AV Adviser

Watching the Super Bowl on the big screen

I've expressed my reservations on a projector and screen as your main viewing television.  It kind of takes over a room.  If you do have the space to integrate a ceiling hung projector and either a fixed or retractable screen and it doesn't ruin your interior design, well then, I'm on board. Especially if you're planning a Super Bowl party.

I get invited to a Super Bowl party every year but not once has the host had the "big screen" treatment.  I'm not complaining.  I don't have such a set up but I do have a 55" HD television.  It may be a good idea to ask the host what sort of TV and surround set up they have before you accept the invitation.  If it isn't 50 plus inches, high def, and more than a home theater in a box audio system you may just tell them you have other plans. 

Of course I'm kidding...somewhat.  To me, unless the Cleveland Browns get in one day (hear me Lord), the Super Bowl is about getting together with friends and eating delicious but unhealthy food.  And, of course, watching the commercials.  The game is the least important aspect of the day unless you're gambling or it's a close affair.  But seriously, a decent sized TV and surround set up should be a prerequisite to throw a Super Bowl party. 

One such writer for the Washington Times talks about how important her home theater is to the Super Bowl party, Super Bowl XLVI: Watch it on TV or in a home theater?

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

 

Was Steve Jobs working on a better sounding digital format?

Neil Young, a big proponent for better sounding music formats, says that Steve Jobs agreed with him and they talked of developing such a format for iTunes.  He also said that when Jobs was at home he preferred to listen to vinyl records. 

Young talked about this at a technology conference in California on Tuesday.  He said the format would be lossless, containing 100% of the original data, instead the poor sampling rate of an mp3.  It would mean far fewer songs on a portable device and the download would take a long time.  The reward would be a much richer music listening experience. 

The Wall Street Journal's tech writer Walt Mossberg confirmed Young's comments.  He said that Jobs was surprised "that people traded quality, to the extent they had, for convenience or price". 

Here's the story from the Huffington Post, Neil Young: Steve Jobs Listened To Vinyl.

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

Used speakers are tricky to price

There's not much to a speaker.  I should say that compared  to an av receiver there's not much that goes into a speaker.  You have the drivers, tweeters and woofers, a cabinet, circuit boards, some insulation, a grill.  That's simplified and hardly scientific but I'm trying to get a point across. 

Your speakers usually last much longer than other audio components.  There's just not much that can go wrong with them.  That is unless you overdrive them and blow out the drivers themselves.  You can tell if a driver is blown by just listening to it.  Or, if it's a woofer, carefully push the cone in with your hand.  Do you feel or hear a grinding or crunching.  If so the speaker is blown.  You'll need to replace it. 

In fact, it's quite easy to replace parts of a speaker that goes bad.  The most common ailment is that the "surround" which attaches the speaker cone to the basket becomes deteriorated.  Here's a diagram.

You'll first notice a bad surround as the speaker will begin to buzz or make a fart sound when there's low bass tones.  On inspecting it you might find that there's actual holes where the surround has decayed.  Simply touching the surround with your finger may cause it to disintegrate as you touch it. 

I've got a pair of McIntosh XR6s that had bad surrounds in the largest of the woofers.  Here's a couple of pictures. 

In the old days surrounds were made of cloth, and though the sound may not have been as good they didn't go bad. 

I removed the woofers from the cabinet and took them in for replacement of the surrounds.  It's much better than trying to transport huge speaker cabinets. 

There's a few places in Cleveland that repair drivers.  I took mine to Audio Craft.  Another downtown shop is Empirical Sound.  I believe that Elctra-Sound on Brookpark Rd. also offers this service.  It's best to call a store first to see if there's a surround available for that sized driver. You could do it yourself but it's a bit difficult and the glue used is somewhat toxic meaning a ventilating mask is needed. 

Once the surrounds are repaired the woofer is as good as new and that's where pricing on used speakers becomes tricky.  If you go by Bluebook, yes, just like cars AV gear has a Bluebook, the price on used speakers aren't reflective of any sort of repair work you may have had done.  Speakers can last a long time as long as you take care of the cabinet and don't crank them too loudly.  It's just that in the used market you won't be able to sell them for too much.  On the other hand, you can find some great deals on used speakers. 

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

 

Macworld shows interconnectivity with home audio and video

Lately I've been showing how Apple's operating system is being integrated into home audio and video products the same way Microsoft's internet explorer has been for years.  It's nice to get confirmation on this trend from someone else. 

The popular tech insider site, Gigaom, writes about this melding of Mac's iOS and home theater as seen at Macworld 2012, Macworld | iWorld 2012 highlights for home theater nuts and audiophiles.  In the story are topics I've discussed in recent months like Epson's projector and digital to analog converters (DACs).  It's really not surprising and mirrors the fact that Apple has overtaken Microsoft in revenues during the past year. 

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

Bang & Olufsen introduce "affordable" line up of products

Bang & Olufsen, the Danish audio video company whose products are pieces of art with a price tag to match, have introduced a new line of "affordable" components called B&O Play.  Most will find their affordable line still a bit steep in price. 

The first product to launch in the new subbrand is the Beolit 12 Airplay.  It's designed after a transistor radio they produced in the 1970s.  It looks gorgeous with loads of power and is even retro in the fact that it only plays in mono. 

The Airplay in the name is a giveaway.  Yes, it syncs with Apple's Airplay as well as having a mini input to plug in a device that might not be on a network.  It's also quite portable and can play off the battery for about eight hours. 

When I first heard about the piece I was thrilled that I might be able to afford something from B&O.  Actually I do have a great B&O turntable but I bought that used.  Then I looked at the price tag of $800.  I guess affordable is a subjective term. 

Here's another write up on the Beolit 12 Airplay from the New York Times, Bang & Olufsen’s Homage to Its Past.

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

 Edit (1.30.12):  I got an email from Jon Erikson of B&O "The BeoLit 12 plays in Stereo.  It has a left and right driver and does have left and right imaging."  I apologize.  I got my info from the New York Times who stated that it was mono.

4K so much better than 3D

My dislike of 3D is evident if you read my blog with any regularity.  I feel as if the technology was pushed to market too soon and forced down the consumers throats.  And it looks like the consumers have simply spit  the format out, rejecting it for good reason.  Active or passive glasses, wearing glasses at all and little in the way of content, what's to like about 3D?

I'll give you a new technology that absolutely trumps 3D.  It's called 4K resolution.  In simplest terms it's more high def than high def.  It offers a picture that is staggeringly stunning. 

CNET offers us a primer on 4K, What is 4K? Next-generation resolution explained.  It's the next video technology I'm really excited about.  Granted, it'll take a number of hurdles before it makes sense in our homes but let's see the powers that be get behind this instead of wasting their time with 3D. 

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

 

Watch where you put your speakers or what you put on them

I was just looking at a review from CNET's Christopher MacManus on a home theater system he saw at the Consumer Electronics Show, Hands-on with Unity home theater.  He gives a favorable recommendation but it got me thinking about speaker placement. 

MacManus was turned off by the design of the set up where the subwoofer sits vertically in the center and a speaker bar rests horizontally across the top of it creating a T shape where the speaker bar also acts as a place to put the flat panel TV.  His concern is that there's no place for a lower shelf to house a game console and the like.  My worry is vibration from the speakers and subwoofer that are in direct contact with the TV. 

I don't care what the spin is, there's no way vibration is good for your video and audio components.  The idea of my TV sitting on top of a platform that constantly vibrates is just not happening.  Those vibrations can, in time, loosen soldering joints, circuit boards and all sorts of internal components.  That may easily send your TV to an early grave. 

The speaker bar contains the tweeters which, granted, don't create too much in the way of vibration, but the bar sits directly on top of the subwoofer.  A subwoofer vibrates like crazy.  I've seen systems set up where, due to lack of shelf space, audio or video components are set right on top of the subwoofer which usually resides next to or behind the TV.  That is just bad design.

Another thing to be wary of when dealing with subwoofers and large floor standing speakers is what you may place on top of them, even momentarily.  Speakers use magnets.  The bigger the speaker the bigger the magnet.  Most of the time the speaker housing is sufficient to keep that magnetic field from escaping the enclosure.  I'd still be very cautious about laying a watch or your iPhone on top if it. 

I have a mobile DJ business and sometimes the photographer will put his camera right on top of my speaker.  First of all I don't want anything on those speakers because eventually vibrations are going to knock whatever rests there to the floor.  Secondly, there's a chance that the magnet in the speaker is going to do damage to their camera. Remember, speakers aren't tables.  

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

Interfacing Apple's Siri With Crestron Control

This is awesome.  Before Steve Jobs passed away he hinted that he'd cracked the problem with controlling a TV without a cumbersome keyboard or remote.  It seems assured that Apple will unveil a TV of their own within the next year or so.  Speculation is that his control solution is Siri, the audio assistant built into the iPhone 4S.

Carnes Audio Visual has achieved such control and more by taking the Siri technology and interfacing it with Crestron's sophisticated control system.  Here's the Forbes story on it, Siri Takes Its Place in the "Smart Home".  Better yet, here's a video put together by Carnes to show it off.

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

 

Making Your MP3s Sound Better

As more and more of us leave our CDs to collect dust, opting for the convenience of MP3s, there's got to be a way to make the inferior digital files sound better.  There are a couple of different options.

The first are software based products that usually interface with iTunes.  These programs reach into iTunes and take over the playback, changing the sample rate to match that of the original file.  Of course, if the file is only 128 to begin with it's not going to help much. 

Stereophile named one such program, Amarra, one of their products of the year, Stereophile's Products of 2011 COMPUTER AUDIO PRODUCT OF THE YEAR.  Be prepared though, this software isn't cheap.  The top of the line product runs $695. 

There's a couple of other software based solutions such as Channel D's Pure Music which runs $129 and Stephen Booth's Decibel at $33.  The big drawback for me and many others is that all of these only run on McIntosh computers.  

The better choice in my opinion is an outboard, good old-fashioned audio component.  I like these better since they'll upgrade streaming music as well as MP3 files.  They're called DACs or digital to analog converters.  You install them between the output of your PC soundcard and your stereo amplifier.  There are numerous DACs like M-Audio's Audiophile 2496 which actually is installed into an empty slot on your PC.  More traditionally there's Cambridge Sound's DacMagic.

I'm not going to say these devices will make your MP3s sound as good as a CD but it's a step in the right direction.  And if you're hooked on the simplicity and convenience of your music being a click away it's an investment worth making. 

Cambridge Audio's DacMagic

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal

 

A Look At Noise Cancelling Headphones

I'm in the market for a new pair of headphones.  And I'm talking headphones not earbuds. 

For earbuds I've resorted to buying the Best Buy brand which run $5.00.  I'm just tired of shelling out $20 for a decent, not great, pair of earbuds and having them short out within a few months.  Besides I don't use earbuds other than for yardwork and outdoor bike rides.  Folks that live in large cities and use public transportation use headphones much more than the rest of us. 

I fly quite a bit, and I end up looking at those business travelers with a bit of envy.  They sit there so comfy and uninterupted with their noise cancelling headphones.  I want a pair. 

Bose has been the leader in this category for some time.  Now other manufactures are moving in to take a piece of this market.  The New York Time's David Pogue reviews a number of these headsets this week, Headphones to Shut Out the World.

It's these type of reviews that you and I must rely upon.  Gone are the days when you could go to a store and try out the various makes and models yourself.  These stores are far and few between anymore.  Most independent retailers have cut inventory, presenting scenes with one of each type of product.  There's no more line up of similar products for you to demo. 

I actually have no real problem with this sort of thing.  I'm a fan of critics and reviewers.  For many years I've relied on music reviews to influence my album purchases.  I read what the critics say before I go see a movie.  Why shouldn't I rely on knowledgeable people to steer me toward the right audio or video purchase?

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal