Sound & Vision

Your February/March 2019 issue had a small clip mentioning 8K broadcasting in Japan. Here in the U.S., 4K has just been settling in, with streaming and discs stepping up to fill a broadcast TV void. And now, all of a sudden, 8K is on the horizon. Whe

The Consumer Electronics Show that takes place each January in Las Vegas has evolved into a broad showcase for the latest technology developments—everything from robots and VR hardware to smart bathtubs and toilets can be seen and experienced. But fo

I have been going to the Consumer Electronics Show ever since Edison debuted his new, hit single “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” At every show, everyone always asks me, “So, what’s the most important thing you saw at the show?” In years past I have cited t

Vizio’s top-of-the-line Atmos soundbar comes with a cumbersome model number: SB46514-F6. Outside of that, this $1,000 Atmos system is a sleek, well-designed package that delivers surprisingly potent sound for the money. The addition of Chromecast bui

Depending on your personal demographic identifier—that’s my semi-PC way of saying “your age bracket”—the word “Bandcamp” might conjure up some vastly different imagery. To some, it may evoke thoughts of Allan Sherman’s simple yet clever 1963 Camp Gre

Q I’m planning on installing a 5.1.2 Atmos speaker setup. I mostly watch streamed documentaries (the BBC channel, for example) and nearly all of them have stereo soundtracks. Here’s my question: Would audio upmixing solutions like Dolby Surround or D

The two biggest variables in a home theater/media room design are the video display and speakers. My previous column (February/March and soundandvision.com) focused on selecting displays. As screen size often dictates speaker selection, these video/a

MY EXPERIENCE covering home video extends back to the early days of DVD. But of all the new technologies and formats I’ve covered in that time, none has generated as much confusion as high dynamic range (HDR). In this article, I will attempt to demys

THIS INSTALLATION, by Ed Gilmore and Gilmore’s Sound Advice of New York City, is notable for its open, multi-purpose layout and clever concealment of audio/video components when the system is not in use. In its resting state, the main room is a styli

IN 2018, I reviewed Sony’s VPLVW885ES 4K laser projector, a $25,000 model that I hoped would be the successor to previous Sound & Vision Top Pick winners from Sony, the VPL-VW1000 and VPLVW1100ES, but it fell slightly short of expectations. At CEDIA

CANADA’S SIMAUDIO has been designing and manufacturing audio electronic components from its home base in Quebec for almost four decades. While the company’s product lineup clearly skews toward the high end—a pair of its flagship Moon 888 monoblock am

“ALL GOOD THINGS,” goes the proverb, “must come to an end.” As if to prove the veracity of that old saying, Sonos announced in early 2018 that the company was pulling the plug on a piece of gear that’s been in its lineup for so long that most Sonos e

KEF’S R SERIES speakers have long occupied the middle range of the British manufacturer’s offerings. While the previous R Series was starting to get a bit long in the tooth, I found the performance of those speakers to be superb, having reviewed the

PUTTING TOGETHER a home theater system on a limited budget can be a daunting task. That’s why so many people instead take the easy route and buy a soundbar to handle audio. Sure, a one- or two-box (with subwoofer) solution is simple to shop for and a

I THINK of PSB’s entry-level Alpha Series speakers as being the loudspeaker equivalent of the Toyota Corolla. The Alphas may not be the sexiest speakers around, but they do offer solid engineering, long-term reliability, and excellent performance at

ACTIVE SPEAKERS that deliver sound via wireless connections have become a hot category in the hi-fi world. Sound & Vision has reviewed a wide range of them—everything from cheap, compact cylinders that sit on your kitchen counter and respond to voice

The indisputable success of Bohemian Rhapsody confirms what many of us have known for decades: Queen was one of the biggest rock bands in the world, and their late frontman Freddie Mercury was one of the singularly most polarizing and mesmerizing pop

A STAR IS BORN manages to rise above the nigh-unavoidable clichés of the music drama genre through the sheer, undeniable force of Bradley Cooper’s love of his craft. Were this not already the third remake of the 1937 film, the potential cinematic pit

WITH HIS MOST recent film, First Man, Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle has managed to do something remarkable: take one of the greatest achievements in all humankind and render it as cold as space itself. Astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling)

WIDOWS is a taught crime thriller directed by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), who co-wrote the script with author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl). Based on a British television series, it follows the lives of several women brought together b

WRECK IT RALPH and his new BFF Vanellope have settled into a familiar routine—starring in their arcade games by day, playing other games after work, and hanging out later at Tapper’s (root) beer joint. But Vanellope’s Sugar Rush game breaks, and to f

IT WAS A bold move for Luca Guadagnino, director of the 2018 Academy Award-nominated, Call Me by Your Name, to undertake a remake of Suspiria, the 1977 film from Italian horror auteur Dario Argento, as his next project. Buoyed no doubt by the critica