Salk Sound is shutting down their speaker business. Sony’s HT-AX7 Portable Theater System is truly wireless with removable Surround speakers. Bright Side Home Theater Podcast interviewed recording engineer Paul Hurt about Reference Volume at home.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAM1kx

00:00:00 – Intro & What We Watched

Rob watched Infinity Pool. Tom watched Tour de France: Unchained on Netflix.

00:20:48 – A Bit About Threads

00:26:45 – Listeners of the Week (with a question snuck in)

Our Listeners of the Week are Joe for his PayPal donation, plus our 132 Patreon Patrons, as well as Gurninder for visiting Rob and treating him to lunch, and Dale for talking us up to SVS.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Jason, and J.R. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

Would we rather buy a brand new projector, or a B-stock unit with a manufacturer’s warranty? Find out our answer to that question from AVScience.com in this section!

In the news:

00:32:44 – News: Salk Sound Closing

Via Mike – After 20 years in business, it’s the end of Salk Sound speakers: https://tinyurl.com/4pzupnnk

00:36:51 – News: Sony HT-AX7 Portable Theater System

Truly wireless mini SoundBar with detachable Surround Speakers. All battery powered for $500: https://tinyurl.com/57szeaar

Comments:

00:42:40 – Comment: Mike L – Audioengine Shout Out

13 years after purchase, Audioengine couldn’t repair or replace a faulty, discontinued speaker, but they did provide a coupon.

00:43:46 – Comment: Corey – Gorilla Mounting Putty

Monoprice’s rectangular jacket speaker wire worked a treat. But QuakeHold didn’t keep it on the ceiling. Gorilla Putty to the rescue! https://tinyurl.com/ta6j3ava

00:46:10 – Bright Side Home Theater on Reference Volume

An interesting interview with recording engineer Paul Hurt: https://www.brightsidehometheater.com/episodes/takeoverpaulhurtreferencelevel

QUESTIONS:

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Happy Canada Day and 4th of July, everybody!

Paramount+ joined Max and Disney+ in removing original shows from their streaming service, including Star Trek: Prodigy. Meta Quest+ is a VR game subscription service for $8 a month. And Audyssey MultEQ-X Pro doesn’t add any technical features, but it makes the license purchasing process easier, as long as you want multiple licenses.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjALhij

00:00:00 – Intro & What We Watched

Rob watched The Flash. Tom watched Nope, and The Black Phone.

00:23:55 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Stephen for his PayPal donation, plus our 132 Patreon Patrons.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Vince H, Paul, Vince F, Stephen, Stan, and Rohan. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:27:31 – News: Paramount+ Deletes Shows

At least four original shows, including Star Trek: Prodigy have completely disappeared, but might be shopped elsewhere.

– https://tinyurl.com/nhc568uz

– https://tinyurl.com/3b9pxd6y

00:32:57 – News: Meta Quest+

A VR game subscription: https://tinyurl.com/2n65jdd4

00:35:32 – News: Audyssey MultEQ-X Pro

Less cumbersome licensing as long as you’re buying at least 5: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5vsa

QUESTIONS:

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Welcome back, Tom! We get to hear about his family vacation, and watching movies on a plane. Netflix eliminated the Basic Tier in Canada. Can other countries be far behind? Xbox Series X will go up in price outside of the US. Xbox Game Pass also gets a price hike, including in the US. And Warner Bros Discovery is selling off music licenses and sending HBO content to Netflix.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAKkq1

00:00:00 – Intro & Tom’s Trip

00:08:43 – What We Watched

Rob finished season 1 of Nathan for You, and The Rehearsal. And was impressed by The Black Phone. Tom hated Fall, watched Tenet just the way Christopher Nolan would have wanted, rewatched She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, saw the first season of Batwoman, and American Born Chinese.

00:25:52 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 138 Patreon Patrons, as well as Dale for talking us up at his local Sherwin-Williams.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Terry, Vince, Jay, and Paul. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:29:34 – News: Netflix Eliminates Basic Tier

Starting in Canada, it’s now a big price gap between ads or no ads: https://tinyurl.com/yc334ey4

00:32:46 – News: Xbox Price Increases

Outside the US, Xbox Series X consoles go up in price. And Xbox Game Pass gets a price hike, including in the US: https://tinyurl.com/pfy7knhx

00:34:47 – News: Next Xbox in 2028

It’ll be an 8-year life cycle, but somehow doesn’t feel that long: https://tinyurl.com/3ak79dxc

00:35:58 – News: Warner Bros Discovery Selling Assets

Almost half their Movie & TV music library is up for sale. And they’re trying to license HBO shows to Netflix.

– https://tinyurl.com/3acfzjvc

– https://tinyurl.com/4725cxuf

QUESTIONS:

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Welcome back Lee Overstreet, pinch-hitting once again! JVC dropped the price of their NP5 4K projector by $1,000. PS5 cloud game streaming might give Project Q a reason to exist. A couple corrections & clarifications for us. And plenty of home theater questions answered!

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAJy9T

00:00:00 – Intro & Welcome Back, Lee

00:06:34 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Joe for his PayPal donation, with another shout out to https://avscience.com/ , plus our 138 Patreon Patrons, including Dale, as well as Vince for sending Rob an Amazon gift card, Terry for talking us up to Audio Advice, and Brannon for talking us up to Accessories4Less.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Gurinder, Nick, Vince, Adam, Terry, Brannon, Dale, Karl, and Toke. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

00:14:52 – What We Watched

Rob watched Morbius, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and some episodes of The Rehearsal from the creator of Nathan For You.

Lee completed his fun project of listening to the top music hits year-by-year, took in a live Duran Duran concert, and spent a bunch of time fighting with his new computer.

In the news:

00:31:57 – News: JVC DLA-NP5 Price Drop

Via Clara – JVC’s least expensive, genuine 4K resolution projector still uses a lamp, but now costs $1,000 less: https://tinyurl.com/296deunt

00:35:31 – News: Sony PS5 Cloud Game Streaming

Sony is testing streaming PS5 games from the cloud. Could that be the real reason for their Project Q handheld? https://tinyurl.com/ymetarmd

Comments:

00:38:56 – Correction! Colin – Sonos, Apple Music & A-Lady

Turns out, Amazon’s voice assistant won’t play Apple Music on Sonos speakers, after all.

00:41:21 – Comment: Joe K – Look at That Viewership!

00:41:55 – Clarification: Erin’s Audio Corner

Erin kindly responded to our comments from last week, so he helps us clarify his approach in his own words.

QUESTIONS:

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Welcome Curt G, another new guest co-host this week, with a leg up on Rob since he’s actually met Tom in person! We chat about Curt’s home theater setup and being an enthusiast. Then we dive into news about specs for Apple Vision Pro’s displays, Samsung adding an 83″ WOLED TV to their S90C Series, and Perlisten’s S7T Limited Edition Towers. Plus lots of questions, of course. Another fun episode!

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAHJDW

00:00:00 – Intro & Introducing Curt G

00:05:48 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Joe, for his PayPal donation, and with a shout out to https://avscience.com/ for their top-notch service, plus our 137 Patreon Patrons, including Niels and Curt!

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Nick, Jay, and Niels. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

00:09:26 – What’s in Curt’s Theater

A list of Curt’s gear, and some talk about sources.

00:17:39 – What We Watched

Curt watched the finale of Ted Lasso, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, High Desert, and Tetris. Rob watched M3GAN.

In the news:

00:27:59 – News: Apple Vision Pro Display Specs

Via David – Refresh rates, resolution, nit output, and three different manufacturing partners: https://tinyurl.com/3yd8tx77

00:33:08 – News: 83-inch Samsung S90C OLED TV

We knew Samsung would start using LG Display WOLED panels. We didn’t know it would be this year and joining an existing QD-OLED Series: https://tinyurl.com/43j8rnk3

00:37:01 – News: Perlisten S7T Limited Edition Towers

Only 50 pairs being made, $30,000 per pair: https://tinyurl.com/yc32tj7s

Comments:

00:42:34 – Comment: Colin – Sonos, Alexa, and Apple Music

Colin initially wrote in to say that Sonos speakers can use Alexa to play Apple Music…for the most part. But Colin actually wrote back after we had recorded to say that functionality seems to have been removed now! “Hey, Sonos” still works, though.

QUESTIONS:

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