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Reviews

Disappointed with DirecTV, part 2

I posted the general outline of my problems with a DirecTV upgrade a few days ago. Now for some of the details.

When DirecTV called me in February to talk me into upgrading my hardware, I had three pieces of equipment in operation: a dish antenna configured to receive signals from DirecTV's three older satellites, an RCA DTC100 HD receiver in my bedroom, and a Hughes HR10-250 HD TiVo DVR (digital video recorder) in my living room.

DirecTV made a simple offer: if I simply said "yes," they'd send out a professional installer with a new … Read more

Disappointed with DirecTV

DirecTV is in the middle of a long-planned upgrade to new satellite broadcast technology. The company has launched new satellites that use MPEG-4 video compression to carry an ever-increasing number of HDTV stations, both local and national.

I've been a DirecTV subscriber for many years. In fact, I signed up in 2000 because I wanted to take a look at the then-new RCA DTC100 HD receiver. I didn't even have an HDTV, but I did have a high-quality 21" CRT computer monitor that the DTC100 could drive. It wasn't good for large audiences, but for one … Read more

How good can your speakers sound? Play a MA Recordings CD and find out

MA Recordings is a one-man show. Todd Garfinkle is MA Recordings' sole producer, recording and editing engineer. He also handles the label's art direction, which is spectacular. MA is a trans-cultural jazz and classical label, and Garfinkle has been crisscrossing the globe recording music since 1988.

Garfinkle always tries to record in large, acoustically interesting classical concert halls, churches and galleries. "MA" is a Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese character which means "space" or "interval," and Garfinkle believes these acoustic spaces are an intrinsic part of the not only the sound, but also … Read more

As the iPhone evolves, some reflections on the Newton

Today is the tenth anniversary of the official death of Apple's Newton, the world's first PDA (personal digital assistant). There were pocket computers before the Newton, but the Newton was the first device to target PDA functionality so specifically.

The original Newton MessagePad was not a very practical product. Its handwriting recognition was inadequate, its processor was too slow, its local storage was too small. But the ultimate Newton, the MessagePad 2100, was glorious. It was powerful, reliable, easy to use, and surprisingly expandable with third-party hardware and software.

I used a MessagePad 2100 from 1997 to 2004, … Read more

Hansen Audio's $39,000 Prince V2 Speaker: Sound fit for royalty

The Hansen Audio Prince V2 speaker's liquid curves and physical presence demands respect--it all but shouts "this is very serious audiophilia," made for those with ears who appreciate the very best. Well, not just ears, but the means to indulge their vices. The 42 inch high speaker is small enough to fit in an apartment, at least an apartment with floors that can support the 540 pound weight of a pair of these $39,000 speakers.

Fellow Brooklynite Wes Bender, Hansen Audio's Senior Director and National Sales Manager, had me over to audition the speakers. Too bad he didn't have the top of the line King V2s that run $84K a pair, but if that's too rich for you, the Elixirs will set you back a mere $18K. So you see high-end audio is not so different than high-end cars... Lamborghini's new supercar, the Reventon is fourteen times more expensive then the fastest Corvette, but only a little bit faster. That wasn't a problem for Lamborghini, the entire production run sold out before the car was even built. Hansen Audio is likewise pushing the limits of what's possible in speaker design, and that's an inherently expensive proposition. Get over it.

Every aspect of these speakers' design was conceived with performance in mind, so that means not only are most of the drivers designed, engineered, and built in Hansen's Canadian factory; extraordinary efforts were expended on the speaker cabinets to better serve the sound. Which in the case of speakers, the best cabinet is the dead cabinet (acoustically inert), so the only sound you hear with Hansen speakers is the sound created by their drivers. Mass market speakers never get close to that ideal, their cabinets' "sing along" with the drivers, substantially coloring the sound.

The Hansen speakers' paint job also deserves special mention, it's the only element of the design not handled directly by Hansen. It's outsourced to a world famous luxury car manufacturer's factory in Toronto. Painting a pair of speakers takes five days and is a sixteen step process.

The "Hansen Composite Matrix" cabinet is a three-layer composite formulation (proprietary to Hansen) -- each layer is a different thickness from the other. Hansen's "Cloaking Device," the forth and final layer and is applied by hand to the internal cabinet. This sort of no holds barred design fanaticism is what separates high-end from mass-market brands, the drive to make the very best at any cost. … Read more

mac.column.ted: Happy Anniversary to Default Folder

[Friday, February 15th]

Ted Landau

February 2008

Default Folder (with and without the X) is one of the most enduring utilities ever released for the Mac. The first version dates back to 1988. That's right. 1988. Even Apple doesn't have much software that dates back that far. This means that 2008 is Default Folder's twentieth anniversary!

My recollection is that I started using Default Folder soon after its initial release and have been a more than satisfied customer ever since.

For those of you unfamiliar with this great utility, here's what you need to know: Default … Read more

Bad luck with Belkin

I like the Belkin company. I remember when Belkin was basically nothing but a cable company, and by that, I mean a company that makes electrical and optical cables. They made good cables, and still do.

But in recent years they have expanded into a wide variety of consumer products. I've always assumed Belkin's expansion was driven, at least in part, by the success of Monster Cable, which has made a lot of money selling expensive cables that (in my opinion, at least) are not always worth the price.

I imagine Belkin's engineering-oriented management deciding that selling … Read more

Bitten by Leopard

I've been using an Apple MacBook Pro for a little over a year now, and I'm pretty happy with it.

I didn't immediately upgrade to Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X, when it shipped back in November for reasons I discussed here, but last weekend I decided to go for it.

There's a new update coming to version 10.5.2, which according to a release note available to Apple developers includes a raft of bug fixes, but I wanted to upgrade to Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 as soon as possible, so I … Read more

Shock and awe: A $6 million home theater

If your typical high-end home theater with rows of plush seats, velvet wallpaper, and popcorn machines offers Cadillac levels of performance and luxury, then Jeremy Kipnis' $6 million ultimate home theater is more like a fire-breathing Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, the fastest production Ferrari ever built.

This home theater is all about aggressively advancing the state of the art of picture and sound presentation. Yes, it's comfortable and beautiful, but its prime directive is a quest for the very best. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is overlooked. Kipnis won't settle for second best. … Read more

The light fantastic: Incandescent glass sculptures

OK, I admit Dylan Kehde Roelofs works of art have absolutely nothing to do with audio, but they remind me of vacuum tubes. They're incandescent light bulb sculptures, but it turns out Roelofs is contemplating a move to also do audio related pieces, "I'm a bit of an audiophile myself - wait 'till you see the homemade triodes (tubes) I've been working on. Might make a nice amp someday, or just a horrible, distorted Theremin."

His current works that combine glass blowing, electrical and lighting design are incredibly beautiful. They're produced in limited editions … Read more