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Three great-sounding affordable sound bars

No one can deny the popularity of sound bar speakers, but I've always been frustrated by their sound quality. There were exceptions; the $899 Atlantic Technology PB-235 and $699 SpeakerCraft CS3 are quite good, but in the more popular $300-to-$400 range the 'bars weren't all that great. Granted, they were a big step up from TV speakers, but their sound was still a compromise, compared with what's available from the better $300-to-$400 Emotiva and Audioengine self-powered stereo speakers (they get hooked up from your TV's stereo analog jacks).

A few weeks ago I spent … Read more

Sony HT-CT260 review: Excellent sound that fits nearly every living room

If sound bars are the everyman's home audio system, the Sony HT-CT260 feels like the everyman's sound bar.

It starts with excellent sound quality, topping last year's sonic champ, the Haier SBEV40-Slim, and holding its own with the best we've heard this year, too. There's built-in Bluetooth, making it easy to wirelessly stream audio from just about every tablet and smartphone, and it throws in decoding for Dolby Digital and DTS for good measure. It has a signature, geometric design that's compact enough to unobtrusively sit under most TVs, but it also has a … Read more

Onkyo's 2013 receivers brim with value, plus built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Onkyo's rightfully known as the king of AV receiver value and its new 2013 line looks worthy of that reputation.

The company announced its new AV receivers this morning, with the step-up TX-NR626 and TX-NR727 models getting two big new features for 2013: built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. All of the models are also packed with HDMI connectivity, with even the entry-level TX-NR525 offering six inputs.

Here's how I'd break down the most-important features:

TX-NR525 ($500): 5.2 channels, six HDMI inputs, Audyssey MultEQ, networking, unpowered second zone TX-NR626 ($600) step-ups: 7.2 channels, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, … Read more

MEElectronics HT-21 headphones review: Balanced sound for a bargain

If you're upgrading your headphones and don't want to spend a lot, the MEElectronics HT-21 over ear headphones are a competent balance of comfort and quality. Best of all, they'll only set you back $50.

Visually, the HT-21s don't stand out from other brands that favor loud colors and trendy prints. Instead, they're simply designed with an all-black exterior and black faux-leather earpads to withstand the test of time without making a fashion statement.

The thick plastic lining the silver metal headband also gives the HT-21s extra durability, and they're comfortable to wear for … Read more

Two home theater systems join Onkyo 2011 line

Along with updates to its AV receiver line, Onkyo has announced two new home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems in its 2011 line. These new systems look to be largely similar to last year's HT-S3300 and HT-S5300, with a few upgrades.

Key features of the Onkyo HT-S3400:

5.1-channel HTIB Four HDMI inputs Advanced HDMI features like 3D pass-through and audio return channel (ARC) Onscreen graphical user interface (GUI) $380 list price; available in April

Key step-up features of the Onkyo HT-S5400:

7.1-channel HTIB Dolby Pro Logic IIz processing Can directly connect iPod/iPhone via front-panel USB port Powered subwoofer $600 … Read more

2011 Samsung monitor preview: Samsung leads with LED

Welcome back to our final day of coverage of Samsung's monitor preview for early 2011. On Monday and Tuesday, respectively, we took a long look at the company's new 3D offerings and its new Central Station. Today we take a look at its LED monitor refresh.

At CES this year, Samsung announced two new LED-based monitors as follow-ups to its PX2370 model from 2010.

The 550 and 350 will come in a variety of screen sizes as well as both a normal monitor configuration and a monitor/HDTV combo.… Read more

Are all 100-watt-per-channel amplifiers equally powerful?

In a perfect world, all 100-watt-per-channel amplifiers would be equally powerful. If we were talking about cars instead of amplifiers, you might suppose all cars with 300 horsepower are equally fast. But the weight of the car, gearing, and suspension tuning all play their parts, so performance expectations have to be based on more than just a single specification or number.

Before we go any further, I'd like to point out that the power spec's prime relevance lies in determining how loud a given set of speakers can play. Assuming the speakers can handle power, feeding them more power will produce louder sound levels. Sound quality is another matter, and isn't always associated with power, so the more powerful amp isn't necessarily the better-sounding amp. A few months ago I wrote a rave review of a 3.5-watt amplifier that sounded wonderful with my Zu Essence tower speakers. So just a couple of watts can sound amazing, and play louder than you'd think. Amplifier-speaker matching is more than a numbers game; knowledge of what works with what is a valuable commodity, so if you're lucky enough to have access to a top-notch hi-fi dealer or an experienced audiophile buddy, don't be afraid to ask for advice. … Read more

Sony's sweet $300 sound bar sports 3 HDMI ins

The number of sound bar home theater systems in the $300 price range has exploded this year, but nearly all of them lack HDMI switching despite it being the near-universal home theater connection. (Now you can even connect the Nintendo Wii via HDMI.) Sony's been way ahead of the game with its HDMI port count, which is why its HT-CT100 sound bar home theater system has been one of the most popular products we reviewed. It has three HDMI inputs, excellent sound quality, and an affordable price tag.

For 2010, Sony released an updated version, the HT-CT150, and little … Read more

Home theater automatic speaker calibration dos and don'ts

Just about every home theater receiver comes with an automatic speaker setup and calibration system: Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo feature Audyssey; Pioneer has MCACC (multichannel acoustic calibration); Sony's is called DCAC (digital cinema auto calibration); and Yamaha's proprietary system goes by the name YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer). The systems handle the basics like determining the sizes of all the speakers, setting speaker and subwoofer volume levels and the speaker-subwoofer crossover point, measuring the distances from the speakers to the listener, and checking that all of the speaker cables are correctly hooked up. Some autosetup systems also employ equalization to balance the frequency response of all the speakers, and they try to minimize room acoustic problems.

To accomplish these goals, the systems send test tones through all of the speakers and the subwoofer, and they all use a microphone to capture the sounds of the speakers. Autosetup is a great idea, but there's no guarantee you'll have a perfectly adjusted home theater sound after the test tones have run through all of their beeps, whooshes, and thumps. The volume levels of the speakers may not be perfectly adjusted, the speaker-to-listener distances may be inaccurate, and the subwoofer volume may be too loud or too low. In the worst cases, the autosetup sounds worse than doing no setup at all.

These malfunctions can be caused by a number of things: your room may not be quiet enough, microphone placement can have an effect, or your subwoofer's built-in volume control may be set too low or too high. I'd recommend checking that all of the speakers are wired "in-phase," meaning red/+ and black/- connections are consistent at the speaker and receiver ends. Some autosetup systems check the wiring, but try to get it right in the first place.

I recently met with Chris Kyriakakis, Audyssey's CTO and founder, to talk about new developments at Audyssey, and while I had his ear, I brought up my concerns about autosetup problems. He followed up with a list of tips that generally apply to most autosetup systems. There's a lot of useful information about Audyssey setup on the company's Web site.… Read more