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 Like almost all audio nuts, I had picked up most of whatever early information I had from various sources, some of the most fruitful being the question sections of various magazines. Joseph Giovanelli and Herman Burstein offered scads of useful stuff in Audio magazine, as did Norman Eisenberg in High Fidelity. A relative latecomer to this group was the "Q&A" column in Stereo Review, written by Larry Klein. Of these, Klein's effort was probably the most influential, if only because Stereo Review was by far the largest magazine (as is its successor, Sound & Vision).
In 1984, I had begun to write for Stereo Review on a casual basis, contributing mostly the usual how-to-buy-a-speaker stuff, as well as a couple of pieces that still infuriate the more ardent subjective audiophiles. One of these reported on a series of experiments that sought to discover the exact nature of sound differences between CD players (we didn't find any, as long as the machines were not actually broken).
The other suggested that audio amplifiers didn't really exhibit distinctive sound characteristics if they were working properly. You can still find the outfall from that article on the Internet almost twenty years later.
Then, one summer afternoon, SR's editor-in-chief William Livingstone called me to tell me that the magazine and Larry Klein had parted company, and to ask if I would be interested in taking over "Q&A".
Would I be interested in rewriting the Bible or the Koran?
Sure thing! I started in the fall of 1986 and am still doing it. One thing I couldn't have predicted however, was that they would want to illustrate the column with a drawing of my face, derived from several photos I sent. I was assured that the artist did caricatures for the New York Times, so I had nothing to worry about.
The resulting drawing (above), I hasten to assure anyone who cares, looks nothing like me (even 20 years ago), but it did have its good side: nobody ever recognized and stopped me at an audio show for as long as the illustration ran.
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Mentor Floyd Toole with his amazing 1970s sideburns
My first few days on the job as an audio journalist all those years ago seemed like winning the lottery. In earlier jobs, I had always been the guy people came to to waste time talking about hi-f. Now, here I was in extensive discussions about sound equipment, and from time to time I was hit with pangs of guilt as I chatted about the minutiae of some piece of audio gear, when was caught suddenly by the realization that that was what I was supposed to be doing.
In my very first issue, the editor let me loose on what was the mag's first review of a Dolby cassette deck -- a fairly exotic component at the time. In subsequent years, I have been repeatedly astonished that my old editor trusted me with such a mission at a time when I could hardly find the office restrooms, but as I recall, he kept a pretty tight rein over what I wrote.
But, although I felt I was a very knowledgable audiophile before I took the post, I soon came to the realization that my understanding of the field was embarrassingly shallow. I wasn't untypical in that, but to be an editor on a magazine devoted to the subject presupposes that one have something more to offer than a mixture of audio prejudices picked up around the office water cooler or from (all-too-common) ill-informed audio salespersons.
Fortunately, I soon came under the technical guidance of a colleague who would now probably be called a mentor, but at the time was simply one of the magazine's contributing editors (that is, a freelancer who writes regularly for the publication and can offer ideas and advice without the full-time staff getting bent out of shape) and a friend. He also had a wealth of education in audio and scientific things in general, where most of my knowledge was mostly picked up by osmosis. The fact that he also had a fine taste in old rock 'n' roll and old scotch cemented the relationship.
That was the redoubtable Dr. Floyd Toole. We'll get back to him shortly.
- Ian G. Masters
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Today, it seems hard to believe, but when I was growing up, the ultimate in high technology was audio. How I managed to get interested in the field is a mystery to me, as it certainly was to my family -- my parents thought they had spawned some kind of alien.
Nevertheless, I was interested in audio from earliest childhood. Actually, my prime focus was on radio, but in order to understand the workings of a broadcast studio, I had to acquire some knowledge of audio basics. This was largely gained through poring over various electronics magazine, which wasn't all that satisfactory, as they were mostly interested in short-wave radio and remote-controlled model airplanes, rather than audio.
Author Ian G. Masters in his home studio -- with treasured microphone -- in 1960
Eventually, however, I cobbled together enough knowledge to put together my own basement "radio" studio. It was primitive by today's standards (in fact it was primitive be the standards of those days as well), but it allowed me to immerse myself in audio throughout my youth. My parents were always dismayed when my wish-lists for Christmas and birthdays usually included a microphone or some tape-manipulating device (I still have my first splicer! And microphone).
Video came in 1968, when I won a gargantuan open-reel video tape recorder in a contest sponsored by a U.S. electronics magazine. I have been flirting with what we now call "home theater" since those days.
I don't suppose I ever really expected to be able to make a career out of my interest in electronics, and I did spend some post-university years in accounting and investments. Big mistake.
Eventually, I stumbled upon a help-wanted ad looking for an assistant editor for a Canadian electronics magazine. The publication was in the process of converting itself into an audio magazine -- that's where the ad bucks were in those days -- and it needed an in-house audio nut to help make the transition. The editor-in-chief reasoned that he could teach any reasonably literate person to edit, but not to be manic about audio. He looked at my covering letter, my (otherwise useless) degree in English, and my long-standing fascination with audio and video, and hired me, in spite of my total lack of knowledge of publishing.
That magazine and its editor are long gone, but here I am, still working the same corner.
-Ian G. Masters
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Editor's Note: Please join TheaterFocus in welcoming Ian G. Masters to his first blog.
Ian G. Masters
Excuse me, let me just move a few of these boxes to make some space. As long as I'm going to inhabit this small corner of the blogosphere, I should give myself a little elbow room.
In fact, I've been clearing stuff out for some time now. After my decades of involvement in audio and video, the accumulation of dead or near-dead equipment in my basement and garage has gotten out of hand. Prompted by the possibility of eventually selling the family homestead and moving to something more manageable, along with the increasing chorus from my wife of "why are you keeping all that junk?", I've begun to dispose of everything that isn't usable or out-and-out historical.
It's not as easy as it may seem. Nostalgia is fine in its place, but it turns out that there aren't all that many people willing to lay out actual money for a piece of the past. Especially if that piece is actually broken.
I did luck out with one aficionado who was in the business of restoring old audio gear and selling it on the Internet. He cherry-picked his way through my stuff and walked away with a few pieces that were both interesting and fixable. He didn't give me much hope for the rest of the equipment, however.
I did have a bit of success when it came to my old 78 r.p.m. records. Some of these were discs I bought back when I was a pup, but most had been wished on me by "friends" who were looking to clear out their own attics and thought I might be interested in their shellac dinosaurs. I took them because . . . well, I don't really know why. But some 500 of them have occupied a couple of shelves for years. Not long ago, I lucked into a local antiques dealer who had several old wind-up gramophones for sale, and he figured his potential buyers would need something to play on them, so he took the whole shebang for 100 bucks.
Hardware proved to be more difficult. Several local second-hand stores that deal with sound gear -- mostly musical instruments, but some audio and video stuff as well -- were willing to pay a few dollars for pieces where they recognized the brand names, but much of the equipment drew blank stares. I offered some unused high-end record-playing accessories from the 80s to one, whose only reaction was "what's a tonearm?"
I did make a very small amount of money from what I could sell, but mainly I just wanted to get rid of the stuff. And last weekend, the town I live in came to the rescue, with its first-ever "E-Waste Day".
Citizens were invited to bring their cast-off electrical and electronic junk to a local parking lot, where it would be collected and recycled by a company that specializes in that sort of disposal. I loaded up the ol' family sedan (a couple of times) and trundled off to the site, not really knowing what to expect. I was greeted with an immense expanse of discarded electro-junk, from mangled headphones to side-by-side refrigerators and Mediterranean-style console TV sets.
I had to wonder how much of the stuff was really broken, rather than just inconvenient, and I expected that there would be scavenging by some who thought they might find something useful. I only saw one person walking away with an item somebody else had discarded, a beat-up boombox ("I still have a few cassettes," the new owner explained), the rest was scooped into a truck and hauled away.
I have no idea whether or not any of it was actually recycled. But now, at least, it's somebody else's problem.
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Remember the monster sized man-eating HDTV? It was Panasonic’s 103” inch plasma the largest production plasma screen made to date. The cost is outrageous, get ready to pay some $70K for the devil’s HDTV. That’s almost as much as the Lutz’s paid for that house in Amityville NY back in the 70s.
The first customer for the giant plasma was NBC for the set of Monday Night Football. Gizmodo has an interesting take on the whole thing. We geeks who would put the 103” monster with a full 1920 x 1080 resolution and 5000:1 contrast ratio have lost. If I took it home I would lock myself in my house and watch whatever I could get my hands on in HD DVD, an Xbox360 game would be next. Watching a football game would be pretty far down my list of priorities. But football won the battle for the 103” plasma and the geeks lost. Pity.
Updates have been few and far between on the HomeTheaterFocus blog. But they will be revving back up later this month of September. Much of my time lately has been taken up with getting a new blog on another website ramped up check out the GizmoCafe blog.
I am about to drop out of civilization for awhile on a week long trek through the wilderness of Algonquin Park by canoe and foot. The only audio I’ll get out there is the sounds of loons and hopefully a chorus of wolves in the distance.
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EISA or European Imaging and Sound Association gives out awards every year for excellence in consumer electronics products. Like many awards they announce the winners before the actual event which seems a bit anti-climatic.
EISA is a collective of Editors-in-Chiefs from 52 electronics specialty magazines from 19 different nations in the EU. The awards for ‘06/’07 were announced yesterday although the ceremony, will be held in Berlin in two weeks. The complete list of winners can be seen at the EISA website buried under info about last year’s awards. EISA has troubles keeping the site updated.
Points of interest to me includes Philips taking two LCD HDTV awards. The High End LCD and Green TV. The High End LCD prize was won by a Philip’s Ambilight FlatTV. Ambilight is a clever feature that spreads ambient lighting behind your HDTV that actually matches a primary color on the screen. The feature is said to reduce eyestrain during long movie marathons.
The Green TV award was won by Philips 42” LCD from Philips FlatTV line. It was won for Philips' adopting environmentally sustainable manufacturing practices.
NAD won an award in the high end audio category which is very nice to see being a fan of NAD. Its entire “Master Series” line is a good bed for any budget conscious audiophile.
The category of Personal Media Player was won by none other than Apple’s iPod, surprise! Personally I think iPod is suffering overexposure that will help Microsoft with Zune. You heard it here first - Zune will be made a hit next year by a ‘pod weary public.
The best Loudspeaker was taken by B&W’s CM1 which is a bit of a surprise. Although I’ve never heard the CM1 and I know B&W make very good speakers, I’ve always been of the opinion that B&W is just a tad overpriced. I’ve made head to head comparisons with pricey B&W vs speakers at half the price I’ve never been convinced that you get enough for the extra spent. But hey, who am I to talk about Loudspeakers, I’m just a Loudmouth!
According to EISA the best all around Camera of 2007 is Nikon. Is there really any competition at that level?
I’m not sure why they announce the winners prior to the event at some awards like this. It seems to spoil the event itself. A storm of press releases are dropping right now from manufacturers that were handed awards.
Check out the new blog at GizmoCafe.com.
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You thought stereo was dead, didn’t you? At a time when manufacturers are moving to nothing but multi-channel systems aimed at home theater, Onkyo has introduced a different idea. We hear about new HTiB systems and more channels being tacked on to further the multi-channel experience it seems many manufacturers forgot about high end sound. Onkyo brings us a throwback to the days when two good channels sounded so much better than seven mediocre ones. But there’s a twist, Onkyo’s new two channel stereo integrated amp is built with digital amplifier technology.
Onkyo calls it a high end integrated amplifier that will showcase its new VL Digital power amp technology. The A-9555 Integrated Amplifier reflects a steady shift from Onkyo in its transition to digital amplifiers. The move to digital amplification is becoming more common in budget minded multi-channel receivers. But Onkyo says it has designed its new stereo amplifier with all the style and elegance of classic stereo systems of old.
Onkyo’s 4th generation of VL Digital amp graces the interior of the A-9555 Integrated Amplifier. It’s an implementation of the hybrid class ‘D’ amplification. It’s a highly efficient design delivering 100 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms. The strengths of digital amplifiers are low power consumption, low heat with surprisingly high output from a relatively small chassis compared to other amplifier classes. Although class D amps are known for higher levels of distortion there is no THD specification available for Onkyo’s A-9555 on its North American press release. Onkyo’s press release only offers that its hybrid class D amps offer “remarkably low distortion”. Less than 1% is generally considered too low for the human ear to detect but we’ll have to wait for specs to be released. Onkyo Europe has a pdf posted with some specs that give the A-9555 a .8 THD which should be acceptable.
Whether or not you’re skeptical of digital amplification being equated to anything ‘audiophile’ the design of Onkyo’s new A-9555 sure appears to be going for that old time hi-fi look. With its silver finish and large fat finger friendly knobs it looks like the finer Onkyo equipment from a bygone era.
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This link has been going around lately so I decided to chime in with it because it’s very good guide. It also verbalizes the state of TV/IP as we stand today. It’s Jeff’s Quick Guide to TV on the Net (TV/IP) found on Jeff Pulver’s Blog.
Among the commentary it contains one of the most comprehensive lists of television available for viewing online here and now. The technological groundwork for IPTV is quickly coming into view. That such a complete list of programming is already online means the phone companies are probably jumping on IPTV at the right moment. Since there is already some built in competition to TV on the 'net it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. Unfortunately it’ll probably be through more restrictions, more flags, more DRM and programming blackouts.
Phone companies are promising its broadband services will topple CableTV as the default choice. Strong words from AT&T’s Ed Whitacre punctuate the phone company’s intentions with a bit of in your face attitude. Many of the networks outlined in Jeff’s guide are already restricted by DRM and content management, meaning you can’t get some of the streams from certain locations unless you pay. It’s as Morpheus said: “Welcome, to the real world.”
The biggest disaster with a direct relation to regulated television and HD content available online is the situation the Net Neutrality bill seeks to curtail.
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Integra is a front company of Onkyo that ships higher end versions of its Onkyo counterparts.
Now Integra has brought its "high end" approach to HTPC which is a bit of a surprise. Integra is known for components like DVD players. The company's highly popular players are generally considered quite worthy in its price category by most reviews.
Integra's NVS-7.7 Integrated Media Center is a slick looking HTPC built on Intel's ViiV chip. The difference with this unit is that it's not a full featured HTPC, it doesn't try to be a PC at all but takes many of the features of HTPC and stuffs it into a home audio component little larger than many DVD players. Integra hopes to avoid many of the usability headaches with its straightforward design, or so Integra's press releases says. But as with any effort to make the PC experience more linear it runs the risk of becoming stripped down.
According to Integra:
"Our goal was to make it as easy to set up and use as any of our other AV components. With the NVS-7.7, Integra tames the convoluted configuration and programming process, giving installers a complete product that delivers the most powerful source and integration features ever available, yet is no more difficult to set-up, install, and maintain than a high end A/V receiver. And with Integra's acclaimed dealer support and training programs behind them, dealers can feel confident about specifying media servers into every job they do."
The high end audio treatment means the NVS-7.7 was treated to Wolfson DACs with its proprietary Vector Linear Shaping Circuitry. It also includes 400 Gigs of storage means you'll have plenty of digital media to throw at Wolfson's DACs.
Integra NVS-7.7 Integrated Media Center Includes
- Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
- 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 Dual 820 Processor
- 1 GB DDR Ram
- 400 GB HDD
- SD/MS, MS_Pro, Smart/Flash memory card reader
- 4 USB 2.0 ports
- Onkyo's NetTune Internet Radio
The system has Ethernet capability but no mention of Wi-Fi. It's available in that uncomfortable time when you think to yourself:
"Do I buy into a mature DVD player technology or try the waters with the new disc formats?" No HD DVD or Blu-ray and no Wi-Fi. With a steep MSRP of $3000 it's just too bad you'll be left behind on emerging Wireless N bandwidth and streaming HD multi-channel content. But that might be asking for too much.
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I had an interesting chat yesterday with my local high end dealer. He has a store in town called Soundstage that specializes in really esoteric high end stuff. His store carries names like Conrad Johnson, Martin Logan, Arcam and a whack of others I've never heard of. Among the listening rooms are severely exotic kits with tube amps and alien looking speakers. Total cost for some of these systems rival a modest home.
I've always had mixed feelings about this price point. I can put my finger on a dollar value of diminishing returns way way below this price point to be sure. But at the same time I highly respect the stuff, it's just cool. But, I hold proudly to my entry level cut-above-the-stuff-from-the-big-box-stores level.
We spoke about the kinds of customers he gets that buys high end. I know he must see all kinds and can accurately profile most people who walk in.
According to him the kind of people who spend $10,000 on a single component are mostly doctors. We live in a high tech area. The small city where I live is stinking rich with software, Blackberry, search, database and Internet money. Not surprisingly it seems that technology and engineering types aren't as taken by the seriously high end audio. He's had one of the RIM's CEOs in his store (there are two of them and I didn't ask which one). Apparently he has some high priced audio gear in his home but strings it all together with low end wires and cables. Apparently he refuses to believe there are any gains to be made from higher end cables. It's a contention with which I would agree in an empirical sense.
However - if I had a $5K DVD player hooked up to my $10K surround processor / pre-amp… something just doesn't feel right sticking Radio Shack cables between them. I know that blind A/B/X testing demonstrates people just can't tell the difference. Maybe that makes me a sucker, but I think I'd buy at least slightly more expensive interconnects and speaker wire anyway, even if it were simply an esthetic.
Psychoacoustics
I know I've heard the term before in talks of objective vs subjective hi-fi. Perhaps some would say it's just another name for psychological, similar to psychosomatic illness suffered by children who don't want to go to school on Monday morning. But in our conversation he made valid points about what makes us like one sound over another. What makes us prefer a given sound quality may have nothing to do with the audible frequency ranges or other quantifiable criteria. I suppose it's the classic subjectivist argument of perception being reality, something I reject philosophically. But I remain open minded enough to take a listen.
And that's what it comes down, something the local hi-fi guy (a subjectivist) and I (a self-styled hi-fi objectivist) unquestionably agree upon. It's all about listening and only your ears should decide what you really like.
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Personally, I don't see what the big deal is but … This is a new all in one Home Theater system coming up from Sony this summer. Model TAV-L1/R combines a Bravia 32" LCD screen with some integrated audio components designed for HT. The audio portion includes a DVD player that is compatible with CD and SACD. It's a nice touch to include SACD playback but built in components give me the willies. Oh, waitaminute, what are willies?
The audio components don't stop at a simple DVD player. You could after all, scrape a budget HDTV off the shelf of the local big box store if you wanted second rate DVD player integration. But the TAV-L1/R also includes Sony's S-Force Pro front surround technology. It's a fancy name for yet another DSP - yawn. It's also got an integrated 100Watt subwoofer and stereo speakers.
This and That
- S-Master Digital Amplifier
- Motorized Audio Unit with DVD/CD/SACD
- 2 HDMI interface inputs
- 480i, 480P, 1080i, 720P compatible
Here comes the slick part of this unit that is actually pretty cool, even if only for the first few times you use it. The amp and speaker grille section of the TV slides up and down to hide / reveal the 32" Bravia LCD screen. Touch sensitive automation is definitely slick. But the only real use I could see for this might be if you had an extra room that screamed for a second TV and some music. The audio components appear to have respectable specs. The amp delivers 50 watts RMS through each of its two channels. So, you've got a stereo sound system with decent numbers that can playback SACD and double as an HDTV. I've seen pictures of it in white and the black you see here. Sony says it will have: "Designer color speaker covers available October 2006.
The unit goes on sale from Sony in August for about $4000.
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Advanced Micro Devices, AMD the world's second largest microprocessor developer and bane of Intel announced that it agreed to buy ATI for $5.4 Billion dollars. ATI Tech is a Canadian graphics processor (GPU) manufacturer who makes many of the world's top rated video cards for PCs. ATI was also awarded the contract from Microsoft to develop the GPU that went into the Xbox360.
AMD has been stealing market share away from Intel for years as the #2 chip maker for PCs. By following Intel and quietly developing its own innovative approach it has recently turned the tables on Intel in the chip making business. Intel behaves lately like a company that's intimidated by its competitor. Intel seems to have stopped innovating and started following AMD. Case in point is the new multi-media processors being developed by Intel and AMD. AMD produced its Live technology and soon after Intel announces its own imitation right down to the name, Viiv.
AMD's processors today can bring more power to your PC with chips that operate with fewer cycles per second than the competing Intel chip. AMD is able to simply do more with less. Intel is still the top chip manufacturer but AMD is now making a power play that could possibly change the shape the business.
By buying ATI, AMD is committing itself to integrating graphics technologies into future CPUs. This could appear in future AMD CPUs in much the same way AMD already integrates memory controller technology into its CPUs.
How will Intel respond? Some already speculate it could go after ATI's competitor Nvidia the top GPU (graphics processor unit) manufacturer. But to what end? Seeking integration of other technologies into its CPUs would be a departure for Intel. Creating outside architectures into its processors has long been AMD's game. But lately it's been proving so successful that Intel will have to reconsider its status quo.
Speculation has already emerged that AMD may not be finished with high profile acquisitions. Some even say that AMD may go ahead and acquire ATI's primary competitor in the GPU arena Nvidia for themselves. This would be a highly controversial move but Jen Hsun Huaang, co-founder of Nvidia corporation was a designer at AMD. Nvidia and AMD have enjoyed a partnership with Nvidia that resulted in the nForce chipsets which have been a major source of revenue for nVidia and critical success for both companies.
What will the implications be if Nvidia and ATI are united under the AMD banner? A flurry of expert speculation has already begun.
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"The poor girl didn't stand a chance." Witnesses said at the scene.
Panasonic unleashed a monster when it unveiled its world record breaking 103 inch plasma HDTV. Crowds gasped when the monstrosity was first unleashed at a public display. The crowd was horrified when the uncontrollable beast actually devoured the lovely demo model before their very eyes.
Osaka manufacturer of horrors Matsushita, known in North America as Panasonic, now plots to unleash a terrible army of man eaters across the globe. Matsushita will begin taking orders for the TH-103PZ600U in September. The world record breaking carnivore is 1080P capable and has a 4000:1 contrast ratio and 4,096 steps of gradation. It's said to contain over two million razor sharp pixels for a truly lethal 1,920x1080 bite.
Beware! If you attempt to handle the leviathan yourself you'll not only have to face its insatiable appetite but you'll be $70,000 US dollars lighter for the experience.
This new king of beasts stands 1.4 meters across and is said to be bigger than a double sized mattress and almost as heavy as an upright piano. The Japanese monster had its first battle with a similar Korean beast over the Sea of Japan. Locked in an epic struggle with Samsung's own 102 inch Plasma it was Panasonic's monster that prevailed. Now there is nothing standing between the Matsushita's abomination and North America. They are likely to enter the continental United States from both coasts. Expect the reign of terror to begin in New York and California before making its way into the Midwest if it is not stopped.
Remain vigilant and watch out for this High Definition behemoth. It might be coming to your neighborhood sooner than you think.
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Hollywood is slowly coming to grips with new economic opportunities to sell content over the internet. Movie and TV studios are actively seeking out contracts to distribute media files through the web. Both download to burn and media files that are playable in mobile media players are starting to crop at some of the big services such as iTunes and it's rumored Microsoft is getting in the on that game with Urge and the rumored project Zune.
But now for the first time you can legally buy downloadable Hollywood movies to burn to DVD or playback in a mobile media player. Was there was any doubt that mainstream Hollywood would follow closely after the porn industry? CinemaNow has unveiled its download-and-burn movie service that now includes mainstream Hollywood films.
It's a new way that studios can make extra money from older titles. That's all that will fill up CinemaNow's content, for now. The service will only include about 100 older movies like "Charlie's Angels", "Full Throttle" and "Scent of a Woman". So, if you're anxious for newer DVD titles that you just burn yourself you'll still have to wait. But this is an important and encouraging step.
CinemaNow and its primary rival Movielink have lacked the download and burn business model thus far. Studios are still concerned that by distributing burnable files they'll widen the doors on piracy as they'll invite users to burn multiple disks when they've only paid for one.
CinemaNow Chief Exec Curt Marvis said of the new product release:
"This is probably the most important product release we've had since we started in 1999. Customers have been asking for a long time to be able to burn disks, and they want to play them on their DVD players."
It was only April that studios started the download to own business that gave new life to services like CinemaNow and Movielink. But back in April they could only sell movies that played back on the computer only. The burn to DVD is a tremendous step even though selection is limited to so few movies.
The DVD downloads will be the film's DVD release in a file you can burn yourself. The download will cost $8.99 and will include extra programming that was part of the DVD such as interviews etc. For most of the movies included in the selection you can probably find the actual DVD in a bargain bin somewhere for less and a lot less effort.
Despite my own reservations about this particular step, it's surprising how fast this area is moving. But it's still going to be a long haul before we're downloading movies you can burn to HD DVD, Blu-ray or Holographic Disks from the Internet. There is still just too much money to be made selling pre-packaged shiny disks.
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Outlaw announced that it has had to roll with the times and increase prices on some of its most popular offerings. The 7500 and 7700 multi-channel amps are still the most affordable products in their class despite the modest price increase.
Effective July 1st '06 Outlaw had to bend to market forces that increases the cost of certain raw materials used high quality power amps. Material like minerals used in heat syncs and transformers and the fuel to move them to manufacturing have been rising with cost of everything these days. Outlaw, the top Home Theater direct-to-consumer manufacturer had to raise prices on a couple of its best products.
Model 7700 is a seven channel at 200 Watts RMS power amplifier that will now sell for $2,498. The 7500 is a five channel at 200 Watt RMS power amplifier that will now sell for 1,599, that's a slight $100 increase. The two power amps will deliver 200 Watts into 8-Ohms with 20 Hz - 20 kHz with all channels driven with a total harmonic distortion of under .03%. These amps employ what Outlaws calls its differential design, a common-mode rejection technology that will reduce crosstalk to greater than -100dB.
The two power amps have power supplies capable of holding up under tremendous current. They use custom designed dual toroidal transformers that feature multiple windings for each channel. When the action in the soundtrack really heats up and each channel is being driven to high volume, that's when a good power supply will shine. The toroidal style transformers really hold up well. The amplifiers provide possibly the cleanest pure power for their price on the market.
Outlaw products are highly regarded by audiophiles everywhere with a eye for value in. Being that Outlaw an Internet direct retailer it only sell through its website www.outlawaudio.com and saves on overhead that other companies incur through marketing and retail. Outlaw's most potent marketing is through word of mouth of its customers.
Despite the modest price hikes Outlaw still represents a great value. Does this post sound too much like an ad for the company? There are brands you find at the big box stores, and there are those brands you buy at the exotic hi-fi boutiques. Outlaw gives you the rare opportunity to buy boutique quality at big box store prices.
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