Marantz goes for truth in nomenclature with their new Reference series

The Reference Series is Marantz's no-holds-barred line of audio components, which includes several amps, preamps, integrated amps, control amps and disc players. 

The flagship components in my review system are two MA-9S2 monaural power amplifiers, the SC-7S2 Control Amplifier and the SA-7S1 CD/SACD player.

Skip the new sedan—the new Wisdom Audio Sage L75 Floorstanding Speakers are a better way to spend $31,000.

Setting the Stage

The L75 speaker system is part of Wisdom Audio's Sage Series, which has 20 in-wall, on-wall and floorstanding speakers. They are all hybrid speakers, so they incorporate newly designed, proprietary, thin-film planar magnetic drivers for mid and high frequencies and conventional drivers for bass.

Extreme Bass
Or: What happens when you put 48 Subwoofers in a wall

BG Radia and THX, with the BGX-4850, have developed a subwoofer system that neatly overcomes many of the acoustic problems with getting good bass in a room and produces deep, extended and well-distributed bass that sounds tight and solid with music and movie sources.

And they did it with 4-inch drivers. Ok, a lot of 4-inch drivers.

The Fine Art of Concealing a Home Theater

It's no secret that flat-screen televisions are flying off retailer's shelves and finding their way into living rooms, family rooms and media rooms across the country. But even before they're installed, many homeowners are looking for ways to hide them from view when not in use.

After all, a large slab of black glass mounted on the wall doesn't complement the décor of most rooms. And let's not overlook the Spouse Acceptance Factor that often dashes the hopes of many home theater enthusiasts.

Enter VisionArt Galleries.

One Point Four Kilowatts

An A/V receiver is arguably the most important component in a home theater system surpassed, only, perhaps by speakers.

It has a big job: Take in all your sources, process them, and then the "little box that could" has to amplify the signal and send it out to your speakers.

Has Monitor Audio Done it Again?

Consumers are sitting in the sweet spot when it comes to choosing in-wall loudspeakers. The selection of in-walls is so broad, there is sure to be a speaker for everyone’s listening tastes and room decor.

British speaker manufacturer Monitor Audio's products are highly regarded by audiophiles and music lovers. I’ve reviewed a few of their in-room speakers and reported excellent sound quality, so has Monitor done it again with in-wall speakers?

In-wall speakers appeal to homeowners because they want to hear, not see, their speakers. While the average performance of in-wall speakers has increased dramatically in the last decade, the look of them has barely changed at all since the 1980s. In most cases, they appear as a ¾-inch wide bezel surrounding a perforated metal grille. Increasingly, though, interior designers are starting to consider the look of a standard in-wall speaker to be déclassé, even if it’s painted to match the wall treatment.

Smart design and decades of research make PSB’s CW600E and CSW10 some of the world's best in-wall speakers.