AV Rant #967: It’s CR8!
Harman – A Samsung Company is buying Masimo Consumer (aka Sound United). Emotiva has launched their Pre-Pro Trade-in program earlier than expected, and there’s an option to retrofit upgrade. Panasonic unveiled their 2025 OLED TV lineup. Sonos has ended the IKEA Symfonisk Series. And Rob has a sad.
Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCe6FN
00:00:00 – Intro
Tom’s son is ok. And Nintendo failed Rob.
00:10:53 – What We Watched
Tom is watching Reacher. Rob watched The Brutalist.
00:26:23 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Eli, Larry, and Tim, plus our 131 Patreon Patrons, as well as Andrew for trying to alert Rob when Walmart Canada briefly had more Switch 2 pre-orders available.
We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Tom, Infinite Gary, Larry, Sebastian, Henry, Sasi and Tim. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!
In the news:
00:30:56 – News: Harman Buys Sound United
Harman – A Samsung Company has agreed to buy Masimo Consumer: https://tinyurl.com/jkxmkwjh
00:35:01 – News: Emotiva Trade-ins & Upgrades
If you have an XMC-2, RMC-1L, or RMC-1, you can now trade it in – or retrofit upgrade it – to an XMC-2+ or RMC-1+: https://tinyurl.com/yee5ubv4
00:40:23 – News: Panasonic 2025 OLED Lineup
Only the Z95B is coming to North America. But elsewhere, there will also be Z90B and Z80B models: https://youtu.be/QIN-wMIWX1E
00:44:49 – News: Sonos Ends IKEA Symfonisk
The partnership between Sonos and IKEA has ended: https://tinyurl.com/bp76ej3u
Comments:
00:45:56 – Comment: Gurinder – WiFi Clue Leads to Resort Theatre
No one said the resort he visited had a dedicated Theatre, but their WiFi revealed its existence.
QUESTIONS:
00:46:46 – Ryan: Subs for L-Shaped Theater
He wants ALL the bass, but he’s worried about dimensions, specifically height. Plus a spare Epson lamp, Sennheiser SoundBar HDMI-ARC issues, and rants about Sonos Era 100 being called Stereo, and streamers only having Dolby Atmos and Vision in their top tiers.
– https://avgadgets.com/everything-you-know-about-bass-in-home-theater-is-wrong/
– HSU ULS-15 MK2: https://tinyurl.com/468yhyk9
– SVS PC-2000 Pro Cylinder (on its side): https://tinyurl.com/39ex5pxn
– SVS PB-2000 Pro (on its side): https://tinyurl.com/2ubt93zp
– Monolith M-15 V2 (overkill, on its side): https://tinyurl.com/dcwk5z96
– https://www.projectorcentral.com/projector-lamp.htm
– https://www.projectorscreen.com/
01:08:32 – Tony: Dual Subs in Open Room
He wants to optimize his dual sub placement, but in an open room, and with a single, fixed seating position.
– https://avgadgets.com/subwoofer-placement-crawling-bass/
– https://avgadgets.com/what-to-listen-for-when-positioning-your-subwoofer-by-ear/
01:17:30 – Tom: Best OLED & AVR Upgrade?
He can’t go bigger, so what’s the “best” OLED to get? And can he justify a Receiver upgrade since his new projector has HDMI 2.1?
01:26:10 – Infinite Gary: PHOLED & Kaleidescape Audio Quality
Are the stories about phosphorescent blue OLEDs really all they’re cracked up to be? And does Kaleidescape honestly have “better” audio than Apple Movies?
01:33:52 – Eli: Surround Placement = Better Bass?
He readjusted his Surround speaker placement, and somehow his bass sounds better? What happened there? And other than CBC Radio, what’s some good, Canadian radio to listen to?
– https://podcast.feedspot.com/canadian_news_podcasts/
01:40:32 – Sebastian: OK to Buy Pioneer LX505?
We recommended an Onkyo TX-RZ50 to him. Is its sister model from Pioneer just as good?
01:47:14 – Henry: Kaleidescape Freakout
The price is a concern. So can he ever feel good about putting all of his movie collection eggs into a single Kaleidescape basket?
01:53:04 – Sasi: Harman + Sound United
With Harman buying Masimo Consumer, there’s no way ALL those brands can survive the merger, right?
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