Q I am interested in purchasing a new power amplifier for my home theater system. I also enjoy listening to jazz and instrumental music. I have narrowed my choices down to the Bryston 9B SST and the ATI AT 2005.  The Bryston costs significantly more new, but can be found on the used market at costs that are not much more than the ATI. Do you have a recommendation?

A The Bryston designs tend to have a bit more edge to the sound, not brightness, just a snappier edge. Some consumers like this edge, and others do not. As I get older, I like a softer edge to the sound, so I would buy the ATI.

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Q What happened to the "Secrets Buyers Guide"? This looked like a work in progress that could have been a valuable "live" alternative to S&V or Home Theater's annual buyer's guides.

A Most companies we contacted were just not interested in doing the work necessary to keep it up to date by sending us their latest product specifications, so we dumped it. We at Secrets were very, very surprised at the lack of interest by manufacturers. With 150,000 - 185,000 unique readers each month, maybe I should say we were shocked.

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Q What's your take on the Mirage FRX speaker line compared to the older 90is line? I bought the FRX-7's and sold my 390is's, then I ended up up trading to get them back. I just though they sound a lot sweeter. Was I nuts for doing this or are the 390is actually a better speaker? They sounded better to me especially with voice, but I could be just familiar with their sound. Should I have stayed with FRXs for longer, or did I make the right move to keep a better speaker?

A Speakers probably have more of a distinctive sound between brands and models than any other component in the hifi chain. One is not necessarily better than the other, but certainly different. You simply prefer the 390is sound rather than the FRX. You did the right thing.

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Q I have a Denon DVD 1600 player and a Sharp PG-M25 X Projector. I frequently see a blurring when people move. For example, if the face is still and then moves I see a blurring which is very annoying. My screen is a Stewart GrayHawk 100 inch. Everything else looks very good.

A The Sharp PG-M25X projector is a single chip DLP unit. It has to show the red, green, and blue images all from one chip, and as a result, there are artifacts during motion. This can occur when an object is moving and also with stationary objects if your eyes are moving across the screen. The most notorious is the Rainbow Effect, and it is indeed annoying.

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Q I have very limited space on top of my LCD TV for a center channel speaker and no room in front of it. There are, however, two 9"H X 9 1/2"W spaces on either side of the monitor that are immensely deep and unoccupied by anything. Could I use car stereo 4 1/2" coaxial speakers, which I would wire in series to achieve an 8 ohm impedance, in each of these spaces? I don't think enclosure size would be an issue, but the timbre and volume matching might would be. My receiver is an NAD T762 and my L/R speakers are PSB Image 3LR's. Would this work at all and if it did, would there be other issues I'm not aware of?

A Rather than car speakers, I would suggest some mini-monitors that already have enclosures. There are some out there that would fit just fine. They may be magnetically shielded, but this will not be an issue with an LCD rear projection TV. Wire them in series just as you mentioned and you will end up with something on the order of an 8 Ohm to 16 Ohm load. Place them so that they stick out from the TV rather than being back in the space. Otherwise it may sound like a megaphone.

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Q I recently purchased Canton's 50-XXL home theater speakers using an Onkyo TX-SR700 and a Panasonic 47 inch projection TV. I want to get the best out of my system, but I'm not sure about subwoofer settings, etc. I'm looking for a setup DVD like the AVIA (I was told that there are better ones available). Can you please recommend something?

A All the setup discs work pretty well, but I use Avia and Video Essentials. Between the two of them, they have all the tests, and they are easy to use.

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Q My system includes Panasonic DVD RV32, Marantz SR-5000, and JBL LA-880 as front speakers. When listening to an audio CD in stereo mode, should I use PCM or analog audio output from the DVD player for a better result?

A For old players with new receivers, I would suggest going with digital out from the player to the receiver, but make sure it is either a Toslink optical cable or 75 Ohm coax cable. That 75 Ohm impedance is important. For new players and receivers, it is a toss up, but I tend to use digital Toslink optical rather than the two analog cables.

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Q  Flat speakers are appearing now, but are still not mainstream . What are the two or three major barriers preventing flat speakers from becoming mainstream?

A Flat speakers are space saving items that will probably be very successful at some point. All new technology is expensive unfortunately, so that is holding them back. Also, they need to be accepted by dealers for use in showrooms. The average consumer has never seen one, maybe never even heard of them. They have poor bass response, but that is typical of all planar speakers, such as ribbons and electrostatics. There are some that have minimum depth cones, but they too have poor bass. It is a matter of being able to move more air. Lastly, there is the problem of being so close to the wall, that the wall reflections cause interference.

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