Consumer, Home Theater
Sony’s 2019 TV Lineup is Better Than Ever
The biggest news for most buyers in the custom installation segment of TV buyers is the expansion of the Master Series. This line includes TVs with the best picture and features including OLED. For those that demand the best possible presentation of movies, sports, and television programming, a Master Series TV is your best option. While prices are higher than the Non-Master Series, the features are more robust and image quality is higher.
There is no despair for those who are not quite ready for the Master Series. The mid-range line is robust and more affordable with exceptional image quality compared to other TVs in the category. Last year’s mid-range line won many awards. This year’s lineup should be no less.
Of course, Sony remains the leader in 4K home theater projection. The VPL-VW295ES and the VPL-VW695ES are standards in home theater. Both of these projectors bring true 4K UHD to the large screen in your house with exceptional performance.
Learn more about electronics Sony offers for the consumer who demands more at the Sony Premium Home site.
AV Simplified Solutions is proud to offer Sony products for custom installation. Sony fits nicely in our full range of services including lighting, automation, control, and audio.
Home Theater
3D Sound with Dolby Atmos
Dolby Laboratories introduced Dolby Atmos, the object oriented surround sound technology, in mid 2012. This technology allows sound to be placed in a room three dimensionally (3D). Interestingly, this technology does not replace earlier versions of Dolby’s surround technology, which is channel based, but appends the 3D sound with additional “height” speakers. As with most new standards in the A/V business, it has taken some time for the product space to mature and be widely available to consumers. Now, many movies are being released with a native Dolby Atmos soundtrack and the hardware side has caught up as well with manufactures like Yamaha, Pioneer, and Speakercraft leading the way.
Dolby’s marketing tag line for Atmos is “Hear the Whole Picture”. That goes to say that with a good system setup, the object oriented surround is lush and compelling. Here are some of the benefits from Dolby: Read More
HiFi & Audio, Home Theater
Auditioning Hegel Power and Triangle Speakers
We have brought in two new manufactures of luxury audio gear to audition in our showroom. These brands are well known through out the hifi world, so we thought we would give them a try to see if they offered anything for our clients. Hegel, a Norwegian power company, has a well established brand with many patents that is evidence of their commitment to sound. And there is Triangle, a French manufacturer and one of Europe’s leading brands.
After we wrangled all the wires and connected a digital source from our Autonomic Mirage Media Server, we sat down for our first listening session. First up is our Monitor Audio Platinum II 300 speakers paired with the Hegel H160 stereo receiver. We have been listening to these speakers for quite sometime paired with a nice Yamaha Aventage stereo receiver, so we are very familiar with the sound signature. First impression: Simply amazing. Read More
HiFi & Audio, Home Theater
Monitor Audio Loudspeakers Decorated at CES
The CES 2016 show in Las Vegas came and went this year with Monitor Audio receiving a Jimmy Award. Jim Saxon of Audio Beat awarded the Platinum II 200 floor standing loudspeaker from the flagship Platinum II series the best bedroom system of the year. From our perspective, if you are putting this speaker in a bedroom, you have done something! Having said that this award is given to products that, quite simply, grant the listener pure enjoyment and happiness.
“Instead of parsing the sound of every system, I let the senses rule. Upon detecting artistry, I felt happy. If not, I felt impatient. In rooms with silent displays, I let the old bond trader in me sniff value for money. Most importantly, I did not let outrageous price tags arouse my animosity. I simply applied the Saxon Happiness Index (SHI) and all was well.”
– Jim Saxon, The Audio Beat
Ultimately, Jim had this to say about the loudspeaker:
“Their six-foot-tall Platinum 500 II loudspeakers commandeered the living room. Although the display was fine, on the way out my ear caught a more ingratiating melody from the bedroom. There, the diminutive floorstanding Platinum 200 II was mated to Cyrus electronics to sterling effect.”
“At a conversational volume level, the Platinum 200 II was tonally balanced and sweetly detailed, a panacea for overburdened auditory ossicles.”
“My guess is that Cyrus’s Stereo 200 amplifier ($3499) contributed greatly. The Stereo 200’s clever impedance-detection circuitry enables the class-D amplifier to adjust the output where the speaker needs it most. A speaker-tracking power amp!”
“For Best Bedroom-Sized Stereo System, Monitor Audio shares a Jimmy Award with Cyrus Audio.”
– Jim Saxon, The Audio Beat
You can read Jim’s full write up on his awards for CES 2016 here. Happy days!
Home Theater
Basic Home Theater: An Introduction
When building your home theater or media room and setting up everything for an optimal experience, there are a few things that you should consider:
Equipment is the most obvious element of your home theater that will affect your experience. The basic home theater equipment list might look something like this, amplifier or receiver, source such as Blu-Ray player, monitor and speakers. Each of these components affects the overall experience of your home theater. You should take care in choosing each making sure that it is suitable for your performance expectation and your budget.
Control Systems, Home Theater
“g!” The New Face of Home Automation
How would you like to be able to pick up your Iphone or Ipad and browse the net, look at photos, watch movies, and turn your lights in your house on or off? That’s right, lighting control on your Iphone or Ipad, and that’s just the tip of the iceburg! Read More
Home Theater
NuVision LED TVs in Review
This Product Is No longer Available
If you are new to LED technology for TVs, you are probably trying to find out what all the hype is about. Obviously the price tag is bigger, but beyond that what is the difference. I can tell you from first hand experience the picture is incredible, especially on the NuVision I’ve seen. The picture is noticeably brighter even in a room where the lights were on full bright. The detail is lifelike.
Home Theater
CES In Review: Home Theater Trends for 2010
The 2010 CES Show in Las Vegas is over. CES from the very beginning has marked coming trends in consumer electronics and, for the purpose of this article, home theater. This year is no different. There is renewed optimism as attendance this year is up from last year. With renewed optimism comes new goodies and technology for home theater enthusiasts around the world.
This year the show marked the rise of the e-readers and Android. Intel brought on their new “super” processors and we even saw an amazing interactive remote control for Windows 7 which is sure to bring some cool new things that we can do with a Windows Media Center PC. Of course there are all the new TVs and more gadgets than you can shake a stick at – some laughable and some amazing—but what interests us the most is home theater.
Home Theater
CEDIA Expo – New Home Theater & Remote Control Systems
The CEDIA Expo has been called “Disney World for Geeks”. If you are the kind of geek that loves home theater, audio/video, remote control systems, distributed media, and other marvels of the sort, then yes, CEDIA is your Disney World. This year’s CEDIA Expo was special for us for a couple of reason: 1. As we prepare to open our showroom for Chattanooga area residence, we get one final look at products we think our customers would be interested in and evaluate them for addition. 2. The 2009 CEDIA Expo was held in Atlanta, GA – just a stone’s throw from good ole Chattanooga, TN.
