A/V Product Reviews

If you're in the process of building a smart home you've probably heard of Savant. Savant's audio subsidiary Artison is currently shipping their new MCC160 and MCC320 MKII in-wall or in-ceiling subwoofers designed to blend perfectly into your new automated home. To see what we think of Artison's newest in-wall or in-ceiling subwoofers, read on.

Atlantic Technology is now shipping their new S-Series of wireless subwoofers. Although compact, the FS-S65 and FS-S8 have the engineering that Atlantic Technology is known so the sound may beat your expectations. Atlantic Technology has also thrown a few surprises into the mix to make these some of the most versatile little subs on the market. To see what's in the box, read on.

Focal’s Kanta N°2 floor-standing loudspeakers ($10,000/pair) are now available in two new finish options, Carrara White and Black Lacquer/Walnut. The new finishes will come to the rest of the Kanta range next year. One of the most popular speakers in Focal’s extensive lineup, the Kanta N°2 combines the company’s unique flax sandwich cones with its famous pure beryllium tweeter. Read on to learn more.

Passive soundbars are a unique beast. You get none of the advantages of an active soundbar with none of the advantages of a LCR home theater system. So why would RBH engineer and manufacture a $1,200 passive soundbar? There must be some logic to their madness. Read our review of the RBH Ultra-3 passive soundbar to find out how it managed to persuade me that this is a great product.

Atlantic Technology is now shipping its third headphone, a wired over-ear design called the FS-HR280. Aimed at audiophiles, the $299 FS-HR280 is a two-way “Quad Driver” headphone that uses 40mm thin-film dynamic bass drivers and patented ceramic tweeters. The closed-back FS-HR280 is one of very few multi-driver over-ear headphones ever released. Will it succeed where others have failed? Read on to learn more.

Denon released information on the industry’s first 8K-ready AV receivers. Building on its renowned line of X-Series AVRs, the Denon AVR-X6700H, AVR-X4700H, AVR-X3700H, and AVR-X2700H usher in the next generation of A/V receivers that brings improvements to all facets of the A/V system. Denon is the first A/V receiver from a big name company to come out in front of the fall releases and the X-series is setting the bar high for others to follow.

One of the most anticipated loudspeakers shown at the 2019 CEDIA show has finally come in for us to review, the JBL HDI-3800 which is the big dog of JBL's new HDI series. This 84 lbs beast uses three 8" bass drivers and an advanced compression driver and waveguide derived from the cutting-edge audio R&D from the whizzes at JBL. At $5k/pair, they ain't cheap, but a loudspeaker this powerful and advanced may well be a bargain at that price if all the technology translates into real performance. Read our full review to see what we found.

Audioholics recently had an encounter with a subwoofer which had left us battered and bruised. We thought we could go toe-to-toe with any subwoofer, but the JTR Captivator 215PRO turned us into mush with sheer pulverizing bass. Read all about how you can liquefy your organs with 128dB of pressure waves and leave you craving for more in our coverage of the Captivator 215PRO.

Lg is finally announced price points and shipping information for their highly anticipated SN lineup of Meridian soundbars. The new lineup includes eight new models that will combine Meridian sound technology, Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and HiRes Audio, and HDMI eARC support into a sleek easy to set up soundbar design. What do we think of the new lineup of LG soundbars? Read on to find out.

The L200 are Polk's latest high-end bookshelf speaker, and the L400 is the center that anchors their Legend series. Both boast many of the state-of-the-art advances implemented in the L800 but deployed on a smaller scale. If you are looking for loudspeakers that are on the same level of fidelity as your hi-res recordings you will want to read our full review to see how the Polk Legend L200 and L400 fare as their new flagship bookshelf and center speakers from Polk Audio.

Looking to cut the cord AND upgrade your pitiful factory installed TV speakers? Check out the Roku 2.0 Channel Smart Soundbar which is now shipping and on sale at your neighborhood big box stores. For $180 or less you can get the easy setup that Roku is known for along with better sound for your TV. Are there any drawbacks? Absolutely! Read the article to see the pros and cons of integrating video streaming into a soundbar.

The new Concert A/V receivers and Maestro preamp/processors deliver “ultimate performance” with up to 16-channels of output and all the latest technology wrapped in AudioControl’s signature sleek black boxes. There are 5 new components in the X Series: the Concert XR-8 receiver ($6,600), the Concert XR-6 receiver ($4,600), the Concert XR-4 receiver ($3,600), the Maestro X7 preamp/processor ($6,600), and the flagship Maestro X9 preamp/processor ($9,600). All products support all 3 immersive surround formats and Dirac Live room correction.

Beale Street Audio has started shipping their highly anticipated BAV4250 and BAV2500 1,000 watt amplifiers. The BAV2500 is a 2-input, 2-channel amplifier with 500 Watts per channel and the BAV4250 is a 4-input, 4-channel amplifier with an output of 250 Watts per channel. Both amps feature DSP processing and a Matrix mode and features IP control with a browser-based GUI. Beale amps offer versatility along with easy setup and control.

Cambridge Audio’s CXN V2 network audio streamer ($1,099) and flagship EDGE NQ preamp ($5,000) are now Roon Ready, meaning they enjoy the highest level of Roon support and features. Roon users can stream high-res music from their hard drives, or from Tidal or Qobuz, to their Cambridge streamers, either individually or as part of a whole-home audio system. The software update providing this improved Roon support is available now. Read on to learn more.