Sound & Vision August/September 2021

Ultimate A/V AS I SIT DOWN TO write this editorial, summer has just fully kicked in and, after more than a year stuck at home, I’m striving to get outside and do outdoor stuff as much as possible. But by the time you’re reading this, September will be approaching, and my attention will be fixed on the CEDIA Expo tradeshow, a showcase for home theater, automation, and multiple other developments in connected home technology that’s scheduled to take place from September 1-3 in Indianapolis, Indiana. CEDIA Expo 2021 is being pitched by the event’s organizers as a “reunion,” and with the 2020 show having been cancelled for obvious reasons, that label will certainly apply. As I walk the show floor, I’m sure it will take time to adjust to the reality of…

In this issue we welcome back Beatles expert Matt Hurwitz, who has dug deep into the recording of guitarist George Harrison’s epic 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass. Matt’s feature explores the circumstances that led to the assembly of that session’s star-studded core band, which featured Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman, Peter Frampton, Badfinger, and others. It also details the remixing process for the album’s 50th anniversary release (shown at top right), with the music appearing on vinyl, CD, and a Blu-ray disc with Dolby Atmos surround. All Things Must Pass is widely considered Harrison's finest solo work, and its 50th anniversary release is a box set we’ve been eagerly waiting on. Check out page 26 for Matt's extended story of the original album’s production.…

Time for TV Greetings from Cleveland, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame city! I have been an audio and home theater fan for a long time and a subscriber since back when the magazine was Stereo Review! I also subscribed to Video and High Fidelity. After reading your Track One column about streaming and the Letterboxd app in the June/July issue, I was reminded of an app that I love called TV Time. It is so hard to keep track of what series you are in the middle of streaming, what service it is on, and which shows and movies you want to watch. This app helps to sort out all of that. Here’s how TV Time works: You input all the shows you are currently watching and the ones you…

Soundbars are popular for a good reason. The speakers in a typical flat panel TVs sound puny compared with the visual sway of increasingly larger, higher-resolution displays. Also, since not every viewing room can accommodate the separate components of a home theater, a narrow-footprint soundbar solves the problem of raising the impact of the audio and it does so with one cable. Roku, a company known for its streaming media players and the user interface found in some smart TVs, has introduced the Streambar Pro ($180), a 4-speaker array with 2.5-inch full-range drivers housed in a 32.2-inch-wide cabinet. It has built-in Wi-Fi and supports 4K/HDR10 video from its built-in apps (but not Dolby Atmos). The Streambar Pro comes with a voice-enabled RF remote with a headphone jack for private listening. (Earbuds…

Whoever complained that you get what you pay for never listened to Vizio’s V21d-J8. The company’s latest 2.1-channel soundbar is a $100 entry-level model offering strikingly clear sound. Although the V21d-J8 lacks a dedicated subwoofer, it delivers a fair amount of upper-bass impact. For the price, it can’t be beat. This budget bar is an all-in-one 2.1 system that uses two full-range drivers and two 3-inch woofers. Vizio calls these “subwoofers,” but with a specified range reaching down to 60Hz, I’m more comfortable calling them woofers. Setup The fabric-wrapped V21d-J8 has a pleasant, rounded shape and can sit on a flat surface or be wall-mounted using slats located on the bottom. Its full-range drivers are front-firing when the soundbar is placed on a flat surface with the woofers facing up; when positioned in…

When I first got involved with stereo, some of my main concerns were: Does my receiver need a loudness switch? What are the optimal mid-range crossover frequencies? What is the tracking weight of my tonearm? Should I buy a conical or elliptical stylus? Will my paper route pay for all this? Now, my biggest question is, what is my stereo’s gender? My first piece of decent audio gear was a hand-built (by me) Heathkit AA-21D amplifier. Solid state! Twenty-eight transistors! I had a lot of questions about my first amplifier, but it wouldn’t have entered my mind to ask about its gender. It wasn’t sentient in any way. It wasn’t going to have progeny. It was completely dumb. It was only an amplifier. Today’s smart speakers are smart to the point of…