Accessories

Deal Alert: Belkin Home Theater Surge Protector

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Buy.com has the Belkin PureAV PF30 for a great price ($60). I have this unit's big brother (the PF60), and while I can't claim to hear any difference in the filtered electricity, a good quality 8 outlet surge protector usually costs a lot more than $60 (this unit originally retailed for $199). Note: I get no kickback if you click on the link above. Consider this a public service announcement.

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Accessories / Audio / Computing / Industry

Onkyo Announces First MHL A/V Receiver

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

There is no indication of price or availability, so this "announcement" is almost comically vague, but it is interesting nonetheless. For the uninitiated, MHL is a standard that aims to simplify getting content from mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) while keeping the devices charged. The MHL folks were smart enough not to come up with their own unique connector/cable; instead it uses the HDMI or microHDMI connectors, and includes HDMI backwards compatibility. It looks like Onkyo's reciever will pop up windows showing you what content is available on the device, allowing you to easily push that content on to the …

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Accessories / Audio / Music

quick review: beats by dr. dre

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Question: My son is here with me today and… he brought up Beats headphones.  I was wondering if you’ve seen/have them and your thoughts.  He’s sold on how “cool” they are but I’m curious if they’re all hype or not. I get in a lot of headphones but hadn't gotten extended time on the beats until HP gave me a pair to test with its new TouchPad tablet (the TouchPad has a special Beats Audio mode. I tested it with the mode enabled and disabled, the difference is too subtle for most people to notice, but it’s a nice branding …

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Uncategorized

Selling CE to Women: Two Views

- by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

CEPro has a new mini-article by Molly Gibson with four tips for selling custom installed home theater products to women, and Julie Jacobson links to an article of hers on the same subject. Here's the summary: Molly thinks that women need a soft sell based on listening to her needs and discovering how she thinks that the system will be used. She also rails against pushing features and future-proofing that goes beyond the buyer's needs, and pushes style as a critical part of the woman's buying criteria. Julie thinks that this has nothing to do with selling to women and …

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Accessories / Computing / HDTV / Industry

Roku Goes Retail

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

It certainly took them long enough, but Roku is finally graduating from online-only sales to retail. It wasn't doing too badly in the old business model – Roku's status as the least expensive and easiest streaming media box allowed it to rack up over a million units sold. Still, Roku always seemed something like a secret that only technically savvy people knew about – and that is not the target demographic for a product designed for simplicity. No, the ideal retail channel ought to be something like Target. Or Best Buy: Roku XD player is available for purchase at Best …

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Accessories / Audio / Industry

Headphones To Lure the Next Generation

- by Avi Greengart - 2 Comments.

Great article in Dealerscope on how custom audio shops can prepare for the future by focusing more on headphone sales. Money quote: "There are no new audiophiles entering our community any more," Abplanalp said. "For young people experiencing music, the art of building a stereo has lost its cachet. So selling headphones is a very important part of introducing music lovers to different performance levels…" The article also notes that Monster's Dr. Dre Beats line is a key sales driver for this demographic, but oddly undersells the ability to properly demo in-ear headphones in-store.

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Accessories / Audio / Music

Slate talks about the wonders of outboard DACs, I talk headphones

- by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Fred Kaplan is apparently writing for Slate now*, and he correctly points out that digital music often sounds terrible, either due to poor sampling or poor encoding. He recommends using an outboard DAC to correct the problem. It's a great suggestion for people who listen to music in one spot using high end speakers or headphones, but not at all practical for those who are mobile, using an MP3 player or a smartphone as their playback source. Aside from echoing his related note to bump up the encoding rate when you rip music or download higher quality encoded music in …

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