a Techsponential Company
My long tradition of getting behind with work covering new product launches ahead of the holiday season — and therefore not finishing my holiday gift guide until the last possible moment — continues. The guide is up over at techpinions.com.
Avi’s Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide 2013 Read MoreSonos sent over a pair of Play:1 speakers for review. In my review of the Sonos PLAYBAR I found too many setup limitations, but I absolutely love the Play:1's. A single Play:1 fills any small or medium sized room with rich, clear sound, and it serves as a perfect entry point to building a full multi-room, multi-source music system. My full report for Current Analysis clients is up; here's an excerpt: Sonos notes that multi-room audio sales have been rising 80% year-over-year, fueled by streaming music. With most consumer electronics categories losing ground as consumers put more of their money into …
Sonos Play:1 – Hands On Read MoreLet’s get the disclaimers out of the way up front: Sonos has lent me various components for review, and some are on long term loans. When the PLAYBAR was first announced, I attended a demo and wrote an analytical report for Current Analysis clients, but I was eager to get a unit for a full review. Earlier this year Sonos sent one, along with a pair of PLAY:3’s for use as surround sound speakers (much earlier this year. Sorry!). I also pulled in a Sonos SUB in for a full 5.1 setup. Sonos does not pay anything for consideration and …
Product Review: Sonos PLAYBAR Read MoreIt's up over at techpinions.com
Last Minute, Non-Obvious Holiday Gift Guide 2012 Read MoreTime flies. I was looking for something I had posted a while ago and discovered that this site has been live and somewhat regularly updated since October 24, 2004. So I'm about a month late noticing, but this site is an eight year old! We're a tween! My first post: Welcome. Thanks for reading. Now I need to go out and buy a cake.
Belated Happy 8th Birthday, HomeTheaterView! Read MoreHere's another link to that unrelated site with the similar name. HomeTheaterReview has a thoughtful piece on an old chestnut: how do you get women to buy home theater gear? (I wrote something similar a bit over a decade ago.) Two things that stand out: While her advice is not new, Adrienne Maxwell has about as strong a pedigree to say it as anyone. She's written and edited home theater magazines at the highest levels. And while she can geek out with the best of them — I've met her at trade events and can confirm this firsthand — she, …
Home Theater for the Fairer Sex Read More…what ails the specialty AV market isn't even about technology or a lack thereof, it's about elitism and how you're not a real enthusiast unless you do (insert absurd claim here). Home Theater Review (no relation to this site) nails it.
What’s Wrong with the Specialty Audio Business Read MoreApple’s iTunes now sells more music than any other retail outlet and CD sales are famously in decline, so you’d be forgiven if you thought nobody makes CD players any more – or at least nobody would be foolish to launch new ones. That's why I was somewhat delighted to read this press release: Parasound has just introduced a new CD player, the Zcd. This isn’t a CD player aimed at the mass market, but it isn’t targeting money-is-no-object audiophile snobs, either. It costs $400; mass market CD players start at $17.99 at Target, and audiophile brands can top $4,000. …
CD Players Are Not Dead (Yet) Read MoreGibson is looking to diversify away from musical instruments, and is buying Onkyo USA. Onkyo has been doing reasonably well in the shrinking A/V receiver market – I own an Onkyo NR3007 myself – but I just can't figure out why Gibson decided to invest in the incredibly challenged A/V industry rather than, say, ANYTHING ELSE. Here's the press release: Gibson Buys Stake in Onkyo Japan and Majority Interest in Onkyo USA Forms Strategic Alliance to Take Consumer Audio Experience to a New Level Nashville, TN. January 04, 2012: As part of its continued diversification into the music and audio …
Gibson Buys a Big Chunk of Onkyo Read More