One of the major differentiations between Blu-ray players now has been their online content support. With more and more people getting their movies and TV shows from Netflix, Hulu, and other sources, the ability to access all of these easily from one device has become more important than ever. The Samsung BD-D6500 Bly-ray player, reviewed here, fits the bill.

Tags: Blu ray Players

If you have a home theater system where your bass management isn't as flexible as you would like it to be, an outboard crossover network could solve your problems. Bryston makes several models, and the one I chose to review was the 10B-SUB, which is designed for sending the low frequencies to the subwoofer and the mid/high frequencies to the power amplifiers that drive your left and right front channels. You can select the crossover frequency and the slope for both the low-pass and high-pass outputs. It is superbly constructed, extremely flexible, and its bench test results were first rate.

Tags: Crossover | Crossover Frequency | Crossover Networks

The Active Atom booksehlf speaker, or A2 to be hip, is part of a new sub-brand dubbed Paradigm Shift. Back in 1997 Paradigm had a line of powered speakers derived from their then recently launched Reference brand but despite being in the opinion of many, myself included, some of the best speakers period, they didn't sell well, mainly due to a persistent (and utterly incorrect) notion held by most audiophiles that properly designed and executed powered speakers can't possibly be as good or better than ones accompanied by giant boxes.

Tags: Speakers

Founded in 1972 by Matt Polk, George Klopfer, and Sandy Gross, Polk Audio has always strived to deliver natural, full-range sound at a competitive price. While no longer run by the founders, Polk Audio still works hard to provide a high-quality sounding product at a price that mere mortals can easily afford. Recently refreshed, the RTi A series of speakers from Polk sports new curve-sided cabinets, upgraded drivers, and real-wood veneer finishes. The Polk RTiA 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System is reviewed here.

Tags: 5.1 | Speakers

Circuit design and the tape recorder section are the focus of the final section of my HK 990 review. The topics are addressed to different groups. Those interested in the tape recorder section will find information on Page 9. The tape recorder interface section outlines matters of connectivity and usage. Usability issues are discussed. The tape recorder interface section is at the level of the prior two parts and assumes no knowledge of circuit-level electronics.

The circuit-design section enters the land of high-end design, mostly guided by the design principles of Matti Otala. My intent is two-fold: to identify anything that might make the unit sound better subjectively; and to objectively quantify whether any aspects of the design have inadvertently degraded performance.  Here are links to Part I and Part II of this series.

Tags: Amplifiers | Integrated Amplifiers | Stereo

The extremely evocative, beautiful voice of Annette Cantor that elevates this album of seven songs for meditation and healing is the same voice that, years ago, helped make master musician Deuter’s Garden of the Gods (New Earth Records) one of my favorite New Age albums.

Tags: DVD A | Music Reviews