Tom is away, so Rob H. is joined by Lee Overstreet this week! Our Listeners of the Week are: Karpov, Sam, and Nathan D. for their generous donations, and Paul MacDonald for helping Rob find a packaging depot to ship his Pioneer Kuro plasma TV to its new owner.

In the news, via Toby H., a Star Trek fan spent over $1.5 million on his Enterprise-D home theater. Samsung $1,500 HW-K950 and $1,000 HW-K850 Atmos SoundBars are available to order. MoviePass has new pricing from $15 – $50 per month. Disney is rumored to finally support Ultra HD Blu-ray with “Finding Dory”. And via Infinite Gary, ASUS is including DTS Headphone:X processing in its ZenFone and ZenPad products.

Andy from NoAudiophile.com recommends Outdoor Speaker Depot for inexpensive outdoor and installation audio products. And Adrian A. is happy with his Audio Technica AT-LP60 turntable and being able to find 50 cent records! Rob and Lee also place a bet on how long Tom would last in a conversation with Stereophile’s Michael Fremer.

Infinite Gary gets us to put projector vs. flat panel light output in terms of incandescent light bulb watt ratings, asks whether a new projection screen is needed for 4K, asks about LG OLED TVs using a fourth, white sub-pixel, and tells us that preventing every last bit of ambient light in his theater was like getting a new projector. Nick B. found an AccuCal HD review of several projection screen surfaces. We try to assuage his concerns about sitting close to an acoustically transparent screen, convince him to hold off on buying the SDR-only Epson LS10000 projector, and explain why we keep suggesting he put all of his Front speakers behind his screen.

Ian E. asks about ISFccc and ISF Day and Night picture modes. Justin B. tried some DTS:X demo clips from Demo-World.eu that didn’t work, and we try to explain why. And Bill R. is gets us to compare Anthem’s Atmos Receivers vs. Denon and Marantz, and we comment on Brent Butterworth’s “What’s the Ideal Speaker Driver Configuration” article.

Ted M. is returning his M&K MP150 speakers. He liked some Totem speakers, but can’t support them as a brand because they also sell snake-oil “Beaks”. So we touch on the Legacy Audio Silhouette and Silhouette Pro, and also recommend the Sunfire Cinema Ribbon Trio on-wall speakers. George M. might actually have a situation where it would be ok to pair wildly different subwoofers together. And an anonymous AV Rant Listener asks about using three horizontal speakers, as well as what sort of speakers to use with a false wall or baffle wall.

Nathan D. wants to know which black finish option to choose for his Ascend Acoustics Sierra Series speakers. Another anonymous Listener helps us learn a lot about optical HDMI cables such as the Monoprice SlimRun or Fibbr Active Optical, which are unidirectional optical/copper hybrid options; or, the MyCableMart Fiber Optic or Cables To Go RapidRun Optical, which are bi-directional. And Jonathan F. found the Nura headphone KickStarter that promises to automatically correct for your hearing, as well as an AVS Forum response that explains why it’s a bad idea!

Will T. has us run through the process for level matching his subwoofers. And Mike likes a lot of bass from his earphones, so we compare Shure’s various in-ear models, including their $3,000 Shure KSE1500 electrostatic system!

Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

• Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
• Download Tom’s FREE superhero-themed ebook Bob Moore: No Hero.
• Visit Tom's website for download links as well as links for the two full-length follow-ups -  Bob Moore: Desperate Times and Bob Moore: Hostile Territory.
• Check out AVGadgets.com where Tom is the new Editor-in-Chief!
• Download Tom's NEWEST book, Touch of Pain from Amazon now!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Liked it? Take a second to support AV Rant on Patreon!