPORT
Test Bench • The supplied
remote is backlit
and nicely laid out.
Marantz AV8802 Surround Processor
algorithm—Dolby
Surround Upmixer
(DSU)—which allows
you to take full
advantage of your
Atmos-enabled system
with traditional
channel-based audio
tracks. The additional
speakers definitely add
to the atmosphere of
movies. For example,
there’s a scene in
Captain Phillips where
pirates storm a
container ship. The
Frequency response at preamp outputs of Dolby Digital decoder: Le only way the ship can
(aqua): –0.04 dB @ 20 Hz, –2.11 dB @ 20 kHz. Center (green): –0.04 dB defend itself is with fire
@ 20 Hz, –2.12 dB @ 20 kHz. LFE (purple): Normalized to level @ 40 hoses (talk about
Hz: +0.01 dB @ 20 Hz, upper –3 dB @ 118 Hz, upper –6 dB @ 121 Hz. taking a knife to a gun
fight!), and when the
Analog frequency response, Pure Direct mode: camera switches to the
–0.14 dB @ 10 Hz perspective of the
–0.04 dB @ 20 Hz pirates, the Atmos
–0.01 dB @ 20 kHz overhead speakers
–0.05 dB @ 50 kHz come into play and add
to that feeling of the
Analog frequency response w signal processing: water coming down on you—a fact I
–0.84 dB @ 10 Hz verified by manually turning off the
–0.25 dB @ 20 Hz amp supplying power to the
–3.29 dB @ 20 kHz overhead speakers to gauge the
–55.14 dB @ 50 kHz effect. My only gripe with the
upmixing was that there was some
Response from multichannel input to main output: –0.13 dB @ 10 Hz, occasional score bleed to the front
–0.04 dB @ 20 Hz, –0.01 dB @ 20 kHz, –0.06 dB @ 50 kHz. Analog ceiling speakers that could
THD+N: less than 0.008% @ 1 kHz w 100-millivolt input and volume overpower the dialogue, but this
control set to 82.5. Crosstalk w 100-mV input: –92.21 dB le to right, might have been because the front
–93.16 dB right to le. Signal-to-noise ratio w “A” weighting: –130.38 overhead speakers were set a tad hot
dBrA.—MJP by Audyssey. (Dolby needs to release
test tones on their demo discs.)
VIDEO The Marantz sailed through our HDMI benchmark tests when While I was wowed and amazed
processing an HDMI signal, with the exception of the Chroma by Atmos and DSU on movies, the
Resolution test from the Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark disc, where two-channel performance of the
the lower right box showed some rolloff of the chroma signal. This AV8802 is what really blew me away.
culminated in a failed score, but this failure is not uncommon in AVRs The hardware upgrades done by the
and processors, and the deficiency didn’t show up in my normal Marantz engineers revealed
viewing of theatrical material.—DV themselves in critical listening tests.
The soundstage is deeper and wider,
SPECS Auto Setup/Room EQ: Audyssey MultEQ XT32 •
Video Processing: Analog Devices • Dimensions (WxHxD, Inches):
and voices are crisper and clearer
when compared with my AV8801. I
recently had a Krell Foundation pre/
17.3 x 15.3 x 7.3 • Weight (Pounds): 30.6 • Video Inputs: HDMI 2.0 (8),
component video (3), composite video (4) • Audio Inputs: Coaxial
digital (2), optical digital (2), stereo analog RCA (7), stereo analog XLR
(1), phono (1), 7.1-channel input (1) • Additional: USB (2), Ethernet (1),
Wi-Fi antenna (1), Bluetooth antenna (1), IR remote (1), AM (1), FM (1)
• Video Outputs: HDMI 1.4a (3), component video (2), composite
video (2) • Audio Outputs: Stereo analog (2), 13.2 pre-out XLR (1), 13.2
pre-out RCA (1), ¼-inch headphone (1) • Additional: RS-232 (1), 12-volt
trigger (2)
• The Marantz’s rear panel packs 15 individual
balanced and unbalanced outputs.
40 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
pro in my rack, which was
head and shoulders better
than the AV8801 on
two-channel listening, but
the AV8802 has closed
the gap considerably in
this regard (at only
two-thirds the price of the
$6,500 Krell).
This superb audio
quality came to light on
the song “Second
Choice,” from the Marti
Jones album Live at Spirit
Square. It features a bass
guitar, some bongo
drums, and Jones’
fabulous voice. The bass
is tight, and the layered
track transports you
directly to the live
performance. The
Marantz picked up the
subtle aspects of the
recording, such as the
bassist’s fingers sliding
along the strings. This has
become one of the first audio
recordings I use to test out new gear,
and the AV8802 definitely made it
shine.
Conclusion
I could wax poetic about the
prowess of the AV8802 for several
more paragraphs, but alas, the
dreaded word count has caught up
with me. After experiencing Atmos in
my home, I have to admit: There’s no
way I can ever go back to a
conventional five- or seven-channel
system. Furthermore, when the
considerable improvement in
two-channel performance is
factored in, this is an easy upgrade
to consider. In fact, the AV8802
would be my first choice for our Top
Pick of the Year, and it will be tough
to knock off its perch as the rest of
2015 plays out. Highly recom-
mended.
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TEST REPORT
Rage Against
the Machine
By Mark Fleischmann
Dynaudio Xeo 6 Loudspeaker
PRICE $4,000 as reviewed
IN THE HISTORY OF CIVIL UNREST,
there has never been anything quite
like the audio rebellion. People are
using half-inch-thick A/V receiver
manuals as tinder and then throwing
their receivers onto the flames.
Doghouse-sized stereo amps and
preamps are being spray-painted in
the dead of night with slogans like
“Where’s the wireless?” Wrist-thick
speaker cables lay coiled on curbs,
next to garbage cans, where
passing dogs do what comes
naturally. Just the other day, I turned
on the TV and saw a guy in a
Dynaudio T-shirt giving a speech to
an angry mob. “Burn your cables!”
he shouted. “Sell your amp! Ditch
everything that currently clogs up
your system!”
Rebel Yell
Kidding aside, those quotes are
straight from Dynaudio literature (I
added the exclamation points). The
Xeo speakers rebel against the
conventional architecture of audio
systems: They are active, meaning
self-powered, so kiss your amps
goodbye. They all but eliminate
analog signal paths by handling
preamp and crossover functions in
the digital domain and employing
switching amplifiers. Triple zone
selection is built in. And they are
wireless, receiving signals from a
Xeo Hub. All signal sources are wired
into the Hub. The only wired
connections to the speakers are their
power cables.
There are two new second-
generation Xeo models, the
floorstanding Xeo 6 and stand-mount
The Xeo 6 appeals to a listener who wants a
simplified music system.
42 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
AT A GLANCE
Plus
Q Built-in triamplification
Q Wireless link to sources
Q Musically versatile sound
Minus
Q 16-bit transmission ceiling
Xeo 4. They are for two-channel use
only; there is no matching center. If
you want to try a 2.0 system for your
home theater, you’re free to connect a
disc player and other sources to the
Hub in stereo downmix mode.
The Xeo 6 mini-tower, reviewed
here, mates one of Dynaudio’s
famous textile-dome tweeters with a
pair of 5.5-inch magnesium silicate
polymer-cone bass drivers in a
33-inch-tall rear-ported enclosure.
The slim cabinet, in white or black
satin lacquer, has a magnetically
attached grille and outrigger feet that
allow the speaker to be leveled on
spikes or dampers.
Each speaker gets 150 watts of
internal amplification, with 50 watts
going to each of the three drivers.
The amplifier technology is licensed
from Texas Instruments, having been
first utilized by TacT Audio and
originally developed by Denmark’s
Toccata Technology, a company TI
acquired in 2000. They are not Class
D, Dynaudio says, but TDAA, which
stands for True Digital Audio
Amplifier. Dynaudio’s Michael
Manousselis explains:
Dynaudio Xeo 6 Loudspeaker
Performance
Build Quality
Value
Xeo Hub, Link, Extender,
Connect
The transmier is the 6-inch-wide
Xeo Hub (purchased separately for
$300). One is required for every
system, and a single Xeo Hub can
handle up to three pairs of
“The TDAA design
consists of a PCM-
PWM modulator
device and a PWM
power output device. This
system accepts a serial PCM
digital audio stream and
converts it to a PWM audio
stream, providing a large-signal
PWM output. This digital PWM
signal is then demodulated,
providing power output to drive
the loudspeakers. Thus, no
DAC is needed in a Xeo system,
and one of the reasons for the
sound quality is that there is no
conversion loss. Also, our
engineers are able to program
the DSPs to optimize each amp
for the drivers.”
A little receiver module sits
atop each speaker. It is
nonremovable and includes
power, volume plus, and volume
minus buttons. A small display
has a pinpoint LED that glows
blue for active signal reception,
flashes red for signal hunting,
and glows red for off. Below that
is a line of white LEDs that light
up for signal hunting and volume
setting.
On the back of the speaker is
a power jack—and no other
jacks!—plus a trio of three-way
switches. One sets Left, Right, or
Mono operation. Another selects
zones Red, Green, or Blue. The
third switch is a boundary
compensator that shapes bass
according to speaker placement.
The Natural setting maximizes
bass response; Wall and Corner
adjust for progressively more
room reinforcement.
 THE VERDICT
The Dynaudio Xeo 6 active
wireless speakers are a great-
sounding way to uncluer a
two-channel music system.
speakers, so you can add extra pairs
of the Xeo 6 ($3,700/pair) or the
compact Xeo 4 ($2,100/pair) to work
in second or third zones with
independent source and volume
control for each. The Hub’s front is
bare except for a pinpoint LED that
glows blue when the transmitter is
active and red otherwise. On the
back are two analog inputs (one
RCA, one mini-jack), two digital
inputs (one coaxial, one optical), a
• The Xeo 6 is available in a
white or black finish.
USB input, and an Ethernet input, the
latter for updates only. Auto Play
finds the active source. The Hub
does not natively support Bluetooth
or AirPlay (though a Bluetooth
solution is on the way).
The transmitter has a toggle
switch for three frequency IDs.
Position A corresponds to the
2.4-gigahertz band. If there’s a lot of
Wi-Fi traffic in your household, B or C
shifts the frequency up to 5.2 or 5.8
GHz. Transmission from Hub to
speakers has a bit depth of 16 and a
sampling rate of 48 kilohertz, slightly
above CD quality but below the 24
bits and higher sampling rates of
high-resolution audio. While the Hub
can handle 96/24 sources, they are
converted to 48/16 for transmission.
However, that’s lossless 48/16 PCM,
using the KleerNet platform, with no
lossy compression or discarding of
data. Efforts have been made to
reduce jitter. Transmission distance is
claimed to be about 65 feet. The
Hub’s remote control has buttons for
power on/off, volume up/down, mute,
input, and zone selection.
In addition to the Xeo Hub
transmitter, Dynaudio offers other
options. The Xeo Extender ($180)
handles difficult transmission
conditions, such as long corridors,
partition walls, or line-of-sight
distances of up to 164 feet. The Xeo
Link ($180) is a separate receiver box
with analog RCA, digital coaxial, and
digital optical outputs. It can be used
to feed a powered sub, headphone
amp, or even another audio system,
which might include an older
generation of Xeo. The Link can run in
the same zone with the Xeo speakers,
taking over their volume control and
input selection, or in a separate zone,
independent of the speakers. This
effectively makes the system
multisource as well as multiroom. The
forthcoming Dynaudio Connect hub
is said to add Bluetooth as well as
Wi-Fi-enabled app control of the
Focus XD and second-generation
Xeo systems.
Setup was easy. I placed the Xeo
speakers in my room’s best
two-channel position with their
baffles 3.5 feet from the wall, which
SPEAKER SYSTEM
DYNAUDIO XEO 6 SPEAKER SYSTEM
PRICE: $4,000 (Xeo 6, $3,700 pr; Xeo Hub, $300 ea)
Dynaudio • (847) 730-3280 • dynaudio.com/us
was lined with LP shelves, and 4.5
feet from the corners. This afforded
little wall or corner reinforcement, so I
chose the Natural EQ setting. I
toggled to Left for the left speaker
and to Right for the right speaker. The
Zone setting was Red, though I didn’t
use more than one zone.
The Xeo Hub went onto my rack,
where it received digital coaxial input
from an Oppo BDP-83SE universal
disc player and analog input from a
Denon PRA-S10 preamp, the latter
serving a Micro Seiki BL-21 turntable
with Shure V15MxVR/N97XE
cartridge. The first Hub I tried worked
except for its USB input; the second
sample worked fine. There was no
AVR-type auto setup to run, no
DAC-type software installation. All
three transmission frequencies any missing pieces. [Ed. Note: I’d say
worked flawlessly in my RFI-rich remarkably even in the bass; see
urban New York City apartment page 44.—RS]
environment, with Hub and speakers With the 16-bit transmission
in the same room. system, playing CDs made a lot of
sense, and I raided my tall Boltz
A Lot of CDs and a Little shelves day after day. The Xeo 6
Vinyl seemed especially adept with
Dynaudio’s signature sound isn’t recordings that underwhelm through
impaired by the lossless wireless my less forgiving Paradigm/Pioneer
transmission. It’s a big, smooth, and Era/Peachtree systems. For
feel-good approach that flatters any instance, Jan Akkerman’s Minor
kind of music or recording. This Details, an album pieced together
particular version is especially from MIDI files e-mailed among his
dynamic, perhaps thanks to the band members’ various home
internal amplification. The silky, studios, usually sounds canned—yet
slightly reserved top end is typical of the Dynaudio tweeters smoothed
Dynaudio textile tweeters. The over the mechanical-sounding
tower’s dual woofers offer taut bass backing tracks and lofted the guitar
that reaches down through musically over them like a virtuoso. Similarly,
relevant frequencies with ease. I with King Crimson’s Live at the
hesitate to say the bass response is Orpheum, a schematic account
even, because our Test Bench of the current incarnation’s power-
measurements can make a better ful three-drummer lineup, the
assessment of that, but I didn’t sense Dynaudios seemed to find more tone
• The Xeo Hub transmits signal sources wirelessly up to 65 feet.
soundandvision.com 43
TEST REPORT

ON THE See soundandvisionmag.com

WEB for full lab results and technical definitions
• The Xeo Extender extends the Xeo Hub’s reception range.

Test Bench
Dynaudio Xeo 6 Loudspeaker

color and cohesion than my usual best-case piano recording, Karl

equipment does. Engel’s Schumann Edition: Das
The beautifully recorded Klavierwerk IV, a Telefunken box set. C

Thompson Family CD never sounded
better. The voices of siblings Kami
and Teddy poured out of the
speakers like melted butter, while the
emotionally charged voice of their
mother, Linda, and the cantankerous
baritone of their father, Richard,
imaged solidly with their own unique
timbres. Carlos Kleiber’s reference-
standard Deutsche Grammophon
recording of Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 7 with the Vienna Philharmonic
gave the Dynaudios straight As for
fine-tuning of the famous string
sound and overall lushness.
Vinyl was a trip in itself. On the title
track of the Clash’s London Calling,
the dual woofers swung authorita-
tively (notwithstanding the line “we
ain’t got no swing”) and brought out
the doomy bass line and meaty drum
sound. The speakers also met the
more subtle dynamic demands of a
Every pitch was clear, the left hand
had appropriate (but not overstated)
weight, the top end was sweet and
open, and the midrange coherence
enabled the pianist to practically sing
Schumann’s elegant melodies.
Movie Cameo
For a brief movie demo, I relocated
the Xeo speakers from the short-wall
position I use for two-channel music
to the long-wall position I use for my
surround system, and I fed them with
a PCM stereo downmix from the
Oppo’s coaxial output. This speaker
position afforded more wall
reinforcement, as I found minutes
into the Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicle
Edge of Tomorrow (Blu-ray, DTS-HD
Master Audio). As helicopters
swarmed London, bass congestion
became apparent. So I switched the
boundary compensator from Natural
Xeo 6 (purple) +0.84/–4.59 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 42 Hz, –6 dB
@ 36 Hz.—MJP
SPECS Xeo 6: 5.5 in magnesium silicate polymer-cone
woofer (2), 1 in textile-dome tweeter; 6.75 x 33 x 10.5 in (WxHxD);
32.3 lb
to Wall and was pleased to hear how
adroitly the bass response adapted
to different room acoustics. Dialogue
was quite clear, and with 50 watts
going to each driver, the bombastic
movie’s relentlessly repetitive
time-warp battle scenes came
through with magnificent dynamism.
When I paused the movie, the
system would power down after a
minute or so, but unpausing the disc
player instantly powered it back up.
I started this review by whimsically
suggesting that folks might buy a Xeo
system and throw their AVRs onto a
bonfire. Let me get serious long
enough to note that systems based
on active wireless speakers or AVRs
(or soundbars or stereo preamps, for
that matter) are aimed at separate
audiences. Wear whichever
T-shirt fits you best. A
Dynaudio Xeo system
won’t replace all the
functionality of an
AVR or achieve
the near-zero-footprint status of a
soundbar. But the Xeo 6 undeniably
appeals to a listener who wants a
simplified music system and has floor
space for a modestly sized pair of
loudspeakers. It is easy to set up and
use. Its ingenious architecture affords
flexibility in speaker placement and
multizone use. And though pricey, it
does cover the cost of speakers, six
channels of amplification, and—via
the Hub—what amounts to a wireless
preamp. While those with growing
hi-res audio libraries should note the
16-bit limit of the transmission
system, that doesn’t prevent the Xeo
6 from loving all kinds of music. I
certainly loved
having it
around.
Audio editor
Mark Fleischmann is
also the author of the
annually updated book
Practical Home Theater
(quietriverpress.com).

• The Xeo Link receives wireless signals from the Xeo Hub
and also outputs analog and digital signals.
• The Xeo remote control
handles speaker volume and source
selection.
44 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
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TEST REPORT
Picture Near-
Perfect
By Rob Sabin
Panasonic TC-65AX900U LCD
Ultra HDTV
PRICE $7,199
WHEN PANASONIC LEFT THE
plasma market in late 2013 to the
whimpers of videophiles worldwide,
the company committed to
delivering an LED-backlit LCD that
would rival the image of their
best-ever TV—the ZT60 that was
their plasma swan song. The first
Panny Ultra HD LCD to follow, the
edge-lit TC-65AX800U (reviewed
January 2015, available at sound-
andvision.com), was a fine TV,
though hardly a breakout set. But in
late 2014, Panasonic rolled out their
flagship AX900U series at 55 and 65
inches, the latter of which we now
review here.
And, on paper at least, what a set it
is: a full-array, local-dimming back-
light (with an unspecified number of
zones); Panasonic’s Studio Master
Drive, which uses a “high color-space
LED backlight” to deliver rich color
and “a wide color gamut that
approaches the level of a plasma
screen”; a high-performance IPS
(in-plane switching) panel that pretty
much annihilates the restrictive
viewing angle afflicting most other
LCD HDTVs; today’s de rigueur 3840
x 2160 Ultra HD resolution with full HD
3D playback; and more picture
tweaks than any heavily instrumented
gearhead could ever want.
All of this comes at a price, and a
steep one at that: $7,199, with the set
available only through special order at
Magnolia Home Theater. This for a TV,
I might add, that is already a bit less
than state-of-the-art, despite Panason-
ic’s best effort to future-proof it last
year with cutting-edge technology.
To begin, the TC-65AX900U boasts
none of the latest HDR (high dynamic
range) brightness-boosting tricks that
46 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
Panasonic 65AX900U LCD Ultra HDTV
2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
copyright management. There’s a
menu setting that can make the set
compliant with 4K sources offering
4:4:4 color up to 10 bit. In addition, the
TV has a wide color gamut option that
is said to deliver 98 percent of the DCI
specification, which is now a target for
future Ultra HD content with enhanced
color and should be deliverable by the
coming UHD Blu-ray format. That
gamut is available to the Vivid,
Standard, Home Theater, and Custom
picture presets. However, it’s not clear
front, it’s pretty much all screen, with whether the set will recognize content
AT A GLANCE only a fine, narrow bezel on three that has been specifically created for
sides and a larger band on the the DCI gamut and play it back
Plus bottom that has the Panasonic logo faithfully with the creator’s intent, or
Q Stunning color and a stylish blue power indicator instead see the more narrow Rec. 709
Q Gorgeously detailed 4K (defeatable). If you don’t like the gamut and then apply an algorithm to
playback aesthetic, or you find it impractical artificially pump up the colors to take
Q A boatload of picture (the set weighs 115 pounds with the advantage of the wider gamut. This
tweaks stand, and my 36-inch-wide cart is what’s done with all of the wide
barely supported it with a few inches color-space options on today’s
hanging off each side), you can displays while playing today’s Rec.
Minus always mount it on the wall. 709 content. We always recommend
Q Not quite plasma-like Connections around back include watching in the native color gamut for
blacks and shadow detail four HDMI inputs—one with ARC, all which the content was created to
Q 3D ghosting version 2.0 compliant and rated at 18.2 avoid unnatural and inaccurate color
Q The price gigabits per second for 4K content up effects; the value of a wide color
to 60 hertz, and all with HDCP 2.2 space is questionable in the absence
Samsung’s 2015 SUHD models or
Sony’s new top-line entries will have
this year. And it’s worth noting that the
Panasonic’s breathtaking ticket starts
to approach the $8,999 cost of LG’s
new 65-inch 4K OLED, which, by
nature of its technology, should
surpass it at least in black-level
performance.
However, none of that changes
what this really is: a statement piece
from a manufacturer with tremen-
dously deep engineering talent,
brought to bear on a premium LCD
UHDTV. Let’s take a closer look.
Future by Design
The industrial design of the
TC-65AX900U captures attention by
its very nondescriptness. The
tabletop base is a large 33-pound
slab of metal that attaches to the
panel and hides completely behind it
while propping it up; imagine your
iPad leaning against a brick, and
you’ll get the idea. The bottom edge
of the panel rests fully on the surface
of your furniture, and the panel cants
back ever so slightly. Seen from the
• With a narrow bezel on three
sides, the TC-65AX900U is almost
all screen.
THE VERDICT
Panasonic’s statement Ultra HDTV sucks you in with its alluring image
and doesn’t let go, but its high price is a deterrent.
of content designed to take
advantage of it.
As with Panasonic’s earlier UHD
models, there’s a DisplayPort
connection that might be tapped
by PC gamers or for industrial
applications. Three USB ports
(one version 3.0, the others 2.0) all
successfully played a 4K-resolution
test clip stored on a thumb drive with
H.264 compression, but none could
play the same clip encoded in H.265,
better known as HEVC. However, that
technology is on board for playing
Ultra HD off the streaming platform
via Netflix or other services.
(Presumably, external 4K source
devices, such as a UHD Blu-ray player
or streaming box, will provide their
own HVEC decoding before
delivering a signal to the TV.)
The TC-65AX900U features
Panasonic’s Life+Screen smart TV
GUI, which defaults to a widget-laden
Home Screen when you turn on the
TV. You can choose different
templates for each user, some with
access to weather or a scheduler or
your favorite streaming services
(Netflix, Amazon, Vudu, Hulu, etc.),
but these require you to hit the OK
button on the remote to enter
full-screen viewing each time the set
powers up. There’s a Full Screen
alternative, but what’s lacking is a
hybrid setting that grants full-screen
viewing at turn-on but gains manual
access to one of the more elaborate
Home Screens with a push of the
Home button. Other smart features
include voice commands, a pop-up
camera, and a proximity sensor; when
someone walks by the powered-
down set, it can bring up an Info Bar
with weather and messages and
provide access to your Home Screen
through voice command and facial
recognition. Every morning—and
every time I left the room and
re-entered—the TV greeted me with
my Info Bar as I sat down at my studio
desk some 15 feet away. Don’t worry,
the sensitivity is adjustable, and the
whole feature is defeatable, as is the
intrusive “Smart Viera Banner” that
periodically tacks an advertisement
to the onscreen ticker when you
adjust the volume.
Two remotes come with the
TC-65AX900U: a full-size backlit
HDTV
PANASONIC 65AX900U LCD ULTRA HDTV
PRICE: $7,199
Panasonic • panasonic.com
wand (with an integrated
Netflix button) and a squat
touchpad Bluetooth
remote that I found useful
for turning the set on and
off, controlling volume, and
delivering voice commands
from the built-in micro-
phone. Panasonic’s TV
Remote2 app for iOS and
Android is superb and offers
a SmartCalibration feature
that provides access to a full
range of calibrator adjustments
without ever having to call up an
onscreen menu.
• The sturdy prop stand lets
the panel rest flush on your
Audio quality through the three furniture.
built-in speakers was average for a
flat-panel TV. The Toslink optical detail in dark scenes). The Motion
audio output downconverts all Picture Setting control engages
multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS backlight scanning to improve
soundtracks presented to its HDMI motion rendition; I left it off for most
inputs to two-channel PCM stereo. of my evaluation, but in its Weak
Any soundbar you attach to it should setting, it reduced blur on test clips
ideally have direct digital inputs for all to an acceptable degree without
your devices if you want the best introducing noticeable soap-opera
sound quality. effect. The Pro2 preset turned off
most of the TV’s multitude of
Setup automatic contrast and color
The TC-65AX900U is THX certified adjustments by default.
and comes with both standard THX Out of the box, color for the Pro2
and THX Bright Room modes. Each setting was exceptional, showing
offered a reasonably accurate image white balance and color points with
out of the box, with the color balance Delta E errors well under levels
leaning just a bit too much toward detectable by eye; blue was a touch
red in the mid-brightness range and underrepresented in the middle
color point errors essentially tones, but that’s about all. (See
undetectable. I used these modes Test Bench.) Still, a full calibration
quite happily for a few days of casual improved both. After calibration, the
off-air broadcast viewing and was 2.3 gamma setting delivered the
impressed by the engaging images closest average to my 2.2 target
they produced. But they lock out key across the full brightness range from
calibrator adjustments, including 10 to 100 percent.
controls for 2- and 10-point white The set passed most of our Video
balance, a wide range of gamma Test Bench battery, but it struggled
presets (1.8.x to 2.6) plus 10-point with a 1080i interlaced signal
gamma fine-tuning, and a color delivering the chroma and luma
management system (CMS) to resolution test patterns from
adjust color points of all the primary my Oppo Blu-ray
and secondary colors. After I took
baseline measurements on the
usable presets, I settled on Pro2 as
closest to dead-on accurate for dark
room viewing. Panasonic’s backlight
local-dimming feature is called
Adaptive Backlight Control, which I
eventually moved from its Min
default setting to its Max setting to
achieve the deepest blacks (though
setting it to Mid or Min proved
helpful for extracting more shadow
• At 2.4 inches
thick, the Panasonic
wall-mounts nicely. soundandvision.com 47
TEST REPORT SPECS
Dimensions (WxHxD, Inches): 57.4 x 34.1 x 2.4 (without stand); 57.4 x 34.0 x
See soundandvision.com 14.0 (with stand) • Weight (Pounds): 81.6 (without stand); 114.7 (with stand) •
ON THE
WEB for full lab results and technical 3D Glasses: Passive, 2 pair included, extras model TY-EP3D20U, $19.95 each
definitions • Inputs: HDMI 2.0 with HDCP 2.2, 4K/60Hz compliant (4, 1 with Audio Return
Channel); component video (1); composite video (1, shared with component
video); DisplayPort, 4K/60Hz compliant (1); Bluetooth audio pairing • Out-

Test Bench puts: digital audio optical (1) • Other: Ethernet (1), USB (3), SD card (1)

Panasonic TC-65AX900U LCD Ultra HDTV

player. These issues went
away with a 1080p input
• All four HDMI
inputs are version
BEFORE Calibration 2.0 compliant.
signal, and to be fair, I never
detected any real-world
concerns with 1080i
broadcasts, which looked
stunning. Meanwhile, the
viewing angle from the IPS
panel was outstanding; I
had to step about 50 to 60
degrees off axis in either
AFTER Calibration direction from 7 feet away to
see any drop in contrast,
and even then, the change
was subtle. This is the best
I’ve seen among LCDs.

The Look of Love

Wes Anderson’s The Grand
FULL-ON/FULL-OFF Contrast Ratio: 17,500:1 Budapest Hotel took home
Oscars this year for both
MEASUREMENTS were taken with a DVDO AVLab TPG 4K generator, costume and production
X-Rite i1Pro2 Enhanced spectroradiometer, Klein K10-A colorimeter, and design, and the pristine 1080p Blu-ray
SpectraCal CalMan 3 calibration soware. transfer communicates the director’s
PRE-CALIBRATION measurements were of the Pro2 preset with default personal love affair with color in both
seings. Post-calibration, in Pro2 with the Adaptive Backlight Control set the dress and architecture of the
to Max, black level measured 0.0022 foot-lamberts and peak brightness imaginary Republic of Zubrowka. In
measured 38.5 -L, for a contrast ratio of 17,500:1. With Adaptive this movie, the worn woodgrain
Backlight Control set to Off, black level measured 0.051 -L for a fixtures, orange-and-lime-painted
contrast ratio of 774.5 -L. lobby desk, and badly dated
AVERAGE Delta E for pre-cal grayscale was an excellent 1.6, with a high asparagus-green rug of the Grand
of 2.8 at 70 IRE (70% brightness). Calibration improved this to a Budapest’s run-down 1970s décor
near-perfect 0.8, with the 10 IRE window measuring 2.1 and all others contrast dramatically against the
below 1.0. (Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how closely a saturated red and burgundy carpets
display adheres to the Rec. 709 HD color standard. Levels below 3 are and polished walnut of the hotel’s
considered visibly indistinguishable from perfect.) pre–World War II heyday. The
DELTA E for pre-cal color gamut averaged 1.0, also superb out-of-box TC-65AX900U delivered all of it with
accuracy, with blue the farthest from alignment at 2.4. Calibration mesmerizing purity. Close-ups of the
improved this to 0.6. deep-purple uniforms of the hotel
PRE-CALIBRATION gamma averaged 2.32 with the 2.2 preset staff, each edged with a bead of red
engaged. Calibration resulted in average gamma of 2.16 using the 2.3 chord, showed a striking richness.
preset. At one point, lobby boy Zero (Tony
VIEWING angle was about the best I’ve seen for an LCD thanks to the Revolori) and his bride Agatha
Panasonic’s IPS (in-plane switching) panel type, with no fading of (Saoirse Ronan) plunge through
contrast or color-shiing visible at even 50 to 60 degrees off axis. There the top of a delivery truck from a
was some minor streaking of the backlight visible in the same area on two-story height and land safely
full-field gray paerns that I aributed to the repeated rough handling on a giant cushion of pink boxes
and extensive travel of my heavily used sample; this was not visible in containing gourmet desserts. Of
program material, and I dismissed it as a defect in my specific unit. course, not one of the boxes breaks
Some very subtle haloing around lines of LED clusters behind the or crushes, and the characters’ heads
screen could also be detected with test paerns, but this was also not pop up from among these delightful
visible with real content. pink cubes, each box wrapped in a
THE TC-65AX900U passed our processing tests except for 2:2 cadence sky-blue ribbon that perfectly
tests for SD and HD, and the chroma and luma resolution tests for 1080i matches the uniform Zero has
HD signals (it passed both for 1080p). The cadence results are typical donned as a disguise. It was one of
and largely meaningless, as is the chroma resolution result. The luma many colorful and evocative shots that
test result is more unusual, but I saw nothing to suggest any issues with practically knocked me off my chair
HD broadcasts, the only 1080i signals most people will ever watch.—RS
while watching on the Panasonic. The
set did equally well with the more
muted gray wool uniforms of the state
police and depicted snowy land-
scapes and winter street scenes with
notable neutrality; no tingeing toward
red or blue. Various fleshtones
provided by the ethnically mixed cast
were rendered with a level of subtlety
and delineation reserved for the very
best displays.
The richness and accuracy of the
color on the calibrated set was indeed
plasma-like, a fact well proven when I
finally ran it alongside my reference
flat panel, a well-tuned 60-inch
Panasonic ST60 plasma from the
company’s last year in that category
(review at soundandvision.com).
Scene after scene, the two sets were
shockingly identical—always a
surprise given the potential variance
among different televisions tuned at
different times, but even more so
watching Grand Budapest where
such a wide color palette was tested
over the course of the film. It was only
when I encountered a black-level
torture sequence that the plasma
proved itself the superior performer. In
Chapter 7, Zero and M. Gustave, the
hotel’s legendary concierge (played
by Ralph Fiennes), are in a taxi racing
through a town in darkness, and as
the taxi follows the camera, its

The TC-65AX900U is one of the very

48 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com best LCD televisions I’ve ever seen.
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TEST REPORT
headlights beaming straight into the
lens, the plasma exposed all kinds of
details in the shadowy architecture
that sped by, including both the stone
textures and even the two-tone color
treatment on one of the buildings.
The TC-65AX900U initially failed
to grab these out of the shadows,
leaving instead vague outlines of the
building edges and roof lines, and
none of the subtle color shadings the
plasma delivered. I could put the two
sets on equal footing for this dark
scene by temporarily bringing the
gamma preset down to 1.8, the
lowest setting, though with obviously
washed-out results on brighter
scenes. Placing the Adaptive
Backlight Control on Mid also
helped, but with some sacrifice of
deep blacks. A more permanent
solution was to just use the 10-point
gamma adjustments to tune by eye
at and below the 30 percent
brightness level. But there was no
combination of settings I found that
could provide the same shadow
rendition as the plasma while also
delivering its deepest blacks, which
the TC-65AX900U just never
achieved, either in its letterbox bars
or elsewhere in the image.
Usually, the most detailed scenes
scaled up from 1080p
Blu-rays—close-ups on
characters, showing
facial hair and other
textural details in skin
and clothing—were
rendered with equally
fine precision whether I
was looking at the native
1080p plasma or the
TC-65AX900U’s
internally upscaled
image. But there were a
couple of moments on
longer camera shots
when I thought the
plasma delivered
perhaps a tiny amount of
additional sharpness.
These moments were
rare, however, and I
found no fault with the
scaling of 1080p content
on any test patterns.
3D and 4K
Panasonic supplies two
pair of passive 3D
50 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
glasses. On the default 3D picture
preset, the image was among the
brightest 3D presentations I’ve seen,
and highly detailed given the full HD
resolution delivered to each eye. I
was initially very encouraged, but
crosstalk ghosting was rampant and
quite severe on many scenes across
Avatar, Coraline, and Flying Swords
of Dragon Gate. Changing head
position could only partially mitigate
the issue, and there were no menu
adjustments available to rectify it.
Coraline, as an animated feature,
was the best of the three demos, but
I’m afraid that’s not saying much. On
these three movies, the only ones I
had available to try, 3D was pretty
much unwatchable.
On the other hand, viewing 4K
content on the TC-65AX900U was
nothing short of a giddy treat. I
looked at Ultra HD test patterns from
my DVDO generator, a test clip of
demo footage downloaded to a flash
drive from Ultra Definition Showcase
(uhdcontent.eu), and movies and
nature shorts from Sony’s Video
Unlimited 4K service via the FMP-X10
4K server. When I watched this
material from my 7-foot viewing
distance, there was never a moment
when the TC-65AX900U failed to
blow me away with its
tremendously fine detail
and incredibly rich,
saturated colors. In a
stunning short called
Beneath the Blue Sea, a
close-up of some clown
fish playing among the
anemones—think Finding
Nemo—offered all the
detail and fluorescence
that I’ve seen on the actual
creatures in aquariums.
The fine, crisp edge
around a red-and-green
sea dragon (basically, a
fancy seahorse) made it
pop off the screen, and I
was taken with how
accurately the Panasonic
reproduced that just-
below-the-surface light
I’ve experienced as a
recreational diver. I would
not have believed it, but a
great 4K display like this
one can indeed make
well-shot material—even
• The backlit full-size
remote features a
dedicated Netflix buon.
• A pop-up camera
is provided for facial
recognition.
with no narrative line—breathtaking
and hypnotizing.
To get a sense of the difference
between native 4K versus 1080p
upscaled to 4K, I fed the TC-
65AX900U three versions of Men in
Black 3: the 1080p Blu-ray upscaled
to 4K by the TV, 1080p upscaled to
4K by the Marvell chip in my Oppo
BDP-103 player, and native 4K from
Sony’s server. It wasn’t a perfectly
controlled experiment, but after
duplicating my calibrated settings
on a second HDMI input using the
TV’s copying feature, I connected
the Sony server to one and the Oppo
to the other. I started the movie on
both sources and ran the Blu-ray
player about 20 seconds ahead of
the Sony server playing the native
4K. So, after seeing a scene or a fine
detail in the Blu-ray version on one
input of the TV, I had just enough
time to switch the TV input to the
4K version and view the same
exact scene.
In this case, the advantage of 4K
became quickly apparent from the
7-foot distance. The Oppo’s
upconversion was marginally
sharper on some scenes than the
Panasonic’s built-in scaling, though
not by much and only infrequently.
But the native Ultra HD had an
almost luminescent, three-dimen-
sional quality, thanks to the obvious
additional detail, better-etched
edges around objects, and the way
the extra pixels seemed to somehow
enhance bright highlights. In the
opening sequence, for example,
there’s a tight close-up of the back
of some knee-high black leather
boots worn by one of the characters.
The fine teeth in the silver metal
zipper running the height of each
boot were obviously sharper in the
native 4K, and they picked up the
light better and had more dimen-
sionality. Similarly, the tight
close-ups of the creatures,
gadgets, and faces
inhabiting the rest of the
movie were enhanced
with you-are-there
precision (particularly
noticeable when the
camera was on the deep
ruts and wrinkles of a
now-worn Tommy Lee
Jones). The effects
became harder to detect as I moved
further back, and they remained
most prominent on tight shots, but
even at 16 feet, there was still some
detectable benefit on some scenes.
Caveats: I used two different inputs
on the TV, and there may have been
unknown mastering differences
beyond resolution in the 4K
download versus the exceptional
1080p Blu-ray transfer. But as a
consumer, I’d easily choose the
more pristine 4K version over 1080p
scaled up, at least for this movie and
even using these generally excellent
scalers for the 1080p. I’m sold now:
A good 4K display with native 4K
programming is the real deal. Bring
on the content, and the naysayers.
Conclusion
So, what have we got in the end? A
flagship TV from a company best
known for their superb 1080p
plasma image quality, going all out
to prove they can bump things up to
Ultra HD resolution and achieve the
same level of performance, all while
wearing the handcuffs of inherently
inferior LCD technology. It is, if
anything, a noble cause. But did
they succeed?
Well…mostly. There’s no doubt the
TC-65AX900U qualifies as one of the
very best LCD TVs I’ve ever seen, with
an image that was alluring, engaging,
and eminently satisfying each time I
looked its way. More often than not,
it was indeed equivalent to my
reference plasma in its superb color
rendition and, on most scenes, in its
contrast. Nonetheless, even with its
sophisticated full-array backlight and
much effort put into calibration, I
never quite got its deep blacks to
rival my budget Panasonic ST60
plasma, which cost $1,700 two years
ago. Given the TC-65AX900U’s price,
and with 4K OLED knocking on the
door from elsewhere, it
would have to perform
better than anything
available, in any technology,
to garner my highest,
gotta-have-this recommen-
dation. But I’ve no doubt that
those who seek out the best
that LCD technology has to
offer today will find many
thrilling hours in front of this
marvelous television.
• A small Bluetooth
remote includes a
built-in mic for voice
commands.
TEST REPORT
Three in One
By Mark Fleischmann
Phase Technology Teatro
TSB3.0 Soundbar
PRICE $738
THIS MIGHT SEEM A RADICAL
concept, but what if a soundbar were
just a speaker, or two or three? What
if it had no internal amplifiers, just
some really good drivers, a
thoughtfully engineered crossover,
and sets of speaker terminals, like
any other quality loudspeaker?
Is this kind of soundbar a good
idea? That depends on what kind of
system you want—or, more
specifically, whether you want a
standalone audio/video receiver in
your system. For some people, the
AVR is like the guy you’d cross the
street to avoid, someone who
confuses and bedevils you. For
others, the AVR is the key to a
cornucopia of features, the
cornerstone of a system that unlocks
all your desires.
The Phase Technology Teatro
TSB3.0 is the kind of soundbar that
requires an AVR. Because it has no
built-in amp, it’s classified as a
passive soundbar. Ironically, despite
the general connotations of the
words passive and active, an ampless
passive bar opens up more
possibilities than an amp-equipped
active bar. By doing next to nothing,
the passive bar gets more done, by
allowing the rest of your system to do
more. Maybe we should call it a
passive-aggressive soundbar.
Great American Speaker
Maker
Phase Technology is the storied
American loudspeaker manufacturer
founded by Bill Hecht in the 1950s
and run by his son Ken. Among other
innovations, Bill invented and
patented the soft-dome tweeter in
1967, and his devotion to coherent
phase response is celebrated in the
52 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
AT A GLANCE
Plus
Q It’s like having three top-
drawer speakers
Q Balanced performance
Q Passive design allows
benefits of an AVR
Minus
Q Passive design requires an
AVR
company’s name. Phase Technol-
ogy’s nine speaker lines cover a
broad range of needs. One of those
lines is Teatro, with three soundbar
models, of which the TSB3.0 is the
newest. All three models are passive
bars, and each is the equivalent of
three speakers built into a horizontal
enclosure. The TSB3.0 ($738) and
V3.0 ($1,272) have two-way driver
arrays, while the PC3.0 ($1,696,
reviewed in 2009) is three-way.
The TSB3.0 differs in woofer size,
however, with 3-inch polypropylene
cone drivers versus the 5.25-inch
woofers in the other two models. That
reduces the bar’s height by only a
quarter of an inch, but the real
difference is in the depth measure-
ment, which is 2 inches less than that
of the other models. In other words,
this is a flatter bar that hugs the wall
tighter. Each of the three channels is
served by two woofers and one of
• The wall-hugging TSB3.0 is 2 inches slimmer
than Phase Tech’s other soundbar models.
Phase Tech’s famous 0.75-inch soft
(silk) dome tweeters. To widen the
soundstage, these drivers are
augmented by two side-firing 1-inch
drivers, which the company calls
“full-range” Spatial Field Expanders.
In previous models, these side-firing
SFE drivers were soft domes that
were easily damaged—as I proved by
grabbing a bar at the sides and
crumpling them. In the new model,
evidently idiot-proofed for people like
me, they are 1-inch aluminum
inverted domes, not convex soft
domes, and are protected by a guard
structure.
With two woofers and a tweeter for
each channel, complemented by the
bar’s two SFE drivers, the Teatro
might strike you as a tough load to
drive. But its sensitivity seemed to be
reasonable during the audition, and
recommended amplifier power is 15
to 100 watts, within range of pretty
much any AVR.
The bar is 43 inches wide,
cosmetically suitable for a screen of
50-plus inches (though that isn’t a
strict requirement). On the front of the
extruded-aluminum enclosure is a
perforated metal speaker grille that
conceals the woofers and tweeters.
The Spatial Field Expanders are on
the ends along with the ports.
On the back are three speaker
terminals using L-shaped Euroblock
(often referred to as “Phoenix”)
connectors. These accept bare wire,
so I used my cable of last resort, an
18-gauge bare generic cord with
banana plugs at one end and bare
wire at the other. It wasn’t hard to slip
the wire ends into the Euroblocks,
Phase Technology Teatro
TSB3.0 Soundbar
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
tighten the screws, and snap them
into the back of the soundbar. You
can mount the bar to the wall (using
the supplied hardware) or set it on a
table in front of your TV. Nine
threaded inserts (but no keyholes)
are provided for wall mounting. I
opted for table mounting.
Associated equipment included a
Pioneer Elite VSX-53 A/V receiver
along with the surround-channel
speakers and subwoofer of my
reference system: a pair of Paradigm
Reference Studio 20 v.4 speakers for
surround duties and a Seismic 110
subwoofer. Also in the loop was an
Oppo BDP-83SE universal disc
player. All movie demo material was
on Blu-ray Disc, and all music demo
material was on CD.
Like Three Speakers
This latest Teatro was the best-
sounding passive soundbar I’ve
heard, outpacing even my memories
of Phase Technology’s own Teatro
PC3.0 (which earned a five-star
performance rating). Both behaved
exactly like three top-quality
loudspeakers built into a single
enclosure. Due to woofer size,
though, the new TSB3.0 was
equivalent to three compact satellite
speakers, whereas the PC3.0 was
more akin to three monitors.
I preferred the new model with its
smaller woofers, mostly because—
for whatever reason—it sounded
bigger than I remembered the PC3.0
to be, creating an even more
convincing, even more blast-worthy
soundstage. The top end was polite
all the way down into the middle
range, mitigating digital nasties from
the presence region. And it sounded
wider than the physical dimensions
dictated, with credit most likely going
THE VERDICT
Phase Technology’s Teatro TSB3.0 soundbar dispenses with
the fancy stuff and provides the performance you’d expect from
three well-engineered and great-sounding speakers.
to the side-firing drivers. I should add
that my asymmetrical long-wall
speaker placement worked against
the side-firing drivers by denying
them access to nearby, unobstructed
side walls—but they improved width
anyway, even when firing different
distances at highly diffused side
walls.
I watched The Hunger Games:
Catching Fire (DTS-HD Master Audio)
twice, first with an 80-hertz crossover,
then at 100 Hz. I knew the first option
was wrong for the 3-inch woofers,
though to the bar’s credit, the
disconnect wasn’t obvious until the
aggressive effects kicked in. With
either crossover, the bar did brilliantly
with voices, delivering them with
natural tone color that remained
consistent on or off axis, something
that was especially apparent in the
wild trajectories of the jabberjay
attack. While voicing was on the
gentle side—with movies or
music—the bar refused to roll off the
nerve-shredding assault of the
baboons.
Escape Plan (DTS-HD Master
Audio) has Sylvester Stallone and
Arnold Schwarzenegger behind bars
in an action-packed prison thriller that
puts the following words into
Ahhhnold’s mouth: “You hit like a
vegetarian” (easily the best line that
screenwriters have given him since
“Hasta la vista, baby”). While no one
• The TSB3.0 houses two Spatial Field Expander drivers,
as well as a tweeter and two woofers for each channel.
will ever accuse Sly’s burly
baritone of being a musical
instrument, it did give the
bar a chance to sound
deep-voiced, playing
against type as a
small-woofer weakling. The
bar rebelled against its
width in more than one way.
Yes, it sounded wider than
it looked, but it also was
spatially deeper—and the
localization was less speaker-bound
than just about any other soundbar I
can recall.
Parkland (Dolby TrueHD)
dramatizes the assassination of Presi-
dent Kennedy, and even with half a
century of perspective, the film is
deeply affecting as it uncannily
humanizes all-too-familiar figures and
events. Fittingly, the bar responded
by treating dialogue as a human, not
mechanical, phenomenon, free of
obvious artifacts and coloration. It
was hard to keep my analytical hat on
during this movie, so my notes
stopped there.
Vocals Out Front
Moving back to happier territory:
The original Beatles CD releases,
circa 1987, are much maligned by
some audiophiles. Having grown up
with the generally inferior U.S. vinyl,
I’d say the old CDs compare
favorably. Sure, they do have a bit of
a bite, but a lot depends on how the
speakers treat it. Here the Teatro
shone. Not only did the soundbar
make the mildly acerbic midrange
on Help! palatable, but it also
detached the lead vocals from the
instrumentation, pushing them out
front, where they
belonged. And it
was consistent
enough to let
me use a
SOUNDBAR
PHASE TECHNOLOGY TEATRO TSB3.0 SOUNDBAR
PRICE: $738
Phase Technology • (855) 663-5600 • phasetechnology.com
C
Le Channel (purple) +1.04/–4.06 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 156
Hz, –6 dB @ 128 Hz; impedance minimum 4.41 ohms @ 326 Hz, phase
angle –43.28º @ 198 Hz; sensitivity 88.5 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz.
Center Channel (green) +0.67/–2.86 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 152
Hz, –6 dB @ 125 Hz; impedance minimum 4.39 ohms @ 330 Hz, phase
angle –46.34º @ 183 Hz; sensitivity 88.5 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz.—MJP
SPECS 3 in polypropylene woofer (6), 0.75 in silk-dome
tweeter (3), 1 in aluminum full-range driver (2); 43 x 6.75 x 2.25 in
(WxHxD); 12 lb • Inputs: Euroblock speaker terminals (3)
single volume level for material Senegalese music translates into an
ranging from the declamatory vocals American milieu, you haven’t heard
and clarion electric guitar of “Ticket N’Dour’s cover of “The Rubberband
to Ride” to the reserved acoustic Man.”
guitar and voice of “Yesterday.” It’s not uncommon for some
Cellist Nancy Green and pianist people who love sound to conflate
Frederick Moyer performed Mario product category with product
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Complete quality. These are usually the folks
Works for Cello & Piano on a superbly who insist that all soundbars are bad
recorded Biddulph CD. “Best bar for because—well, they’re soundbars.
music, ever,” I enthused into my But like loudspeakers in general, bars
notebook. The cello was rich, full, can be good, bad, or in between.
warm, and not unlike a human Phase Technology’s Teatro TSB3.0 is
voice—and well imaged in context the kind of soundbar that ennobles
with the just slightly more diffused its product category with great
piano. It was a big, generous performance and even, dare I say it,
sound, the kind that makes you audiophile voicing. It rocked the
fall in love with the music, if you Beatles and survived The Hunger
weren’t in love with it already. Games—and if you’re not willing to
Youssou N’Dour’s Nelson listen to it before you judge it, you
Mandela is a fun listen, full of probably hit like a vegetarian.
rollicking rhythms. The Teatro
made the percussion snappy and Audio editor Mark Fleischmann
incisive, and once again it rendered is also the author of the annually
the voice as a warm human updated book Practical Home
presence. If you don’t think Theater (quietriverpress.com).
The Teatro behaves like three loud-
speakers in a single enclosure.
soundandvision.com 53
TEST REPORT
Paradigm’s Silver
Surfers
By Mark Fleischmann
Paradigm Prestige 15B
Speaker System
PRICE $6,145
AS I SAT DOWN TO WRITE THIS
review of the Paradigm Prestige
speaker system, I couldn’t get a
seemingly unrelated subject—the
Pono hate—out of my head. No
joke, folks: I sat at the keyboard for
hours mulling it over. What chance
did I have to convince readers that a
$6,145 speaker system is worth
hearing when a $400 music player is
greeted with language like “don’t
buy” and “snake oil”?
OK, I know I’m preaching to the
converted. You probably wouldn’t be
reading Sound & Vision if you weren’t
open to the idea that a well-designed
speaker system has the power to
bring you closer to music. That’s
what the Paradigms did for me when
I informally played a few recent
additions to my high-resolution
music library (more on them later). I
felt as if a curtain had been lifted and
music was in the room with me—not
just recorded music,
but music.
54 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
AT A GLANCE
Plus
Q Advanced driver designs
Q Fine-grained, transparent,
dynamic playback
Q Compact but powerful
subwoofer
Minus
Q Boxy, non-curved
enclosures
Between Signature and
Studio
The Prestige series is brand new. It
lodges between Paradigm’s
top-of-the-line Signature speakers
and midpriced Studio series, with the
slim-and-trim Millenia and value-
oriented Monitor further down. (If you
don’t want to pay $400 for a music
player, you may be a Monitor kind of
guy, and that might even be a shrewd
decision on your part.)
The Prestige lineup includes three
• The high-tech Prestige drivers boast a variety of sound-
enhancing innovations.
towers, the 95F ($2,499 each), 85F
($1,999 each), and 75F ($1,499 each);
a single monitor, the 15B ($799 each);
the 45C center ($1,299) and larger
55C ($1,699); and a dedicated
surround speaker, the 25S ($999
each). Finish options include
midnight cherry, walnut, and black
walnut veneers, and piano black.
Prestige is closer in price to Studio
than to Signature. The 15B monitor,
reviewed here with the 45C center,
costs only 100 bucks more per pair
than the chunkier Studio 20 v.5 (I use
the v.4 in my reference system). While
the 15B’s boxy 0.75-inch fiberboard
enclosure lacks the sweet curved
sides employed in the latest Studio
line, the edges use a lock-joint
construction for greater structural
rigidity than is customary from the
usual 45-degree-angle box cut. And
when you remove the magnetically
attached grilles, you may notice that
the 1-inch-thick baffle has a visual
economy lacking in the overbuilt-
looking Studio as well as a new
tweeter lens and other driver-related
refinements. I like the massive robotic
look of the Studio just as much, but
that may be a matter of taste. Perhaps
it’s a guy thing.
Paradigm loves acronymic
tech-speak, so your head may spin
when I tell you that the 15B and 45C
have 1-inch X-PAL fluid-cooled
tweeters with PPA tweeter lenses and
FEA-optimized pole-piece
assemblies. Meanwhile, the 5.5-inch
woofers in both speakers (dual
woofers in the center) have 5.5-inch
X-PAL drivers, ART surrounds,
Shock-Mount isolation mounting
systems (shared by the center’s
3.5-inch X-PAL midrange driver), and
high-temp voice coils.
As to the parts that aren’t
self-explanatory: The PAL in the X-PAL
drivers refers to pure aluminum,
which combines light weight and
stiffness with highly pistonic (that is to
say, piston-like) movement. The PPA
(Perforated Phase-Aligning) tweeter
lens, which covers the tweeter, has
concentric rings of holes that
diminish and then disappear as they
approach the center. Besides having
a protective function, the lens (a
variation on the more common
phase plug) blocks out-of-phase
frequencies to provide what the
literature calls “smoother, extended
high frequencies with incredible
detail and higher output.” The FEA
(Finite Element Analysis) pole-piece
directly behind the tweeter dome has
a contoured cavity that scatters
reflections and expands the tweeter’s
low-frequency extension from 1,800
hertz (with a conventional pole-piece)
down to 1,200 Hz. This allows a lower
crossover point to the woofer,
resulting in potentially smoother
off-axis response.
The woofer surrounds—the
flexible piece that attaches the
circumference of the cone to the
basket—feature ART (Active Ridge
Technology), with ridges overmolded
onto the cone, for greater excursion
and what is claimed to be a 3-decibel
gain in distortion-free output
compared with that of conventional
surrounds. The Shock-Mount
isolation mounting system on all the
woofers and the center’s midrange
uses rubber inserts and gaskets to
decouple the drivers from the
enclosure, controlling interaction
between them along with sound-
polluting resonance and vibration.

Paradigm Prestige 15B
Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value
Brushed-aluminum finishes and
matching concave dust caps give the
woofers and midrange a sleek
appearance that complements the
snazzy-looking tweeter lens.
Incidentally, Paradigm designs and
builds its drivers in-house.
If you opt for a tower model, you’ll
get a polished steel and aluminum
base with reversible feet. Don’t want
spikes to damage your hardwood
floors or carpet? Unscrew the spikes
and reverse them, and you’ve got
blunt nubs instead.
Oh, and the Sub
The Seismic 110 subwoofer ($1,650)
we mated with the Prestige has been
part of my reference system since it
came out four years ago, and for
which a formal review here is long
overdue. Paradigm spent a lot of
time and money refining this unique
sub, and the results are both visible
and audible.
The 37-pound sub’s die-cast
aluminum chassis may look massive
in photographs but is actually just
13.5 inches tall. Its 10-inch front-firing
copolymer polypropylene cone is
built in two parts, with the flat outer
cone locked onto the voice coil by an
unseen inner cone with I-beam
cross-section support arms. An
inverted surround made of
overmolded Santoprene—a material
that combines the characteristics of
vulcanized rubber and thermo-
plastic—has corrugations to allow
“extreme excursion” while remaining
stable and centered. You’ve got to
see the driver moving, as well as hear
it, to believe it. I’m surprised the
850-watt RMS Class D amp doesn’t
• The Prestige line is available in walnut, black walnut, and
piano black finishes, as well as the midnight cherry shown here.
THE VERDICT
Paradigm’s Prestige series speakers
and Seismic 110 sub employ unusual
driver design to achieve remarkable
transparency and punch.
make the darned thing fly off the sub
and hit the wall.
The sub supports both XLR and
RCA connections and meshes with
Paradigm’s Perfect Bass Kit for com-
puter assisted room correction. It is
just the awesomest compact sub ever,
and I say that after years of using it.
Associated equipment included
the whole menagerie: a Pioneer Elite
VSX-53 A/V receiver, Oppo BDP-83SE
universal disc player (for movies and
music), Panasonic DMP-BD87 Blu-ray
player (for music and streaming),
Lenovo Windows 7 laptop, Audio-
Quest DragonFly v1.2 USB DAC,
Meridian Director USB DAC, Micro
Seiki BL-21 turntable, Shure V15MxVR/
N97XE cartridge, and the phono stage
of a Denon PRA-S10 preamp. All
movie demos (and the first music
demo) were on Blu-ray Disc.
Live Long and Image
Refinement and transparency are
Prestige’s prime directives. The 15B
monitor and 45C center offer
finer-grained mid and high
frequencies than the Studio 20 I have
enjoyed for so many years,
especially with harmonically rich
instruments like violins and cymbals.
They also offer a clearer window into
hi-res content and are a little more
candid about the flaws of both
associated gear and content. The
Prestiges aren’t forgiving speakers;
mating them with a midpriced or
better receiver would be worth the
investment. (I should note in passing
that the Studio 20, with its 7-inch
woofer, has the advantage in bass.
But the Prestige 15B’s 5.5-inch
woofer may be more appropriately
SPEAKER SYSTEM
PARADIGM PRESTIGE 15B SPEAKER SYSTEM
PRICE: $6,145 (15B, $799 ea; 45C, $1,299; Seismic 110, $1,650)
Paradigm Electronics • (905) 564-1994 • paradigm.com
compared with that of the smaller
Studio 10.)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug had cavorted with my Seismic
110 sub before, and so the roaring,
thundering emergences of Smaug
and Sauron came as no surprise. I
actually dialed the sub back from the
initial settings used for most of the
music demos (below). The 45C
delivered precisely enunciated
voices that had no chestiness or
honking coloration, with especially
impressive low-level resolution in the
sotto voce conference between
Gandalf and Thorin at Bree. When
setting up the speakers with test
tones, I noticed that the center had a
slightly brighter tonal balance than
that of the monitors, and I worried
that the less-than-perfect timbral
match would affect lateral panning. In
practice, however, it wasn’t a But of course, the musical segments
problem. The 15B summoned a are the meat of the movie. The
roomy sound for the orchestral score monitors were dispassionate
and rolled Smaug’s liquid rumble like enough to reveal the artifice in the
a melodious tidal wave from front to raucous gospel scene; the reverb
back. (Smaug sounded most like its seemed faked. But the subsequent
voice actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, gigs were stunningly believable, with
in moments of stress.) Most the funky beat punching through
impressive of all, I was able to watch thick club and theater ambience and
the entire movie with a single volume Brown’s vocals defiantly riding,
setting and no dynamic range emoting, and punctuating over the
control—a first for the Hobbit movies. top. It was as if the satellites and sub
When the soundtrack stepped up its were having a torrid love affair.
various all-channel assaults, listening A Most Wanted Man (DTS-HD
comfort remained high, and I was Master Audio) brings to life the
able to lose myself in the movie. Hamburg of John le Carré’s novel.
Get On Up is the James Brown The gritty surround ambience
biopic coproduced by Mick Jagger. generated by four 15B monitors was
The sub was delightfully forceful in so real, it competed with both the
the scene where Brown’s plane is narrative and the acting prowess of
caught by anti-aircraft fire in Vietnam.
soundandvision.com 55
TEST REPORT
• The Seismic 110
houses a 10-inch
Paradigm Seismic 110 Subwoofer
Performance
Features ON THE See soundandvisionmag.com
WEB for full lab results and technical definitions
woofer in its compact Build Quality
13.5-inch cabinet. Value

with Zubin Mehta leading the

Bavarian State Orchestra in the
Vienna Musikverein, got a treatment
Test Bench
from the Paradigms that was nothing Paradigm Prestige 15B Speaker System
short of mesmerizing. With these
speakers, the 96/24 DTS-HD Master
Audio 5.0-channel soundtrack set a
new standard in my listening life: I’ve
never heard an orchestra as vividly
and realistically imaged as this
outside a concert hall. It was a
perfect storm of hi-res content,
surround soundtrack, tweeter
lenses, and rubber gaskets. The
strings had more tone color than I’ve
ever heard in recorded music—yet
despite the almost obsessively
focused imaging, there was no edge,
just a fully fleshed-out account of
dozens of people playing stringed C

instruments in one of the world’s

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Willem
Dafoe—and that’s saying a lot. I felt
as if I were on the streets with the
characters. And although I’ve sat
through loads of nightclub scenes in
movies, the one summoned by the
Prestiges was unusually claustro-
phobic; my fight-or-flight instinct was
in high gear. The center
and sub were a perfect
marriage for voices of
both genders, never
localizing in the sub. In
fact, the 80-Hz sub
crossover worked
beautifully for
everything.
I hadn’t intended to
use season 3 of House
of Cards as demo material,
but having heard the
ominous, airy opening
theme dozens of times, I
couldn’t help feeling that this
was the best iteration yet. My
binge-viewing buddy said:
“This sounds amazing.”
Reference
Orchestral
The Blu-ray Pure Audio
release of Mahler’s
Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5,
greatest concert halls.
I auditioned Led Zeppelin’s
Physical Graffiti (96/24 FLAC from
HDtracks) with the two aforemen-
tioned USB DACs, the Meridian
Director and the AudioQuest
DragonFly v1.2. The Paradigms
surprised me by preferring the less
expensive DragonFly’s warmer
midrange and more relaxed
presentation. While the Seismic 110
sub pounded out John Bonham’s
mighty kick drum, the speakers
panned Jimmy Page’s guitars for gold
and came up with grunge—but a
cleverly recorded, multifaceted, and
endlessly engaging grunge.
Te Amo, Argentina (from Yarlung
Records) has cellist Antonio Lysy
performing solo and other works by
Ginastera, Piazzolla, Bragato, Golijov,
and Schifrin (yes, the same Lalo
Schifrin who wrote the Mission:
Impossible theme). It was recorded
with vacuum tube equipment onto
analog tape and delivered to my
system via LP, and as heard through
the 15B monitors, it provided a
laid-back but solidly imaged account
of the cello. If I hadn’t known better by
that point, I’d have thought the
golden mellowness was a property of
the speakers, but the shape-shifting
Prestiges were just adapting to the
content, as great loudspeakers often
do. Occasional accompaniment on
this album includes a piano, and the
system called attention to the gentle
wooden-hammered attack.
15B (purple) +4.64/–1.19 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; – 3dB @ 60 Hz, –6 dB
@ 52 Hz; impedance minimum 4.55 ohms @ 193 Hz, phase angle
–49.38º @ 5.9 kHz; sensitivity 86 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz.
45C (green) +2.68/–2.13 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; – 3 dB @ 86 Hz, –6 dB
@ 72 Hz; impedance minimum 4.17 ohms @ 1.1 kHz, phase angle
–56.89º @ 108 Hz; sensitivity 89.5 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz.
Seismic 110 (blue) Close-miked response, normalized to level @ 80
Hz: lower –3 dB @ 18 Hz, –6 dB @ 16 Hz; upper –3 dB @ 181 Hz
with Cut-Off Frequency control set to maximum.—MJP
SPECS 15B: 5.5 in aluminum-cone woofer, 1 in
aluminum-dome tweeter; 7 x 12.13 x 9.38 in (WxHxD); 16 lb • 45C:
5.5 in aluminum-cone woofer (2), 3.5 in aluminum-cone midrange,
1 in aluminum-dome tweeter; 18.38 x 7.5 x 10.5 in (WxHxD); 32 lb •
Seismic 110: 10 in polypropylene-cone woofer; 850 was RMS,
1,700 was peak; sealed enclosure; line-level stereo and LFE in,
mono XLR in, USB for PBK EQ, 12-volt trigger; 13.75 x 13.5 x 12.56 in
(WxHxD); 37 lb
The final and unanswered are rare. Speakers that beat my
question: Will Paradigm add either a reference system on orchestral
Dolby Atmos–enabled model or an material are rarer. But speakers that
Atmos module to the Prestige line? do both are practically unheard of. I
Rumors are flying, but for now, all I learned a lot—and had a lot of fun—
can say is: I hope so. with the Prestige in my listening room.
The Paradigm Prestige series And living with the Seismic 110 sub
combines state-of-the-art design, continues to be a joy.
ingenious engineering, and superb
build quality with voicing that I found Audio editor Mark Fleischmann
cinematically and musically unerring. is also the author of the annually
Speakers that allow me one-setting updated book Practical Home
enjoyment of action movies, with no Theater (quietriverpress.com).
dynamic range control intervention,

• At just over 12 inches high, the

15B mounts well on stands. Refinement and transparency are
Prestige’s prime directives.
56 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
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TEST REPORT
Old School,
New Tricks?
By John Sciacca
Niles Auriel MRC-6430
Multiroom Audio Controller
PRICE $4,070 as reviewed
HOUSEWIDE AUDIO DISTRIBU-
tion systems varied little in their
design and feature set for many
years. Whether they were from Niles,
Elan, SpeakerCraft, NuVo, or
Russound, you could essentially
count on them offering six analog
audio source inputs, onboard
amplification for six stereo zones,
and connections for a variety of
controllers, usually including an
in-wall keypad.
The problem was, those systems
were designed with traditional,
minimally interactive sources in mind,
things like CD changers and cable
boxes that didn’t provide any
feedback and were controlled with
simple commands like “Play” and
“Channel Up.” When smart sources
like iPods, music servers, and Internet
radio came along—devices that
required two-way metadata feedback
for making an informed listening
selection—those old audio
distribution systems were left behind
and quickly replaced with scalable,
next-generation solutions like Sonos.
Many of the new systems,
however, don’t really play nice with
legacy gear. Or integrate easily with
home theater systems. Or offer any
kind of wall-mounted control options.
With the Auriel MRC-6430, Niles is
looking to bridge the gap between
old and new and hopefully deliver the
perfect balance between both.
Meet the Auriel Family
Niles was founded in 1978, and the
58 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
AT A GLANCE
Plus
Q Incredibly simple setup
Q Terrific home theater
integration
Q Easily handles both analog
and IP sources
Minus
Q No native sources
Q Typical Class D sound
quality
company has been at the forefront of
custom audio installation for years,
manufacturing more than 500
individual products, including
speakers, amplifiers, control
systems, and home entertainment
accessories. Niles is now part of
Core Brands (a division of Nortek
Technology), alongside other audio
names like Aton, Panamax, Elan,
Proficient, and SpeakerCraft. Suffice
it to say, Niles understands
distributed audio.
The heart of what Niles calls “the
Auriel ecosystem” is the MRC-6430
multiroom audio controller ($2,000),
a component that’s completely
devoid of any front-panel controls
(short of a power button). It has no
onboard sources and can’t play any
tunes out of the box. Instead, it
includes analog inputs for
connecting six sources, along with
minijack infrared emitter connections
to control connected devices. The
MRC-6430 has four zones of
onboard amplification (rated at 30
watts per channel into 8 ohms, 45
watts into 4 ohms) with preouts for
connecting two other externally
amplified zones. Two MRC-6430
chassis can be linked together,
doubling the number of audio zones.
There are numerous control
options, including free iPhone, iPad,
and Android apps, as well as both
Mac and PC desktop control. Beyond
those, Niles offers three additional
options in the form of the nHR200
handheld touchscreen remote
($870), the nKP7 slick in-wall
seven-button keypad ($200), and the
nTP7 7-inch in-wall touchscreen
($1,000). I’ll discuss these in greater
detail in a bit, but no matter how you
prefer to interact with your audio
system, Niles has a control solution
available.
Setup
Auriel is intended for professional
installation, but it’s so easy to install
and configure, it really can be
tackled by a tech-savvy enthusiast,
especially if the home is already
wired for a distributed audio system.
(You can download all of the setup
and configuration documentation
from Niles’ Website.)
Niles Auriel MRC-6430 Multiroom
Audio Controller
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
The back of the MRC-6430 is
arranged logically, with source inputs
taking up the left side of the chassis
and speaker/amplifier connections
on the right. An Ethernet jack
provides connection to your home’s
network, and a USB Type-A
connection is used for configuring.
There are loop outs for each source,
making it easy to add an extender
chassis or to share sources between
the MRC-6430 and a home theater. A
paging input allows connection of
the optional Niles DBI-2 doorbell
interface that will chime through the
speakers.
The speaker connections for
zones 1 through 4 utilize Phoenix
connectors that accept up to
14-gauge wire, and each zone also
includes analog RCA preouts that are
individually configurable as fixed or
variable, providing a lot of installation
flexibility. For instance, you could
bypass the internal amplifier and use
something more powerful, assign a
zone to a dedicated headphone
amplifier/wireless transmitter (not
only could you listen to any source
you desire, but you’ll still hear the
doorbell even when wearing your
“cans”) or add a subwoofer for more
bass in a zone.
As the MRC-6430 communicates
with Niles control devices over the
network, all interfaces must be on the
same network. The single-gang nKP7
keypad connects to the network and
operates using Power over Ethernet
(PoE). The nTP7 touchpanel fits in a
double-gang wall box and can be
positioned in either portrait or
landscape orientation; it operates via
either a local 12-volt power supply or
PoE. The touchscreen also includes
Wi-Fi if a hard-wired connection isn’t
available. The nHR200 touchscreen
handheld remote connects via Wi-Fi
and configures by USB connection to
the MRC-6430. One hiccup I
encountered: Because the nHR200
 THE VERDICT
Auriel is a breeze to set up, provides control over legacy and modern
sources, and offers home theater integration along with a variety of
easy-to-use interfaces.
• The nTP7 can be
installed landscape
or portrait.
supports onlyy a limited
selection of Wi-Fi encryption
yp
options, it wouldn’t connect to my
network until I adjusted the
encryption settings in my wireless
access point. Once I changed the
settings to an encryption it
supported, I had no further issues.
With all devices connected, you
can perform the configuration using
any of the control apps (iOS, Android,
PC, or Mac) or the nTP7 touchpanel.
Pressing and holding the onscreen
Niles logo presents an “Installer
Access” screen that prompts for a
four-digit password. After you enter
that, you get configuration options
for Chassis, Sources, Zones, User
Interfaces, Home Theater TV,
Handheld Remote, and Keypads.
Chassis configuration allows for
adjusting network settings, adding a
second MRC-6430, and taking
advantage of one of Auriel’s coolest
features by configuring a home
theater receiver for control. The
MRC-6430 interfaces with a variety of
IP-controllable receivers, including
models from Denon, Onkyo, Integra,
Marantz, Pioneer, and Yamaha.
Sources are grouped into IP- or
IR-controlled devices. Adding an
IR-controlled component is a breeze.
A huge number of IR devices are in
the database, divided into eight
categories (such as CD, set-top box,
and Blu-ray) and then sorted
alphabetically by manufacturer, and
then by device. Supported
IP-controlled devices are fairly limited
at this point—essentially, Elan and
Yamaha tuners along with media
servers from Sonos, Yamaha, and
Autonomic and models based on
Logitech’s Squeezebox platform.
Once you add a source, you can
rename it, assign it an input on the
MRC-6430, link it to an IR emitter
output, and adjust the audio gain
from –6 to +6 decibels to level
volumes between sources. If you’re
using a home theater receiver, its
inputs are also assigned so the
MRC-6430 can control it. Favorite
channels can be assigned if you’re
using a set-top box, making for easy
recall later, especially via the nKP7
keypad’s one-touch-to-music
feature.
Zone configuration allows for
naming each zone, setting defaults
for tone and volume (bass, treble,
and loudness, along with turn-on and
maximum volumes for each area),
and choosing whether it is part of
wholehouse music (WHM) and
doorbell events.
The remaining configuration
options allow you to tweak settings
to the user interfaces, connect the
nHR200 to your Wi-Fi network, and
assign favorites to the keypads.
While it might seem like a lot of steps,
in reality, the entire process is
incredibly fast and took me less than
a half hour.
Control: My Way, Your
Way, Any Way
With such a variety of control
options, things
AUDIO CONTROLLER
NILES MRC-6430 MULTIROOM AUDIO CONTROLLER
PRICE: $4,070 (MRC-6430, $2,000; nHR200, $870; nKP7, $200; nTP7,
$1,000)
Niles Audio • (800) 289-4434 • nilesaudio.com/auriel.php
could get sloppy
and confusing, but
Niles smartly • The nKP7
keypad
designed the (below)
control GUIs to look offers direct
identical across all access to
devices (handheld your favorite
remote and sources.
single-gang keypad
excepted). This not
only ensures a
consistent
experience but also
makes for an easy
learning curve. The
iOS app is
optimized for
iPhone and iPad,
and I really
appreciated the
option of having both
PC and Mac control, as I
frequently have my laptop
open when listening to
music and love being able
to control the audio system
from the desktop.
The All Media home page
gives a quick snapshot of
the entire system, showing
status of all listening zones
along with volume control.
Tapping a zone shows available Radio, SHOUTcast, and Slacker.
sources (if nothing is playing) or While the MRC-6430 was able to
displays a Now Playing screen with control my Marantz AV8801
template buttons optimized for each preamp—and display tuner feedback
source. For example, on my Dish info—Auriel’s integration with a
Hopper, I could access channels and Yamaha Aventage receiver at my
DVR commands, while my control of custom installation showroom was
Kaleidescape included the where it really shined, linking with
necessary transport and navigation Yamaha’s streaming features and
buttons. A gear button provides letting me browse all of the supported
quick access to tweak settings (like services like Pandora, Spotify,
bass, treble, and loudness), Rhapsody, and Internet radio
activating WHM, or putting a room stations. Niles said it hopes to add
into do-not-disturb mode (blocking this level of integration for other
WHM and doorbell). receiver brands.
Playing smart IP sources (Sonos, Where other audio distribution
for example, or Fusion’s Ovation systems merely offer an output to
music server) displays metadata feed a home theater system, Auriel
including album art, artist, and track embraces this integration, doing
info. The current Sonos driver much more than just sharing sources.
supports Spotify, SiriusXM, Deezer, The MRC-6430 can power a home
TuneIn, and Pandora, letting you theater display on and off and switch
browse them easily from the Auriel inputs as needed for each source,
interface. I transferred my music and the TV can be controlled via one
collection—including multiple hi-res of the MRC-6430’s hard-wired IR
albums—to a Fusion Ovation and outputs or from the IR blaster built
effortlessly browsed the content into the nHR200 remote control.
along with online services like Jazz This—along with the home theater
• The MRC-6430 has a clean
front panel with no buttons.
soundandvision.com 59
TEST REPORT
• Niles offers free
control apps for iOS
and Android.

SPECS Power Output: 30 was (8 ohms), 45 was (4

ohms) • Dimensions (WxHxD, Inches): 17.25 x 4.94 x 12.88 • Weight
(Pounds): 18 • Inputs: RCA analog audio (6), RCA paging/doorbell
input, RJ45 Ethernet, USB-A (for configuration) • Outputs: RCA analog
audio source loop outs (6), RCA analog audio preamp outputs (6), RCA
paging/doorbell loop out, minijack IR emier (6), Phoenix-type speaker
connectors (4)

receiver other rooms, letting the nHR200

control—allows easily roam and control any part of
the MRC-6430 to the home, while a “Media” button lets
become far more you select different options within
than just an audio each room. The remote gave me
distribution system, control over all the necessary
entering the realm of buttons of my Hopper and
an integrated Kaleidescape, and the 2.4-inch
entertainment control color touchscreen displays all Listening to Auriel
platform. media server metadata, letting I’ve spent the bulk of this review
The nTP7’s me browse my music on the talking about the Auriel’s installation
touchpanel’s 800 x Fusion and choose Pandora and its control interfaces, without a
480-resolution screen channels on the Yamaha. The word (yet) on audio quality. The truth
has sharp, bright graphics remote is rechargeable and is, for most housewide audio
and is very responsive, comes with a nice charging/ distribution systems, I find that the
waking automatically as docking station. interface design and interaction are
you approach. Later this While the nKP7 keypad is by far the most important aspect of
year, Niles will add the most unassuming the overall user experience. Most Conclusion
intercom support to the control option of the often, these types of devices are Without question, Auriel offers a ton
system, including bunch, there’s a being used to drive in-ceiling of great features, with numerous
station to station, brilliance to its utter speakers in non-audiophile listening control options, and it can interface
station to front door, simplicity. The spaces like kitchens, dining rooms, with legacy, analog audio gear and
and station to keypad’s four backlit or bathrooms. play nice with many new
mobile devices. Favorite buttons That said, Auriel certainly sounds IP-controlled sources. It also adds a
Also, part of Auriel’s (which can be custom plenty good. Since the amps are ton of value by integrating with and
road map is adding
HVAC and lighting
• The nHR200
sports a 2.4-inch
engraved via a Niles
dealer) offer one-touch
4-ohm stable, they can handle two
pair of carefully chosen speakers in
controlling a home theater receiver
and TV, making it a true part of a
control, conceivably color touchscreen. access to your preferred larger spaces. The sound is fairly housewide entertainment system.
making the nTP7 an music, immediately typical of what I’m used to hearing Sure, an onboard Internet tuner—
excellent fixed point of always-on turning the zone on and playing the from mid-level Class D amplifiers, preferably with support for Pandora,
control in the home. source. Many things can be with audio that is midrange forward Spotify, and other streaming
People do love the idea of a touch- “favorited,” including TV channels, and bass shy. Compared with an services—and AirPlay inclusion
screen, but for sit-back-on-the-couch playlists, radio stations, and older Niles ICS system I have (which I would be some sweet icing on the
channel-surfing control, nothing streaming audio channels. Being lauded in a previous review for its cake. But when you throw in the fact
beats a handheld remote. And the able to walk into a room, press one superb amp) and a multichannel that Niles plans on adding video
nHR200 is a pretty terrific solution, button, and have your fave channel Lexicon DD-8 amplifier (an example intercom, as well as some automa-
with an intuitive layout and start playing is the kind of no-brainer of a terrific Class D amp), the Auriel tion control and support, Auriel can
rubberized buttons that feel nice in control that will have you listening sounded noticeably thinner and not ultimately be the backbone of a really
the hand. A “Rooms” button selects and enjoying the system more. as musical. powerful system.

• The MRC-6430 audio controller has inputs for six sources.

60 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

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TEST REPORT

Format Warrior
By Al Griffin
Setup
I evaluated the BDP-88FD’s

Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD video performance using a

Sony VPL-VW350ES

Blu-ray Player an elegant look to match,

with a black, brushed-
4K-resolution projector and
an 80-inch-wide screen. A
Marantz SR6004 A/V
aluminum front panel and receiver and a GoldenEar
PRICE $2,000 only a choice selection of Technology speaker
AT A GLANCE the most essential control system handled the audio
buttons. chores. The player provides
WHAT’S NEW IN THE WORLD OF Plus The slender remote a range of presets in its
Blu-ray? 4K, that’s what. Expected to Q High-quality 4K video control has a backlit Video P. menu—accessed
arrive sometime in late 2015, the upconversion keypad and includes by pressing the Video P.
UHD Blu-ray format should offer not Q Superb detail enhancement buttons to carry out most button on the remote—
just UHD-resolution video but also and noise reduction functions without requiring such as modes for content
high dynamic range (HDR) Q Excellent digital-to-analog you to visit the player’s captured with digital
capabilities, an extended color audio conversion surprisingly spartan cinema, conventional film,
gamut, and up to 16-bit color onscreen menus. One key, and regular HD video
encoding, among other advanced labeled YouTube, whisks cameras. Picture modes
features. Something to get excited
Minus you directly to the are further grouped into
about, right? Q As pricey as it is heavy BDP-88FD’s lone streaming Projector and Flat-panel
Now that I’ve dropped that tidbit, Q Slim feature set compared video option. (The player categories.
let me tell you about the Pioneer Elite with competition doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi, I didn’t see much
BDP-88FD, a universal player that can so you’ll need to buy an difference when switching
handle Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, SACD, optional dongle to between the Pioneer’s PJ
DVD-Audio, regular DVDs, and CDs— first open the disc tray: In contrast to wirelessly stream those cat Film and Digital Cinema
just about everything except UHD cheap BD players, where the platter and swimming baby videos modes, though I did flip
Blu-ray. And it lists for $2,000. lurches out clumsily after you press you love—admit it.) Other buttons of regularly between them based on
Excited? No? Well, let’s see if we can Open, the Pioneer’s tray glides out note include Short Skip, which jumps which movie clip I was watching. The
work you up. smoothly and confidently like the 30 seconds forward, and Replay, player’s adjustment menu also
Pioneer’s latest, greatest BD player sunroof of a luxury car. The player has which jumps 10 seconds back. provides an extensive range of noise
has Marvell Qdeo processing and
3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD 3:2 SD 2:2 SD MA SD VIDEO LUMA CHROMA
can upscale video signals to 4K/60p
CLIPPING RESOLUTION RESOLUTION
resolution with 4:4:4/24-bit color.
PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS
Along with the disc formats listed
above, it can play up to 192/24 FLAC
files from an attached USB drive or
stream them via DLNA.
The BDP-88FD has dual HDMI
outputs so you can send video and
audio signals out separately to a
display and a receiver/preamp.
There’s no multichannel analog
output, but the player does have a
fancy ESS Sabre32 DAC to feed its
balanced and RCA stereo analog
outputs.
At nearly 30 pounds, Pioneer’s
flagship is crazy heavy for a Blu-ray
player. That’s because it has a
double-layered chassis and a
tri-chamber interior (with separate
compartments for power supply,
digital processing, and audio circuits)
and is designed to minimize vibration
through sheer mass. The care put
into the construction of the BDP-
88FD is instantly apparent when you

• The 30-pounds, the BDP-88FD is elegant and

solidly built.
62 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD Blu-ray Player
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
reduction and detail enhancement
settings, including a Super
Resolution slider that only works
when video is being upscaled for 4K
output. Used sparingly, this proved
very effective with otherwise
soft-looking film-based content,
punching up detail without adding
any ringing noise.
Performance
Images scaled up to 4K by the
Pioneer looked uniformly great on
the Sony projector. Its performance
was certainly on par with that of my
Oppo BDP-105 player, which also
features 4K upconversion with
Marvell Qdeo processing. The best
example of how well the BDP-88FD
worked to squeeze every last drop of
detail from Blu-rays came in an A/B
test I performed during my recent
review of the Sony. Switching
between footage from The Amazing
Spider-Man on Blu-ray and the same
content in actual native 4K from a
Sony 4K Media Player, I found it
nearly impossible to detect any
differences while seated 8 feet away.
It was only when I moved my face
close up to the screen that I could
see the detail advantage provided
by the actual 4K source.
Pioneer also positions the
BDP-88FD as an audiophile CD/
SACD player, outfitting it with a
balanced stereo output instead of a
multichannel analog one. To that end,
THE VERDICT
Pioneer’s flagship 4K-upcon-
verting universal disc player is
something special, even if it’s late
to the party.
the player has a Direct mode
(accessible by pressing a button on
the front panel or on the remote
control), which turns off video and
digital audio outputs to eliminate any
possible interference with analog
audio performance.
When I compared the BDP-88FD
with my circa-2005 Sony CD/SACD
player, the differences weren’t subtle.
The Pioneer’s sound had notably
greater presence and was less veiled.
Transients displayed superior clarity
and snap, and imaging was wider
and less constrained than what I
heard from the Sony.
Listening to “Blues Dream” from
Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin
Jones, I noted how Frisell’s guitar
sounded wonderfully full and
fleshed-out, and the shimmer of
Jones’s lightly brushed ride cymbal
came through with detail and air
intact. Bass, too, was solid and well
defined.
PIONEER ELITE BDP-88FD BLU-RAY PLAYER
PRICE: $2,000
Pioneer • pioneerelectronics.com
SPECS Dimensions (WxHxD, Inches): 17.1 x 5.1 x 13.3 •
Weight (Pounds): 29.5 • Video Outputs: HDMI 2.0 (2) • Audio Out-
puts: Stereo balanced XLR, stereo RCA, coaxial digital, optical digital
• Other: LAN, RS-232C, USB (2)
On “Wrapped Around Your Finger”
from the SACD of the Police’s Every
Breath You Take: The Classics,
drummer Stewart Copeland’s crisp,
expressive fills sounded vivid,
especially in counterpoint to the
song’s sleepy, dub-like pace. Layers of
guitar, keyboards, and percussion in
the relatively expansive mix also had a
clear sense of separation and depth.
Conclusion
Pioneer’s BDP-88FD is an excellent
universal player. Built like a brick
house. Equipped with outstanding
4K video upconversion. Capable of
making CDs and SACDs sound
awesome. That said, as much as I
BLU-RAY PLAYER
appreciate Pioneer’s flagship, I find it
hard to recommend buying a
$2,000-listed universal player when
the UHD Blu-ray format is due out in
just a matter of months (we hope).
Even if I considered the Pioneer
based solely on audio performance,
my music-listening habits have
largely migrated to computer and
streaming audio. Like many other
folks, I find that it’s a rare day when I
play an actual CD, let alone an SACD.
Complicating the situation further
is Oppo’s BDP-105D universal player,
which, at $1,299, is a considerably
better buy than the Pioneer. Similar to
the BDP-88FD, the Oppo provides 4K
video upconversion with Marvell
Qdeo processing. But it adds all of
the following: Darbee Visual
Presence technology, dual HDMI
inputs (so other sources in your
system can take advantage of the
player’s high-quality upscaling/
processing), 7.1-channel analog
outputs, a USB Asynchronous DAC
input, and a headphone amp output
that takes advantage of the ESS
Sabre32 DAC. Oh, and it has Netflix,
Vudu, and Pandora plus a Roku-ready
MHL input for additional audio/video
streaming content.
Pioneer or Oppo? Or just wait for
those UHD Blu-ray players to arrive
later this year? I know what I’d do, but
if you’re set on a universal player that
simply provides superior upcon-
verted 4K video and killer CD/SACD
playback, Pioneer’s BDP-88FD won’t
disappoint.
soundandvision.com 63
Escapes BY Kim Wilson
PHOTOS Plinio Rangel

THIS HIGH-END DIY HOME THEATER RISES

ABOVE PANAMA CITY

The Sky’s the Limit

64 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

LUXURIOUS WOODS
This theater’s
electronics, BG Radia
in-wall speakers, and
Digital Projection
Titan projector are all
housed in their own
luxurious custom
wood enclosures,
which match the
room’s warm
decorative trim.

Located in a 10,000-square-foot apartment

that comprises the entire 52nd floor of The
Point condominiums in Panama City, Pana-
ma, this 26 x 16 x 10-foot home theater
adheres to the recommended proportions for well-
balanced acoustics and good sound distribution.
Real estate developer and longtime home theater buff
Octavio Vallarino designed his own dream theater. Picture
quality was so important to him, he refused to limit the
budget in this one area. The Digital Projection Titan 330
projector is paired with a Schneider Cine Digitar Ana-
morph 1.33X M lens and a Stewart StudioTek 100 screen.
Vallarino chose BG Radia in-wall speakers due to their
detailed and transparent sound. JL Audio F-113 subwoof-
ers were chosen for their ability to reach extreme low fre-
quencies; they also blended perfectly with the in-wall
speakers. Other gear includes a Bryston SP-3 surround
processor, Krell and Adcom power amps, and an Oppo
BDP-105 Blu-ray player.
Vallarino worked closely with Chris Huston of Rives
Audio with respect to the design of the sound isolation and
acoustics. Richard Bird, also from Rives, handled the room
calibration. While optimum sound reproduction was the
primary goal, it was also imperative to ensure complete
isolation from the apartment’s floor and ceiling. For
improved sound diffusion, two ceiling coves were created
by constructing soffits around the room with a center cross
member. The room includes a total of 12 wood cloud diffu-
sion panels and four RealAcoustix FAST panels. Installa-
tion of the HVAC system was equally critical to sound
reproduction in an effort to prevent an increase in the
noise floor. Optimum airflow, temperature, and humidity
control are critically important in Panama’s tropical envi-
ronment.
The final touch was leather theater seating from Cineak.
While Vallarino didn’t do all the work by hand, he thor-
oughly researched and supervised all phases and aspects of
the theater’s design and construction. “My sons and daugh-
ters and eight grandchildren all enjoy this home theater,”
says Vallarino. “This is my passion and favorite pastime. I
watch a movie practically every day.”

Readers, we need your help!

DISAPPEARING ACT
At the front of the theater, the
BG Radia le, right, and center
speakers and JL Audio F-113
subwoofers blend seamlessly
with the wall color.
Are you a do-it-yourselfer or
custom installer with a great
theater to share with our
readers? We’d love to hear from
you. Please send your stories
and photos to kimwilson@
cewriter.com.
soundandvision.com 65
Entertainment
Reviews in High Definition

Reference
Excellent
Good
Poor
RATINGS

Fair
BLU-RAY PICTURE
3D-NESS
Gone Girl SOUND
EXTRAS

shadows. A slight loss of detail

during some panned shots is a
rather minor compromise, as is the
faint artificiality in a cloud of fine
sugar in one key scene.
As with his work on The Girl
with the Dragon Tattoo, sound
designer Ren Klyce has crafted a
subdued multichannel mix, this
time in DTS-HD Master Audio
7.1. This is largely a dialogue-
driven movie without a lot of
ostentation, as even the circum-
stances of the pivotal disappear-
ance are left to the imagination, to
lend further suspense. But the talk
is always clear, ambient effects are
deftly utilized with a healthy
restraint, while the musical score
by Oscar winners Trent Reznor
and Atticus Ross helps to enliven
Fox
long, slow stretches. This isn’t to
say that there are no standout

If You Seek Amy... moments: A nice hard thump on a

window provides a welcome sonic
jolt, and a crucial confrontation in
a master bathroom features the
Here’s a truth-pill for all of you single folk out there: with a script adapted by Gone Girl most realistic shower I’ve ever
Sometimes marriage can really suck. Don’t take my word novelist Gillian Flynn, masterfully heard in a film.
for it, though; instead, spend some time with the Dunnes, leads viewers down a path where Surprisingly, considering the
Nick and Amy (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike). After a we think we’re finally beginning typical treatment of Fincher’s films
nigh-fairytale meeting and courtship, their to understand the facts of the case on Blu-ray, the bonus materials
seemingly idyllic life together develops and their deeper ramifications… here are few, but they are enjoyable.
cracks. The deterioration is expedited over but a sudden bombshell proves us His audio commentary is lively,
the years by family troubles that lead to dead wrong. The rest of the film is blunt, and informative on a wide
money troubles, and contempt and nothing that we expected it to be, range of topics. The beautifully
infidelity follow. For Amy, marriage is a and for very different reasons, produced companion book,
daily humiliation. For Nick, it’s a trap, one now we simply can’t look away. Amazing Amy: Tattle Tale—
from which he yearns to escape. Captured at 6K by frequent ostensibly a story for kids—ties
But only one person could have Fincher collaborator Jeff in slyly with the movie. There’s also
predicted the sudden disappearance of Cronenweth, the image has a a unique printed code for a Digital
Amy. Suspicions of foul play arise stunningly natural visual quality. HD copy of Gone Girl, redeem-
immediately, with Nick at the center, and BLU-RAY A series of gorgeous 2.4:1 pictures able at a host of online retailers
his life becomes a slow-motion train wreck. STUDIO: Fox, 2014 lures us into this deceptively including iTunes and UltraViolet
His predicament is made worse not only by ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1 charming world, all the more partners.
AUDIO FORMAT:
the revelation of people’s worst nature amid DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 irresistible thanks to the effortless The subject matter is harsh stuff
the scandal but by the increasingly hostile LENGTH: 149 mins. abundance of texture throughout, in more ways than one, and it calls
media focus as the escalating search for MPAA RATING: R even the minute bumpiness of to mind that old joke: Marriage
Amy uncovers a string of unpleasant DIRECTOR: David Fincher paper. Facial nuances are plain to isn’t a word… it’s a sentence.
STARRING: Ben Affleck, Rosamund
realities. Director David Fincher, working Pike, Neil Patrick Harris see, impressively so in the inky OChris Chiarella

soundandvision.com Are you asking me if I killed my wife?”

66 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

 FURY
Sony
IS IT WRONG TO ROOT FOR
THE BAD GUYS?
As World War II is nearing an end in Europe, a Sherman
tank is dispatched to a crucial crossroads in order to cut
off a battalion of German soldiers trying to regroup with
their comrades for one last push against the Allies. In
command of the American force is a battle-hardened army sergeant
nicknamed Wardaddy (Brad Pitt), who has promised his crew he’ll get
them home alive, but when the taskforce is attacked on the way to the
rally point, he has a difficult decision to make—press on and defend the
position or go back for reinforcements? He should have chosen the
latter because when they finally reach the crossroads, they discover they
are outnumbered, outgunned, and unless things go perfectly, War-
daddy’s men won’t see the conclusion of the war.
I sat down with high expectations for this movie due to the trailers
and was initially very disappointed. The main characters are about as
unlikable a group as you’ll ever meet, and while I realize that writer/
director David Ayer was attempting to say the war made them this way,
he went a bit too far; by the end of the first act, I was rooting for the
majority of the tank crew to take a bullet. This was a real turnoff,
although as more time went by, I started to get more into the movie.
Thankfully, it improved immensely in the second act, and I found it
worthy of my time.
Sony mastered the film in 4K, and the resulting 1080p presentation is
breathtakingly good. While the color palette is heavily dominated in
cold grays and isn’t necessarily as pretty to look at as a garden landscape
demo loop, the detail in the image is mesmerizing. Facial pores are
lifelike and revealing, along with the stitching in the war-torn fabrics.
There are a few scenes where the primaries
burst to life, especially in the second act
when the crew receives a much-needed
break from the hostilities.
Not to be outshined is the masterful
audio track, which starts out quiet and
reserved, followed up by frenetic battles
with bullets and tank shells whizzing and
booming through the soundfield. The final
act will surely be used as a demo showpiece
as the men do everything they can to stop
the advancement of the German battalion. BLU-RAY
Supplements include four behind-the- STUDIO: Sony, 2014
scenes featurettes that take a closer look at ASPECT RATIO: 2.39:1
AUDIO FORMAT: DTS-HD Master
the production, especially the use of the Audio 5.1
Sherman tank as the focal point of the story, LENGTH: 135 mins.
along with some deleted/extended scenes MPAA RATING: R
and a photo gallery.ODavid Vaughn DIRECTOR: David Ayer
STARRING: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf,
Logan Lerman
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
Universal
ABOUT TIME
1963, Cambridge University. Defying medical wisdom
which gave him, at age 21, only two years to live after
being diagnosed with the Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Stephen
Hawking stretches his lifetime out to take on two other
great challenges: to write a brief history of time and, with a single
eloquent equation, to produce a theory of everything.
Director James Marsh’s film is a romantic battle between science and
religion, between a physicist and a medieval poetry scholar, black holes
and the heavens. As Hawking puts it, he belongs to “a religion for intelli-
gent atheists” because “I have a slight problem with the whole celestial
dictator premise.” Space-time singularity, tracing back to when the
universe was born, is at the heart of Hawking’s PhD thesis; then he sets
about disproving it, showing that the universe has no boundaries.
Meanwhile, his disease progressively strips the use of all muscles, not
affecting his brain but gradually stealing his ability to express his ideas.
The strikingly composed widescreen images block parts of the
screen, isolating Hawking as his disease imprisons him. Contrast is
excellent, with inky-black dinner jackets, bright-white dresses, a
mixture of vibrant colors, autumnal hues, and restrained but rich
pastels, all solid. Exteriors have plentiful depth, and everything is
insanely detailed. Thin stripes in corduroys are visible as are hair
strands, freckles, and grain in wooden walls.
At the point of his connecting the birth of the universe with black
holes, violently rhythmical strings stream from the surrounds with the
rest of the orchestra in the front channels, building from a slow start as
Hawking works on his formulas to a crescendo as he makes his
breakthrough and immediately afterwards
takes his first fall. Natural-sounding
atmospherics are mixed with an almost
imperceptible ever-present ticking clock,
suggesting time and life slipping away.
Dialogue from Cambridge upper-class
voices is always clear.
Commentary by Marsh is insightful and
educational, pointing out the film language
and meaning he tried to get across visually.
Ten minutes of interesting deleted scenes
BLU-RAY come with Marsh explaining why such
STUDIO: Universal, 2014 surprisingly good moments were cut even
ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1 though they add to the film. A featurette on
AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
LENGTH: 123 mins. actor Eddie Redmayne tells of his learning
MPAA RATING: PG-13 to play Hawking in various stages of
DIRECTOR: James Marsh physical decline and showing that disability
STARRING: Eddie Redmayne, can be no handicap.OJosef Krebs
Felicity Jones, Emily Watson,
Charlie Cox
soundandvision.com 67
ENTERTAINMENT MOVIES

LUCY DON’T LOOK NOW

Universal Criterion Collection
BETTER LIVING THROUGH DEATH AND BAD OMENS IN
CHEMISTRY VENICE
In films like La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element, and The Don’t Look Now is a weirdly captivating creep-show of a
Messenger, director Luc Besson presents the mysterious movie: dark, vaguely Gothic, crudely energetic, occasion-
transformation of unthinking, undeveloped, unambitious ally ridiculous—in short, it resembles a lot of other films
girls into educated, sophisticated, strong females. He also directed by Nicolas Roeg in the ’70s (Performance, Walk-
includes large dollops of action, striking visuals, and sound that deliver about, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bad Timing). This one’s about an
boffo home theater. artistic couple, living (inexplicably) in a huge house on a huge estate,
Box-office smash Lucy is based on two concepts: that humans are whose daughter drowns in a nearby pond; the couple takes solace in
more concerned with having than being, and that evolution can take us Venice, where he has a job restoring an old church; she meets two old
beyond these limitations. Besson enters the mind of ditzy young Lucy sisters, one of whom—the blind one—sees the spirit of the daughter,
through rapid editing of images. When a Chinese gang kidnaps Lucy and many other hobgoblins, too; meanwhile, it turns out that the
and surgically implants a packet of a new synthesized drug in her husband has a bit of a sixth sense as well; trouble, chaos, and the cruel
intestine to smuggle, it breaks open, releasing into her bloodstream. hand of fate ensue. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are all in as the
From then, the editing only gets more manic as her cerebral capacity grieving couple: fully engaging, alluringly attractive, and hinting at
expands from the normal 10 percent to 20 and so on. This airhead gains more complex depths to their characters than the script ever does. They
the ability to fight like James Bond, then levitate objects, read minds, also frolic with convincing tenderness and passion in what may be the
and finally evolve in consciousness, Matrix style, to perceive the longest, most erotic sex scene ever to feature two Hollywood movie
universe at work. stars. All the acting is persuasive, except for the little girl and her
The bright widescreen compositions in this ace transfer puts Lucy at brother, at the beginning, who look as if they’re waiting for their cues.
screen center, the many close-ups revealing natural skintones, pores, Anthony Richmond, Roeg’s frequent D.P., films Venice as you (or at
and freckles. There’s plentiful detail throughout, with weave to wool and least I) have never seen it: grim, foreboding, nearly empty on the brink
texture to textiles. Deep blacks of bad-guy suits are set off by bright of winter—the gray flipside of the otherworldly carnival that it often
white shirts and the rich, vibrant colors of red Chinese décor. evokes. The colors are deliberately muted, the better to bring out the
The surrounds really kick in after 30 minutes, when Lucy’s brain blazing reds when they appear as the prelude to disaster: blood, spilled
starts to change and action begins to erupt in a highly immersive printer’s ink, the occasional hat and schoolbook, the red raincoat worn
soundtrack. Deep rumbling, tension-inducing electronica music and by the daughter at the beginning and by another diminutive creature
effects, and the wide-ranging score by Eric Serra are well separated into near the end. It’s not eye candy, nor is it meant to be.
all channels. There are few effect pans but In any case, Criterion Collection
lots of trippy noises floating effectively all captures the effects to a T. Earlier DVDs, by
around. The resonating brittle explosion of Warner Bros. and Paramount, were
a gun going off next to your head is speckled with artifacts and color-coding
followed by booming reports all around in problems. Not this one: It’s been a while
mass shoot-outs. When Professor Morgan since I saw this in a theater, but my
Freeman lectures on the theory behind memory tells me Criterion gets the goods.
brain evolution and Lucy expounds on the The sound, mastered from the original
philosophy of expanded existence, every 35mm audio track, is also crisp, clear, and
word is clear… if you can follow. dynamic; the music plays a moody part in
The only extras are two featurettes. One, this film, and the disc gets it right. The extra
limp, has directors and stars discussing the BLU-RAY BLU-RAY features are, alas, among the studio’s
production against clips and behind-the- STUDIO: Universal, 2014 STUDIO: Criterion Collection, 1973 drabbest: Except for interesting, delightful
scenes footage; the other, interesting, has ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1 ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1 reminiscences by Sutherland and Christie,
AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 AUDIO FORMAT: Linear PCM 1.0
neuroscientists theorizing about cerebral LENGTH: 89 mins. LENGTH: 110 mins. they consist mainly of one cast or crew
capacity. Heady stuff.OJosef Krebs MPAA RATING: R MPAA RATING: R member after another, going on about how
DIRECTOR: Luc Besson DIRECTOR: Nicolas Roeg awesome the others were.OFred Kaplan
STARRING: Scarlett Johansson, STARRING: Julie Christie, Donald
Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi Sutherland, Hilary Mason

soundandvision.com
68 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
ENTERTAINMENT MOVIES

JOHN WICK THE JUDGE

Lionsgate Warner Bros.
ALL STYLE, NO SUBSTANCE HOOSIER DADDY?

Action films come in various flavors: Some are more Uber-lawyer Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) has it all:
story-driven, others less so. John Wick is clearly on the a lucrative career defending crooked millionaires, a
low end of this scale, with no plot to speak of, instead masterpiece home in suburban Chicago… and a
relegating itself to a 100-minute nonstop shoot-out, a dysfunctional family he hasn’t seen for 20 years. When
movie where taking a breath is as impossible as taking the film his mother dies, Hank returns to rural Indiana to attend the funeral and
seriously. Playing unapologetically to a testosterone-addled, teenaged grudgingly console his father (Robert Duvall), a stoic judge who had
male demographic, the film is furious and explosive on the one hand, long ago thrown the book at him, sentencing his son to four years in
yet flat and characterless on the other. But if pure adrenaline-infused reformatory. When the judge is involved in a hit-and-run accident,
action is what you seek, John Wick may be right up your alley. Just don’t Hank must mount a defense, despite his father’s seeming desire to be
expect it to make any sense. found guilty. Along the way, we uncover not only the truths surround-
John Wick is a very dark movie, not only because of its subject matter, ing the accident, but the Palmers’ toxic family history as well. There’s
but also in terms of its cinematography. It makes for a good challenge to also a rekindled romance between Hank and his childhood sweetheart
reproduce these dark images adequately on home video, and the (Vera Farmiga), the only individual who has flourished in this Hoosier
Blu-ray does an admirable job. Blacks are incredibly deep in the backwater.
high-definition transfer, giving the image remarkable visual depth, Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski explains The Judge’s metaphor of
without ever breaking up in darker areas of the 1.85:1 frame, and reluctant revelations through stark contrast of light and shadow, and
without losing all-important shadow detail. Much of the movie takes both ends of the spectrum are gloriously portrayed. Whites possess a
place in seedy, neon-lit locales and gaudy, pulsating nightclub settings, purity and depth, while blacks are rich and powerful, and the fine
allowing the Blu-ray format to fully flex its muscles, pumped with rich gradations from mere shading to total darkness are lovingly rendered.
hues and vibrant colors, while also ensuring natural-looking fleshtones Mid-level contrast is squashed (a conscious choice), and colors,
in daylight scenes. especially during courtroom scenes, are intentionally muted, sometimes
The brutal stylistic choices the filmmakers made in terms of story becoming nearly monochromatic. Fleshtones are realistic, and fine
and visualization are also carried over into the sound department, details—fabrics, Downey’s skin, and the hodgepodge of Duvall’s hair
where viewers are assaulted with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track, and scalp—are irreproachably resolute. Despite noticeable edge
which is also encoded in the new Dolby Atmos format. The Atmos mix enhancement, this is a fine transfer.
has the benefit that it is not strictly limited to discrete channels but The Judge’s soundtrack is unspectacular: the highest complement one
instead creates a magnificent three-dimen- can pay. Those who value nuance over
sional soundfield where even the subtlest brute force will find much to love here. The
spatial placements come through without dialogue track is clean, focused, and
the traditional channel confines. This unfailingly articulate. There’s a dearth of
presentation truly gives you the sense that deep bass, but your subwoofers will, when
you’re immersed in all of the excitement, necessary, thunder with punch and
with ambient sounds, special effects, and authority. Thomas Newman’s evocative
the music enveloping you as you watch the score is perfectly blended, and subtle
film. An incredible frequency response and atmospheric cues—courtroom murmur,
super-modern bass extension make this restaurant patrons, and the sounds of
audio track scream for vengeance, just like nature—flirt and flutter among the
the titular character does. BLU-RAY BLU-RAY surrounds to excellent effect.
Lionsgate’s release also offers a few bonus STUDIO: Lionsgate, 2014 STUDIO: Warner Bros., 2014 Fans of The Judge will revel in the
materials, such as a commentary track and ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1 ASPECT RATIO: 2.40:1 abundance of extras. The Judge ends with
AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 AUDIO FORMAT: DTS-HD Master
a series of featurettes that take a look at the with Dolby Atmos Audio 5.1 almost as many questions as it begins but
production with behind-the-scenes footage LENGTH: 101 mins. LENGTH: 141 mins. the title, closing scene and Dobkin’s
and interview clips.OGuido Henkel MPAA RATING: R MPAA RATING: R commentary provide answers.
DIRECTOR: Chad Stahelski DIRECTOR: David Dobkin OAnthony Chiarella
STARRING: Keanu Reeves, Willem STARRING: Robert Downey Jr.,
Dafoe, Dean Winters Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga

soundandvision.com
70 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
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 ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC

HAND. CANNOT. ERASE.

STEVEN WILSON
for Hand. Cannot. Erase. was smart and deceptively simple,
as he told me back in February: “The main starting point for
me was, ‘Let’s do something completely different.’ ” One
thing Wilson chose to do was to approach this material from
a female perspective. The underlying story line of H.C.E. is
based on a woman who died alone in England in 2003 and
whose body was not found until two years later. How does
someone like Joyce Carol Vincent, who clearly participated
in the general social fabric and professional domains, fall off
the map in our seemingly perpetually connected world?
That underlying sense of uneasiness is palpable all through-
out the album.
Wilson’s relatively untapped pop sensibilities come to the
forefront with the treatment he gives his vocals on both “3
Years Older” and the title track—they’re lighter and airier,
and properly centered with minimal effects. “Perfect Life”
features dead-center narration from Katherine Jenkins
before Wilson’s shimmery repetition of the phrase “we’ve got
the perfect life” moves into the front right channel before
Courtesy of kScope

fading back in the mix as the band instrumentation moves

to the fore. That track bleeds into “Routine,” where Wilson’s
leads mesh quite nicely with Israeli chanteuse Ninet Tayeb,
whose vocals float dreamily across the front channels before
caressing your ears from the rear, supplemented by a
Could there be an artist under more pressure to put forth brilliant, plaintive piano figure. It’s a bit of a false lull, as the song explodes in all
original music in surround sound than Steven Wilson? For all intents corners immediately after that.
and purposes, Wilson is the poster boy for the 5.1 audio universe—in There are plenty of all-channel-assaultive jams to be had here. “Home
fact, no one else comes close. Wilson has also long been the go-to Invasion” commences with an insistent metallic groove, as Marco
surround remix-master for special-edition catalog reissues-cum- Minnemann’s crisp hi-hat punctuates Adam Holzman’s rear-channel
revitalizations for the likes of Yes, King Crimson, XTC, ELP, Tears for organ riffage. Wilson’s dark-dream fuzzed-out vocals buttress rear-
Fears, Simple Minds, Hawkwind, and Gentle Giant—and, rest assured, channel razor-slide guitar from Guthrie Govan, setting the table for the
even more Wilson-helmed 5.1 releases are forthcoming from many of direct transition into “Regret #9,” which culminates in Govan’s soaring
these and other artists. And then there’s his own body of solo surround solo and Wilson strumming (yes) a banjo at its close.
work, as well as what he’s realized in 5.1 for other bands he’s been a part And then comes the full-on “Ancestral,” which commences with a
of—including Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, Bass Communion, and Storm buried, marginally distorted Wilson vocal countered by Theo Travis’
Corrosion. flute and Tayeb’s wailings, just ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Clare
Ever since he began focusing on his solo career in 2009, Wilson has Torry’s seductive runs on Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky.” The
continued to up the 5.1 ante rather than repeat past glories and familiar tempo changes gears at will, moving from prime headbanging territory
mixing patterns. That said, how could he possibly top the nonstop to a Zappaesque xylophone and kick-drum passage before resuming at
all-channel excellence of his triumphant 2013 release, The Raven That full throttle. This is textbook for how to
Refused to Sing (and Other compose dramatic shifts, retain theme
Stories)? For one thing, I resonance, and then bring it all full circle.
personally consider Raven’s The H.C.E. circle truly closes with the
lead track, the uber-intense beautiful arrangement for “Ascendant
“Luminol,” as my 5.1 Here On…,” featuring a bed of angelic
benchmark, and I use it as my young male vocals courtesy The Cardinal
surround litmus every time Vaughan Memorial School Choir, which
I’m evaluating and/or delicately moves from the rear channels to
auditioning new gear. Where the front and back again, cleansing H.C.E.’s
could Wilson possibly go BLU-RAY uneasiness with a hopeful ambiance.
next? LABEL: kScope When you’re at the top of the summit,
That question is answered AUDIO FORMATS: 96-kHz/24- one can easily succumb to the weight of
bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1,
quite heartily by his 96-kHz/24-bit LPCM 5.1,
having to continually outdo prior
just-released fourth solo 96-kHz/24-bit LPCM Stereo achievements. Not Steven Wilson. His push
effort, Hand. Cannot. Erase., NUMBER OF TRACKS: 29 to go beyond the boundaries of surround
Photo by Lasse Hoile

which, while available in a
variety of formats, is best
experienced in 96/24 on
Blu-ray. Wilson’s manifesto
soundandvision.com
72 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com
LENGTH: 3:14:34 (2:44:56 music, sound and achieve something new and
29:38 studio documentary)
PRODUCER: Steven Wilson
aurally exciting with every release Cannot.
ENGINEERS: Steve Orchard, Be. Denied.OMike Meler
Laurence Anslow, Brendan Dekora,
Steve Price, Charlie Dodd, Joseph
E-Shine, Daniel Anglister
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 PREMIERE
DESIGN

OLED
Obsession

LG 65EG9600 4K Ultra HD OLED TV LG • (800) 243-0000 • lg.com

2015 is shaping up to be the Year of the Ultra HD as the
balance begins to shift from everyday HDTVs to 4K/Ultra
HDTVs with their higher-than-HD 3840x2160 pixel
count. The latest projections from the Consumer Elec-
tronics Association show UHD shipments growing exponentially over
the next few years, jumping from 1.3 million sets in 2014 to 4 million
this year and tripling again to 13 million in 2017. Before long, UHD will
become as commonplace as HD.
One of the finest UHD specimens to hit the market of late is LG’s
65-inch 65EG9600 ($9,000), one of seven 4K OLED models previewed
at CES this past January. The introduction of several UHD models was a
momentous occasion for fans of OLED as it confirmed LG’s commit-
ment to a category that (at least for now) has been shunned by Samsung
and other top-tier TV players. (We’ll see how things shake out down the
road.)
The first thing you notice when you lay eyes on the 9600 is how imag-
es stretch to the very edge of its frameless screen. More impressive is
how skinny the screen is—about a quarter of an inch at its thinnest
point. LG calls the ultra-modern design “Art Slim” and indeed, it is
striking in an artful kind of way. Even diehard enthusiasts who abhor
curved screens will find themselves seduced by this sexy thing. Equally
remarkable, the set weighs only 44 pounds (total shipping weight with
the stand and everything is a reasonable 71 pounds).
To bolster OLED’s inherent contrast benefits, LG uses a four-
pixel “WRGB” layout that adds a white subpixel to the traditional
red, green, and blue to boost light output and “render a wider range
of more accurate colors.” (Another benefit of WRGB is that it
makes it easier to mass-produce TVs at larger screen sizes, which
might, in part, explain LG’s dedication to OLED.) The 9600 is com-
patible with HDCP 2.2 copy protection, supports HEVC and VP9
codecs for streaming UHD content, and comes with two pair of
passive 3D glasses.
Beyond the promise of a stunning picture—something we’re anx-
ious to confirm with a hands-on review—sound is not an after-
thought on this TV: It’s equipped with a speaker system designed by
Harman/Kardon, a company that knows a thing or two about sound.
TV smarts and connectivity are handled by LG’s webOS 2.0 platform,
which is said to facilitate an intuitive and easy-to-navigate experience
with quick transitions between online streaming and broadcast or
cable channels. If you happen to get bored, you can always talk to the
TV using the Magic Remote’s voice control feature. With any luck, it
will listen.—Bob Ankosko

Sound & Vision (ISSN 1537-5838) (USPS 504-850) June 2015, Vol. 80, No. 5. COPYRIGHT 2015 BY TEN: The Enthusiast Network Magazines, LLC; Published 10 times a year (January, February/March, April, May, June, July/
August, September, October, November, December) by TEN: The Enthusiast Network, LLC., 261 Madison Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016-2303. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing
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74 JUNE 2015 soundandvision.com

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