Home Theater News & Reviews

On the heels of unveiling their A/V Processors and A/V Receivers audio company Anthem released three new multi-ch power amplifiers starting at $2k that are sure to be on all the immersive audio enthusiasts wish lists to kick off the New Year. The MCA 225, 325, and 525 are designed to compliment the new AVM 70 and AVM 90 A/V Processors from Anthem. Anthem is claiming impressively low noise specs and up to a whopping 600 watts of power/ch to make your speakers come alive. Read on to find out more.

KEF has updated the modern classic LS50 loudspeaker with a groundbreaking innovation called “Metamaterial Absorption Technology.” Featured in both the passive LS50 Meta ($1,500/pair) and the active LS50 Wireless II ($2,500/pair), Metamaterial Absorption Technology uses a complex acoustical device located behind the drivers to absorb 99% of the sound created by the tweeter’s rearward motion, which would normally enter the speaker cabinet and cause distortion. Read on to learn more about this unique innovation.

Paul Barton is teaming up with a Swedish “audio personalization” company called Audiodo to develop PSB’s next generation of headphones. The yet-to-be-announced headphone model(s) will integrate Audiodo’s DSP-based audio personalization solution, which promises to “provide every music lover with sound quality that has been perfected for them.” The tech uses a series of audio tests and questions to create a personal hearing profile for each user. Read on to learn more.

Klipsch has joined forces with the DSP wizards at Dirac to create new headphone products. The first headphone to benefit from this collaboration is expected to be a true-wireless in-ear design, which should be launching in 2021. Dirac’s sound optimization solution provides impulse response and frequency response correction, resulting in better audio performance. Read on to learn more.

The audiophile community doesn’t like change, in fact, they despise it with every fiber of their beings. Today, we live in a world where $15 per month access to high-resolution, often remastered, and seemingly unlimited music is reality, yet the audiophile communities elders are still stuck in the past. See why I sold my vinyl and never looked back...

Much of today’s equipment does not exhibit that same degree of flat-out romance and visceral appeal. Today’s equipment is so uniformly excellent that a lot of the mystique and “skill” of picking out one’s personal system is just not there anymore. We'll discuss how the romantic, emotional appeal of audio gear has changed over the years to more of a disposable society.

We'll give you our opinion on what speaker cables to buy here on Audioholics and what to look out for as snake oil. For a snake oil free cable company, check out Shielded Audio. This family owned and operated company has designed high quality instrument, power, RCA, XLR, and of course, speaker cables. Read on to see what we think of them.

COVID-19 has crushed the idea of home theater tradeshows for 2020 and likely most of 2021. With the decline of brick and mortar AV stores has the idea of actually listening to a demo of HiFi gear before you purchase it a thing of the past? Check out our thoughts on the future of listening to, and purchasing new AV gear.

Let's face it, 2020 was a year of suck thanks to COVID-19. What didn't suck however were the awesome products we reviewed. We put together a list of 2020 Product of the Year award winners in every category of product we covered including: receivers, loudspeakers and powered monitors, subwoofers, headphones, and media streaming devices. Be sure to watch our related YouTube video for more insights and have a Merry Christmas.

If you have a healthy budget and are starting to get serious in making a powerful home theater or heavy-duty music system, we have selected a group of subwoofers that deserve your attention. We regard these subs as some of the best in their price range, and they are all knock-out performers which will get you a nice collection of noise citations in short time. Read on to see what we think some of the best subs are the among the fierce competition in $1,300 to $1,500 price range.

Elac’s Andrew Jones has completely redesigned the company’s Uni-Fi range of 3-way loudspeakers. The Uni-Fi 2.0 series is now the brand’s least expensive to offer Jones’s signature concentric drivers, where the tweeter sits inside the midrange driver. The Uni-Fi 2.0 lineup includes the UB52 bookshelf speaker ($600/pair), the UF52 floor-standers ($1,200/pair), and the UC52 center-channel speaker ($400/each). Read on to learn more.

WarnerMedia announced its plan to send all of its 2021 film releases directly to its streaming service, HBO Max. It's seen as a snub to movie theaters who weren't consulted about the plan. But Warner also forgot to work this plan out with partner studios. Warner now finds itself in the dog house with its own creative teams who were expecting to see their films debut on the big screen before going to the little screens. We can expect the lawsuits are being prepared, and that's just from within team-Warner. But is WarnerMedia simply accelerating what has already been in the cards for theaters?

Back in October we announced the discovery of a chipset bug in the latest HDMI 2.1 sourced by Panasonic and used in the new Denon, Marantz, and Yamaha HDMI 2.1 AV Receivers. Now, Sound United, parent company of Denon & Marantz has announced after additional testing that there is, in fact, NO issue with passing 4k/120Hz via their latest HDMI 2.1 AV Receivers. See how this has been resolved while breathing a sigh of relief.

The new Rocksteady Stadium is an affordable Bluetooth 5.0 speaker system with an interesting hook. The idea at the heart of this system is deceptively simple, one speaker all by itself creates a solid rendition of what you'd expect from a small portable Bluetooth speaker. But when you wirelessly connect two or more in a custom wireless sound network and the design really shines as it brings a stereophonic soundstage that exceeds the speaker's diminutive stature. You’ll wonder why all Bluetooth speakers aren’t designed this way! Stereo imaging from compact speakers that you can place almost anywhere is a hook you won't soon get out of your head.