The Reviewer » Electronics

Denon 1800BD Review

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:58:34 +0000

The Denon DVD-1800BD is a Blu-ray/DVD and CD player. It is equipped with the latest technologies such as Dolby TrueHD and Digital Plus as well as DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks. It also has its own brightness, sharpness and gamma control adjustments plus a bonus picture-in-picture view. This Blu-ray player can play up to 1080p resolution via HDMI. It has its own SD card slot (front panel) which can play WMA, MP3 as well as JPG, and it also features Denon’s proprietary Pure Direct mode.

Below is a compilation of what users think.

Reviews

“Here I go again with a review of the Denon DVD-1800BD bluray player. I knew I was getting a Denon so I wasn’t too worried about its performance, because I own a Denon 2500Btci. When I received it I took it out of its box and hooked it up via HDMI to my Onkyo Sr-606 AV receiver. I set the player up in the menus which took about 2 minutes. After that I played The Dark Knight, Terminator Salvation and a few concerts like John Mayer, Rolling Stones, and George Michael. The movies looked amazing and the sound came alive as well, which is strange because this player supposedly doesn’t decode anything, it just bitstreams it directly to your receiver. Well, I have to say that my bedroom setup has never sounded like it did with the Denon 1800bd. Everything has changed, and the performance is very close to the Denon 2500Btci. This player is a must have for $198, and I have to say that none of the Sonys, Pannasonics and Samsungs will ever come close to this Denon. Thank You Denon for making products with so much passion and hard work.” — Levi via Amazon.com

“There are other Blu-ray players on the market that offer more features for less money, but the DVD-1800BD is targeted at the step-up market. Denon loyalists might appreciate a less-expensive Blu-ray alternative, especially if they’ve already purchased a Denon receiver with onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding and don’t need all the features found on the flagship DVD-3800BDCI. If you want the ability to access Web content on Blu-ray discs, you should look elsewhere.” — hometheaterreview.com

“We wanted to be blown away by the DVD-1800BD but sadly it’s left us feeling a little bit underwhelmed. Although it’s an all-round solid proposition, we can’t help feeling that it’s a touch overpriced for a player that lacks BD Live support, multichannel analogue outputs and HD audio decoding. And while its picture quality is undeniably impressive, it lacks the jaw-dropping sharpness offered by the latest Pioneers and Panasonics. Maybe we expected too much from an ‘entry-level’ player – hopefully the sumptuous-looking DVD-3800BD can show us what Denon is really capable of.” — trustedreviews.com

Genelec 6010A Review

admin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:42:38 +0000

The Genelec 6010A sells for about $350 per speaker—these are not cheap, and yet, they are the least expensive of the Genelec line. Genelec is known for making industry standard studio monitors, but the 6010A, with its compact 195 mm x 121 mm x 114 mm dimension looks more like computer (multimedia) speakers. Factor in the white color option and it looks like it was made to match even Macs. Note, these are not your average Logitech or Creative desktop speakers, but if you want to bring that hi-fi experience to that where you spend most of your time—your desk, then these speakers are worth considering.

Review below by Marshal M. Rosenthal

Rubber feet keep the pair of speakers steady on the desk, although I could have used the included wall bracket if I wanted to. Checking out the back finds slots for attaching a power cord and RCA cable from the PC’s line out, as well as a set of controls for adjustments based on the acoustics of where it’s placed. This is serious stuff—I mean, when was the last time you saw reference frequency response charts in a PC speaker manual?

Taking out the techno speak, bottom line is that they should be aimed so they converge at ear height and are at about the same distance from one to the other to you. Plan on spending some time adjusting their response using the controls on the back, because this is where it gets personal—zero them out and start with the manual-suggested settings. In my case, I ended up adjusting the “Level” trim to three-quarters full, and put the Desktop nub to OFF and the Bass Tilt at -6dB because the desk was so near the wall.

Of course all the tweaking in the world doesn’t prove anything—like most folks, I judge the quality of audio based on what it sounds like and not from some audio measuring meter. So I popped in the DVD of The Dark Knight and navigated to the scene where the Joker’s smoking the streets from a 16-wheeler. The strength of the sound was awesome—the bass was like a hammer as the helicopter smacked into the side of the office building and then crashed to the pavement. I also tried listening to the cars zooming around the tracks in Speed Racer—the speakers articulated details that frankly I hadn’t heard before when listening in my home theater.

And as expected after that, playing the CD of Telarc’s Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Night On Bald Mountain, Prelude To Khovanshchina (Paavo Järvi & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra) sounded as good as I could have hoped for; delicate passages came through without incident and nothing was being overwhelmed by the bass. There’s plenty of power, forget about what the specs say, but more importantly these little guys put out a real depth and an impressive soundstage that is dead clean. I even tried playing some B-52’s off of my iPod and for damn sure this is how you want to be listening to techno-beats! So yeh, I guess it’s fair to say that the cast-aluminum enclosure, optimization of the air flow, active crossover filters, automatic protective circuitry and other enhancements all add up to this not being your usual plastic squeaky PC speaker. And at nearly $400, that’s only right. Also, I’d agree that the 6010A could be considered “portable”, but in that case I’d want to have the white, not black finish.

Genelec includes pretty much all the cables you’ll need, and for once a quick start up guide really does just that – although tweaker-heads won’t feel left out. At the end of the day, these speakers are overkill for those who only use their computers for serious office stuff, but if your PC is GHQ for gaming, listening to music and operating in general as your secondary home theater, then boy does Genelec have a loudspeaker for you.

Notes

The 6010A is available in black, white and silver. The 5040A active subwoofer was made to match the 6010A.

Genelec 6010A

Denon AVR888 Review

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:46:17 +0000

7.1-Channel/5.1+2-Channel Independent Zone Home Theater Receiver

The Denon AVR888 retails for $749 and can sometimes go as low as $400 so it is considered a mid-range receiver. It has all the standard features you can expect on a receiver and much more. Three HDMI connections for your most advanced technologies, while component, composite and S-video for your old favorites. XM satellite radio readiness and an iPod port increase your listening options. It also has two-source, two-zone capabilities to tie your home theater together.

Now, the audio. The AVR888 has 100 watts on each of its 7 channels so you can enjoy full, powerful surround sound. It also passes its signals via high-bandwidth HDMI v1.3a, which means the audio can reach its full potential either through stereo, 5.1, Dolby Digital, 7.1 or DTS. A 192 kHz/24-bit audio DAC is used for all channels. Denon also included AL24 Processing Plus for high sound quality.

Some satisfied customers’ reviews

Best receiver in terms of price versus quality available today. Outperforms all Onkyo and Yamaha receivers I have owned and fairly easy to set up, make all connections and follow the on screen setup menu, get to the manual for tweaking later. Gobs of power and sound quality is superb in terms of neutrality and separation.

This is one incredible sounding receiver. I have owned Onkyo and Marantz (AVR-6200), both of which I highly valued. The Marantz was used with my Mirage Omni speakers, which is still utilized on the Denon. However, nothing has the dynamics and punch that this receiver is capable of. The overall sound quality, in my opinion, is very flat, very dynamic. It sounds great at all volumes, something that my Onkyo and Marantz receivers could not match. I rate the highs as a tiny bit bright, but very acceptable. The mids are sweet, especially with acoustic instruments and vocals. The bass is very good as well. I love the quality of movies and music equally.

Wow, this product sounds great. I found it easy to set up and the switching on the unit made putting my system together a breeze. I changed out an old av receiver I had from several years ago and I was astounded at what a difference the AVR888 made in how my system sounded. I also noticed a major improvement in my video signal. This was a great buy for me and my family.

Read 44 more reviews of this product @ Amazon.com.

Denon AVR888

Dynaudio BM6A Review

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:53:15 +0000

Due to our popular Dynaudio BM5A review post, we’ve decided to add a review for the BM6A—the 6-inch, hence fuller version of the BM 5A. There are hundres of reviews out there on the BM6As, and mind you, nearly all of them are stellar.

We haven’t gotten our hands on the BM6A yet, unfortuntely, but here we’ll outline and summarize the best reviews found online.

Review by Paul White of soundonsound.com

The verdict, after much swapping of discs and comparisons with my ATC monitors, was that the Dynaudio BM6As are voiced just a hint bright—but only a hint. Overall, the sound stays smooth and very natural, even at fairly high levels, and the benefits of active powering show up in almost dictatorial control of the bass end, which remains both tight and deep. There’s also plenty of level.

Dynaudio speakers have always been effective at presenting a detailed mid and high end, and this pair is no exception. The sound has a strong sense of intimacy, but there’s little or none of that edgy raggedness around the crossover frequency that lets down so many otherwise competent monitors. Well-recorded voices retain clarity and articulation, but without becoming scratchy or sibilant—a trait often shown up when female vocals are played through imperfect monitors.

Stereo imaging is important for nearfield monitors, because the stereo panning and effects for most mixes are set up using nearfields rather than monster monitors. In common with other Dynaudio speakers I’ve used, the imaging is convincing and stable, with centre-panned sounds hanging nicely between the speakers. Stereo enhancement techniques push the sound out beyond the extremes of the speakers, and again, good imaging is essential if such effects are to retain their integrity. These speakers convey an impression of both stereo width and depth, and it’s also worthy of note that the sweet spot is nice and wide—you don’t hear any significant HF rolloff or any serious imaging degradation until you’ve moved a long way off-axis.

Over the past couple of years, a number of active monitors have sprung up in the £1200 to £1500 price bracket, many of which are exceedingly good performers. You can make accurate mixes on any of the better models, and any preferences probably come down more to personal taste than to any significant technical supremacy. Even so, when you’re spending this kind of money, it’s always as well to shortlist two or three pairs, then listen to them side by side.

I’ve always had the greatest respect for Dynaudio studio monitors, and while I still use ATCs as my reference, there’s no denying that Dynaudio manage to deliver a very close-to-neutral sound that is at the same time lively and inspiring to work with. I’d certainly be more than happy to do all my mixing on these little beauties, and it’s unlikely that anyone would complain that they weren’t loud enough.

Review by Peter Duminy of Loudspeaker Design

The best part of these speakers of course is the sound, and these Dynaudios deliver. The bass is fast and deep, and is adjustable with supplied foam plugs for the rear ports. I found leaving them open in my room gave just the right amount of weight to the bass. The midrange and high frequencies are reproduced with amazing alacrity on every CD I could find. Midrange voicing is superb, with vocal textures being clearly audible. The tweeter has to be one the smoothest and best detailed in the business, and never disappointed with amazing levels of definition. Needless to say all this detail has a caveat, and that is unless the recording and equipment is of the highest order, the BM6s will show defects without mercy. Forgiving they are not, but at being truthful, they will be an engineer’s best friend. They are expensive, but then Dynaudio never designed them or manufactured them to be otherwise. I can heartily recommend the Dynaudio BM6s without reservation and use them on a daily basis in this Lab.

Dynaudio BM6A

Polk Audio RM510 Review

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:45:54 +0000

The RM510 is a 5.1 home theater package that consists of 2 RM8 satellites—equipped with two 2.5-inch midrange and a 0.75-inch tweeter, 1 RM8 center channel, 2 RM7s and a PSW110 10-inch subwoofer. I paired it with my Onkyo SR875. I have the subwoofer connected by the LFE input. I ran Audyssey with them and set my RM8s and RM7s at 120Hz and 125Hz respectively.

What can I say, I’m blown away. The sound is clean, crisp and very bright. This is perfect for a medium to a large room. If you want a big sound without the bulk and the high cost, I highly recommend this. The physical set-up was easy. The brackets provided also comes with a paper template for easy wall mounting. The included screws and hardware also look great. If you’re using a high gauge speaker wire, the +/- inputs on the back of each speaker are a very small and somewhat difficult to connect. Other than that, I’m going to really enjoy this system.

I looked at buying the RM6750 for a long time but eventually decided on this system. The RM6750 has a fairly bulky center speaker and larger satellite speakers. The sound is awesome, crystal clear and beautiful. I have a fairly large room. I had read some complaints that the subwoofer is not loud enough. This is not the case in my system (room acoustics probably). The bass booms and I ony have it turned up half way. I have nothing but good things to say about this system. Great system for the price. Go out and buy it, you’ll be happy.

Garmin c340 Review

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:13:05 +0000

StreetPilot® c340

The Garmin c340 leads the portable, affordable c300 series with text-to-speech capability and optional traffic alerts. It comes with preloaded maps, and its intuitive touch screen operation and big displays make it easy to use. The c340 retails for $199.95.

What people are saying

“Text to speech reads street names & exits thus making this device one of the best on the market. Lighter than TomTom. Tells you the actual address and phone number of searches.”

“Unit synthesizes street names, easy to use when driving, uses City Navigator NT 7 rather than City Select, more compact than 2610/2720.”

“…very easy to use the first time.”

“I am greatly impressed with this unit. It was fast to get going right out of the box and after the initial satellite acquisition and almanac download. In any case, after the initial automatic recalibration, the unit acquired satellites quickly whenever I turned it on.”

“It definitely gets you from a to b with minimal effort. For those with big hands navigating the screen can get tricky at times. The screen tends to wash out in bright light which isn’t a problem in later models and the colors distort when wearing polarized sunglasses.”

Garmin c340

TomTom ONE XL•S Reviews

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:00:36 +0000

4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

Here are some good reviews for the TomTom ONE XL-S:

James Schulze – Amazon.com

I have been watching the price on the Tom-Tom over the past two years and when the price dropped on this XL-S, I decided to get one. It may be refurbished, but I couldn’t tell it was. Operation was perfect with the exception that the free grade available from the Tom-Tom site wasn’t available as being refurbished, it was probably used up. However, support was available for an upgrade at no cost if you work with the home sight on line.I also own the Tom-Tom One (3rd edition) and the later XL-S model does have some improvements, although some of the improvements are a pain to deal with, for example; a bleating noise if one exceeds the speed limit unknowingly. You have to control this noise through the menu options before you start the unit. Also, the computer voice you pick with more voice information to you, is no where near as nice as the pleasant, sexy voice that is available if desired.

All in all, the larger screen is easier to see, especially if you are older as I am.

Great unit and very operator friendly.

gpsreview.net

TomTom is soon going to be offering a small bump to the existing ONE XL with the ONE XL-S. So what does the “s” mean? The only difference between the ONE XL and the ONE XL-S we have been able to identify is that the XL-S will come with text-to-speech. It will also come with NavCore version 7 installed with MapShare, however the ONE XL can be upgraded to version 7 with MapShare as well. Another nice bonus is that the XL-S will come with 64 Mb of RAM instead of 32Mb found on the older XL which should give this interface some speed improvements.

Expect the ONE XLS to hit store shelves in the next couple of weeks, at a price about $50 over the price of the ONE XL.

G. Harris – Amazon.com

Enjoying this as my first GPS device. Glad I didn’t pay full price. I haven’t had a chance to play with all the features yet, but I’m really enjoying it. Works like new. The only flaw I found is with the text to speech. It doesn’t pronounce non-English names well at all. Considering I live in California, a lot of the the street and city names are Spanish. Makes for a good laugh.

TomTom ONE XL-S

Haier HLT71 Review

admin — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:39:00 +0000

7-Inch Portable LCD TV

Here are some good reviews for the Haier HLT71:

M. Garcia – Amazon.com

Great little TV. The item I received differed from the one pictured, it was rubberized black and had better controls. I comes with a removable battery pack, 12v and AC adapters and a stick antenna.

We use it for keeping up with college football games while watching our daughters travel softball team.

The TV decodes everything. ATSC (over the air digital TV), NTSC (analog TV), regular cable TV AND even non-encrypted QAM cable TV (that was a huge plus for me).

I tried a Radio Shack 7″ that looks a lot like the Amazon picture of the Haier above; but this TV is MUCH MUCH better. The antennas with these TV’s are crap, get the silver sensor sold on Amazon and you will be amazed the channels you can pull in with this TV.

Good Luck.

William McLean – Medford, OR USA

Excellent! My HLT71 also came with the black mar-resistant case.

Wow, what a great little TV! Not using the included antenna, but using another single retractable rod antenna – with a long cable attached, I was able, by moving the antenna away from the TV, to tune-in everything that my 27″ Digital Sony can. Actually, even more analogue stations than the Sony.

Nothing in the advertising says this TV produces High Definition viewing. While it does pick-up HDTV stations, image quality is restricted by the LED television screen. But that image is really nice and sharp – almost HD.

Also, I can hardly believe that the included little lightweight lithium ion battery can be so powerful. It way out performs NmHd batteries. And the light weight AC adapter, and even the included lighter weight automobile adapter, they are of finest quality – like the TV itself.

It seems very odd that since this is the best 7″ digital TV that I have ever seen that it is also the lowest in price. I got mine for $117.99 including free S&H.

Grider – November 14, 2008

Knowing that my current little portable TV used for emergencies will “expire” in February 2009 – I ordered one of these because they are set up for the new digital broadcasts. The first one I received didn’t pick up any channels and had no sound. I figured it had to be a damaged unit, so returned it to Amazon for a replacement and the second one is working fine. Picks up most of my local channels -Some with amazing clarity and others fuzzy, but I live out in the country, so I’m okay with that since it’s really just for emergencies. I’m amazed at the technology, seeing such a sharp, full color picture on that little screen. I’ve read from other reviews that the battery lasts about 2 hours, but hopefully that willll get us through a storm. Comes with AC cord, detachable antenna, triple video input cable, car plug-in, remote control (including batteries) and rechargeable internal battery. Note, internal battery MUST be installed before it will come on. It’s got one of those tiny plug-ins like cordless phones, so make sure it’s connected. Overall, I would recommend it.

Haier HLT71

Acer X193W Review

admin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:11:25 +0000

19″ Widescreen LCD Monitor

This Acer 19-inch widescreen LCD monitor gives you the clear view you need for your graphics, animation, and video work. The X193W+BD delivers crisp text and vivid colors with 2000:1 contrast ratio, 1680 x 1050 resolution, a fast 5ms response time to keep up with intense gaming and fast-moving video. Widescreen viewing lets you see everything your media has to offer, without distortion. The expanded screen space lets you view multiple windows at once, so you don’t waste your time toggling.

The DVI input interface offers a clean image and a more accurate representation of the original video source than an analog connection. The X193W+BD’s case is slim and modern with a narrow bezel, and has a 100mm VESA mount, so you can conserve desk space and showcase this stunning display on your wall. With a wide 170° (h) / 160° (v) viewing angle, you’ll have a great view, wherever you sit. No matter how demanding your profession, the Acer X193W+BD LCD monitor helps you get it done right!

Price Check

$139.99 – Amazon.com

Acer X193W

JVC KD-AVX1 Review

admin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:11:54 +0000

Take one look at JVC’s EXAD KD-AVX1 and you’ll see why this product is creating a buzz. There are plenty of multimedia head units with foldaway 7-inch displays. However, these displays are often big and overpowering and manage to block half of the dashboard. The KD-AVX1 is very different.

The 1-DIN KD-AVX1 has a 3-inch full-color TFT display built right into the front faceplate. The display will show DVD-Video, JPEG pictures, or even the view of a rear-looking camera (not included). In addition to DVD-Video, this unit will play DVD-R/RW, including discs containing MP3 and WMA. These recordable DVD formats can hold approximately 100 hours of music on one disc. The KD-AVX1 has dual zones, so DVD movies can be played for the back seat while the front seats can enjoy another sound source. This can include satellite radio, as the KD-AVX1 is Sirius-ready (a Sirius tuner, antenna, and subscription are required).

Whatever audio source is tapped, the sound can be customized with the built-in seven-band equalizer. The MOSFET power amplifier provides 20 watts (continuous) into four channels, with a separate subwoofer pre-amp output. There is an optical digital output to connect this system to a surround sound processor and amplifier. The KD-AVX1 is a great choice to affordably add video capabilities to a vehicle audio system.

Price Check

$259.49 – Amazon.com

JVC KD-AVX1