calibration

Do you use tone controls or an equalizer?

I can't name one truly high-end preamp with tone controls, and that's because most audiophiles wouldn't dream of altering the signal in any way. Home theater buyers see things differently, so virtually all AV receivers have bass and treble controls and many employ auto setup programs that feature extensive speaker and room correction processing. Some say the processing improves the sound. Personally, I'm far from convinced these calibration systems really do that, they change the sound, but the results are too inconsistent to be counted on. If your receiver has auto setup, try turning it off, … Read more

Bring Calibre's awesome e-book features to your 64-bit Windows PC

Quicker than you can turn a page, e-books have gone from a novelty to a publishing mainstay and will soon be the dominant format (perhaps by the time you're reading this). While many book-lovers use handheld e-book devices such as Amazon's Kindle, others read e-books on their tablets or even their smartphones. All you need is a good e-book reader. We tried the 64-bit release of Calibre, the free, open-source reader and library manager. It's a good e-book reader.

Calibre's welcome wizard let us choose from a long list of interface languages. It also prompted us … Read more

Manage your e-book library with Calibre for Mac

For those with certain e-reader devices, working with e-books on a computer can be difficult. Calibre for Mac is a free program that helps you manage your e-book libraries and create e-books from other sources for use on portable devices.

Calibre for Mac is an open-source freeware program, and it's easy to download and install. The initial setup is easy, but requires an e-mail address to link to the user's e-reader. Once this is done, the user is prompted to go to an outside Web site for more instructions on using the program, and some streaming demonstration videos. … Read more

How we test: TVs

Did you know CNET reviews TVs by comparing them directly in a side-by-side lineup, after each has undergone a thorough calibration? Did you know that the main instrument we use to calibrate and measure those televisions costs about $28,000? Did you know that last year we reviewed and rated 54 individual TVs and revamped our ratings system to incorporate value?

Yes, I'm biased, but I consider CNET's TV reviews the best in the business. We've come up with a set of tools and procedures designed to arrive at unbiased results by utilizing industry-accepted video-quality evaluation tools, … Read more

Subwoofer setup dos & don'ts

Merely buying a great subwoofer is no guarantee you'll wind up with great bass. There are too many ways to squander its performance potential. That's why putting in the extra effort to achieve proper subwoofer setup is crucial.

The No. 1 setup myth is: You can place a sub "anywhere" in the room. Well, of course you can, but chances are it won't sound very good.

The "anywhere" strategy might be an even more tempting option with wireless subs, which sometimes come with claims that they can be placed 60 feet from the … Read more

CNET's TV testing lab: Behind the curtain (photos)

You've seen the video and you've read the entire How We Test document top to bottom. Now take the photo tour.

As CNET's two-man HDTV reviews team gears up to take on the panels of 2012, we thought we'd pause to give you a taste of the place where the magic of evaluation happens: our lab. We just vacuumed and we're pretty proud of the results. … Read more

DEQX advances the art of speaker correction

I've listened to a lot of speakers over the past thirty-odd years, and I can tell you this, they're all imperfect.

No hi-fi or home theater sounds like live music, and not a single one of the most exalted high-end speakers has truly flat frequency response.

Of course, everyday speakers are less accurate, which is why just about every receiver sold today has a calibration system that corrects speaker anomalies and tames room acoustic problems.

That's all fine in theory, but most speaker calibration systems only change rather than improve the sound of a hi-fi or home theater. So I'm a bit of a skeptic about the benefits of this type of processing, but I finally heard a correction system that delivered the goods. It's the DEQX HDP-Express. I listened to it over a very high-end system (owned by DEQX's publicist).

The sonic transformation was at once subtle and dramatic. I first listened to the system without any correction, and the sound was excellent. The speakers were large floor-standing towers (Focal Utopias). I played a few recordings I know well, and the sound was beautifully balanced and natural.

Ah, but then my host switched on the DEQX speaker correction, and the sound of the "Wynton Marsalis & Eric Clapton Play the Blues" CD snapped into focus.… Read more

Manage your e-books with Calibre Portable

Managing collections of books (we'll call them "libraries") used to be easier. E-books introduce new complexity. Thanks to competing formats and technologies, e-books that play on one e-reader might not on another, even when it's supposed to be compatible. Calibre Portable is a free e-book manager that not only serves as an e-library but also converts electronic text between various formats. It also handles a wide range of e-readers.

Since it's portable freeware, you can save Calibre Portable's program folder virtually anywhere, though we had to relocate the database folder after saving the program … Read more

How much bass is too much bass?

A lot of folks crave room-shaking bass, but some prefer it more tightly controlled.

Little speakers or subwoofers may promise deep and powerful bass, but truly deep bass only comes from big woofers. Speaker cabinet size also plays a huge role in determining bass quality and quantity, so go for big speakers if bass is a major priority. To a lesser degree the same logic applies to headphones: full-size headphones generate more bass impact than tiny earbuds.

Speaker and headphone designers know most people prefer a little too much rather than too little bass, so they usually add a little … Read more