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Reviews

Muscle cars vs. high-end audio: practicality ain't their forte

I'm a middle-aged guy, so sure, I read the CNET review of the new Dodge Challenger SRT8 just to get vicarious kicks imagining what it's like to drive a 425-horsepower muscle car. It sounds like a real thrill ride, and sure it's a serious gas guzzler: "The EPA rates the Challenger SRT8 at 14 city mpg and 22 highway mpg. However during our leadfooted testing, we only managed 13.7 mpg over a mixed city and highway cycle."

Even so, I suppose the Challenger's tested price of $43,730 will place it in the affordable range for a lot of folks, or let's be honest, guys. It's a car to get noticed in, but no one's fooling themselves into believing the SRT8 is merely reliable transportation. It's a toy, and if you can swallow the fuel bill, it's a heck of a ride.

Same can be said about high-end audio. It's not practical and it can be expensive to run, but once you get used to what it can do when it's playing your favorite tunes, a $500 HTIB won't cut it anymore. High-end audio isn't an appliance, it's supposed to get your heart pounding and blood flowing, not so different than the SRT8.

Thrill seekers lusting after a muscular audio system equivalent of the SRT8 should check out the following system.

Muscle cars are as American as apple pie, so I went for American made hi-fi where I could. I reviewed Klipsch's mighty RF-83 tower speaker ($2798/pair) for Home Theater magazine last October, but it's still a current model. With three 8-inch woofers and a 1.25-inch horn-loaded titanium diaphragm compression tweeter, the RF-83 mos' definitely will rock your world. Add the 12-inch Klipsch RT-12d subwoofer ($2,199) to ensure the deepest and tightest low bass. … Read more

Turning the iPhone into a digital photography tool

The iPhone 3G brought changes in shape, function, features, and so on, but to the dismay of many cell phone photographers, the device retains the same 2-megapixel camera as the first iPhone. Apple enhanced the camera via software improvements by coupling the camera to the GPS feature of the iPhone 3G to enable photo geotagging, but this did little to calm the complaints about the camera's resolution, lack of flash, and other features available on a few other phones. However, users have developed exciting ways to use the camera, and there are several innovative third-party applications to help along … Read more

Hands-on with the new MacBook Pro

When Apple announced its new notebooks on Tuesday, it said the new machines would be in the company's retail stores the next day.

So I went to the Apple store at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., after work on Wednesday. I got there a few minutes after 6 p.m. and discovered that an Apple technician was in the process of replacing an old MacBook Pro with the first one of the new models.

I positioned myself authoritatively about a foot from the tech's left elbow, so when he was done, I was the … Read more

Aperion's best-ever home theater speaker system?

I've reviewed hundreds of speakers, and back when I was selling high-end audio, I auditioned many hundreds more. Summing up those experiences here's what I've learned: they all sound different, but some sound more "right" than others.

"Right" connotes an even-tempered balance that doesn't call attention to itself and is likely to wear well over the years. The Aperion Intimus 5T-DB Hybrid HD should do just that. You can read my full review for Ultimate AV here.

The Intimus 5T-DB Hybrid HD ($2,829) is a six-piece system featuring a pair of 5T towers, the 5C center speaker, a pair of 5DB dipole/bipole surround speakers and a remote-controlled subwoofer, the Bravus 10D. True, the speakers don't look all that different than previous generations of Aperions, but as they say, the devil is in the details.

Aperion sells direct from its Web site with a 30 day money back return policy. UPS Ground shipping is free in both directions, and Aperion doesn't collect sales tax in the continental US. Feel free to try the Intimus 5T-DB Hybrid HD as I reviewed it -- and then if you decide, heck, I want the larger Bravus 12D sub that'll be no problemo. Aperion will pay for the Bravus 10D's return shipping and you'll just pay the difference in price between the two subs.

The Intimus 5T-DB Hybrid HD is a big step up from the Intimus 4T Hybrid SD ($1,569) I reviewed for CNET a few months ago. … Read more

Migrating and resizing a Boot Camp partition

Monday, I wrote about the process of upgrading the hard disk on my Apple MacBook Pro, and the as-yet unsolved problem of migrating the 20GB Boot Camp partition on the old hard disk--along with its Windows Vista installation--to a 32GB partition on the new drive. (See "Another new hard disk...and an unsolved problem.")

Well, it's all working now. As I've always said about the Mac, most things are either easy or impossible...and this one turned out to be easy.

My thanks to my friend EDN senior technical editor Brian Dipert who provided half of … Read more

The Audiophile Wiki gives sound answers

The audiophile lexicon goes way, way back, at least to the early 1950s hi-fi craze. Here's a place to get a grip on it.

The Audiophile Wiki was initiated by PS Audio's Paul McGowan to help answer questions about audio.

"For years, I have been on a personal crusade to put whatever effort I could into helping raise awareness of our industry," McGowan said. "I have spent hundreds (probably thousands) of hours answering questions about everything from how to connect a loudspeaker to how a transistor works, all in service to PS Audio customers and … Read more

Indulge yourself with a high-end desktop audio system

Is the market's roller-coaster ride freaking you out? Need a little diversion? Indulge yourself with a dose of high-end audio bliss from Peachtree Audio.

Check out the Decco--a stereo vacuum tube amplifier with a built-in digital-to-analog converter with USB, Toslink, and coaxial digital connectivity. And since some music lovers are still listening to analog sources they gave the Decco a pair of old school stereo inputs to accommodate a cassette deck and maybe an AM/FM radio.

I listened to the Decco with a pair of compact Era Design 4 Satellite speakers. Hook up chores via USB were dead … Read more

Taking your iPhone overseas

Ted Landau

October 2008

Later this week, I'm off for a trip to Japan. I never go anywhere without my iPhone anymore. Japan will be no exception. But I will be taking the phone with some trepidation. Knowing that international charges can be exorbitant, I've spent a good deal of time determining what, if anything, I could do to keep costs to a minimum. To save you from having to do the same legwork, here's what I learned:

Q. What's the executive summary?

A. The cheapest thing you can do, by far, is leave your phone … Read more