Our Listeners of the Week are Clint DeBoer and his family, who provided a safe home for Tom and Tom’s family to ride out Hurricane Irma. We truly cannot thank the DeBoer family enough. And the least we can do is check out Clint’s website, Pro Tool Reviews, where you’ll find superb information for tools users and tradespeople. We also want to thank Josh Pollard from The Digital Media Zone for talking us up to Accessories4Less when we pointed him their way. Check out Josh’s new podcast, Story Players, where they recap and review story-driven video games. And Christian and Kris both took SVS’ recent customer survey, where they noted that AVRant Podcast is among the options for letting SVS know where you heard about their products.

Lee Overstreet co-hosts with Rob H. this week, and we get a bit extra rant-y. Tom and his family are safe, and we look forward to him returning to the podcast as soon as possible.

In the news, CEDIA brought official announcements of the Sony VPL-VW285ES, the least expensive genuine 4K projector to date, along with the VW385ES and $25,000 laser-based VW885ES. We also saw the JVC X590, X790 & X990 projectors introduced at lower price points. And Epson is keeping their wobble-K projectors the same this year, but introduced a 1080p, laser-driven, ultra short throw LS100 for $3,000. The Optoma UHZ65 brings laser-driven 4K DLP to the $5,000 price point. Infinite Gary sent us a link detailing several new Monoprice Monolith products with THX certification. And the Emotiva RMC-1 16-channel Pre-pro was demoed, with verbal confirmation that it can run a 9.1.6 Atmos configuration. Disney will keep exclusive streaming rights for Marvel and Lucasfilm movies in 2019. And Ultra pure green LEDs mean Rec. 2020 might be possible using LED light sources.

Jose confirms the Elite VMAX motorized projection screens lack the ability to manually set how far they drop or rise when you press the button on the remote. And Robert Z. suggests that streaming lossless audio via DLNA is another scenario where eARC could be useful.

PJ wants an affordable, compact speaker upgrade, but he sits fairly far away, so we suggest the HSU HB-1 MK2 Horn Bookshelf speakers. We also discuss buying Ultra HD Blu-rays strictly for audio, and recommend the Samson QH4 4-channel Headphone Amplifier for connecting multiple pairs of headphones. Mike L. asks about the tuning options of the HSU VTF-2 MK5 subwoofer, and whether the ELAC Uni-Fi UC5 Center is a good match for the ELAC Debut B6 bookshelfspeakers. And Don G. asks about positioning his bi-pole Surround speakers, how he should adjust his seating and Atmos positions if he gets a larger TV, and whether he can use his older B&K 507 AV Receiver as just an amplifier.

Jonathan F. sent us an article to discuss about a Utah law that bans movie theaters that serve alcohol from showing movies with nudity or sex scenes. Josh B. gets some clarification on the settings needed to use his 7-channel Outlaw Audio amplifier with his Pioneer Elite LX801 AV Receiver. And Josh Pollard wants a basic 5.1 AV Receiver that can handle 4K HDR, so we suggest the Yamaha RX-V383 from Accessories4Less, which is scheduled to receive Dolby Vision pass-through support later this year.

Infinite Gary asks about the practicality and usefulness of the 8K resolution TV announced for Japan by Sharp, and he also wants to know what visible difference a laser light engine makes in a projector versus a lamp. Marc N. got a taste for Front Wide speakers thanks to Rob’s meddling, so now he’s wondering what he’d have to buy to make them a part of his future Atmos setup. And David B.’s wife wants new, more attractive speakers that can still blast out high volume levels capable of filling their whole house, so we suggest going high efficiency with some Klipsch Reference Premiere speakers.

Jon wants a very slim, on-wall Center to match his Klipsch Icon VF35 Towers, so we recommend the Klipsch Gallery G-28. Andrew gets our advice for di-pole Surround speaker and Atmos speaker positioning. And we give Karl credit for prompting us to rant, big time, about the latest HT Guys interview with David Dicks in which he claims to “bust speaker myths”.

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