What is an Audio Request Pro?

In the age of large collections of music and lots and lots of CD's, many users have turned to a new emerging category of Music storage. In the old days this meant lots of CD's in a case or a multiple disc changer and to listen to it you had to go and drag out the one you wanted put it in the player and push play. Not anymore. With the advent of using a harddrive for video and audio storage many music libraries are going digital. Now you can digitally encode all those CD's you have into a library on a hard drive that automatically categorizes them and names them all for you. Then with the aid of a remote and on-screen graphics you can navigate with ease your entire collection, build play-lists, record new CD's into the player etc. Easy to use and they sound pretty good too. This is definitely the way of the future.
For more information see www.request.com

Escient Power Play 200 Disc DVD changer

As we enter into an era of collecting DVD's like we collected CD's more and more people are gathering large collections. Now they have a problem. How to manage that collection, keep up with them all, store them safely and use them anywhere in the home. Along comes Escient. This company is dedicated to making electronics behave and with the Escient Power Play DVD player they have done just that. This little device not only keeps up with you DVD's it stores them safely, and automatically figures out what they are and even what aspect ratio on a double sided disc best fits your screen. Also you can start with 200 discs but add up to three additional changers if you need them. If you have a large collection or are starting one this is a must have.

For more information see www.escient.com

Phillips Pronto

We seldom see such an easy to use device have such power in our industry. This little remote with its good looks and easy to use form factor disguise the fact that it is a very powerful and incredibly capable universal remote. Instead of having eight or nine remotes on the table why not have only one. This little guy makes that easy and even puts everything in plain English tailored to fit you. Why are trying to remember where you hid the "enter" button with this you just label it exactly what you want so instead of remembering to hit "select" for "enter" all you have to do is hit "enter" for "enter". Capable of doing hundreds of macros (groups of commands) this little remote has truly revolutionized the industry.

For more info see www.pronto.philips.com

Hide that projector

Perhaps one of the most functional and really cool devices we have seen come down the line in while is the Revelation system for projectors from Draper. Instead of having that ugly projector hanging down in the middle of your beautiful boardroom that took months to plan, this little door lowers and the image is on the screen (which also lowers from the ceiling). Turn it all off and no electronics are even in sight. What a great idea.

By using a double mirror system, the projector remains above the ceiling and you still get a great looking image. Also remember by having the projector above the ceiling, you have less noise from the projector to deal with. Now that's a great idea.

For more information see www.draperinc.com

Control it All!

Crestron has done it again. Crestron has long been a leader in the home automation market. Now they have done it again. Imagine being able to control your whole house from the kitchen. Turn off the lights, set the temperature, set the alarm, choose the music and even check your e-mail. This "Dashboard" of the house is what we strive for in the home automation industry. Easy to use and complete control is the game, and with the new line of touch-panels from Crestron, we are closer to that goal. Crestron has introduced its new line of ISYS touch panels. These panels have real potential. They have a greater screen resolution than previous generations of panels; they can be a computer monitor, and control just about anything in a home. Now capable of displaying incoming caller ID, and surfing the internet on the panels, Crestron is definitely leading the way into a wired world. The touch-panels come in various sizes and are available now. In conjunction with a Crestron CNMSX-Pro (featured below), control system there is not much this system cannot do.

Crestron also makes products for whole house automation. Instead of walking across the house to check your e-mail or turn on the stereo you could easily control that and more from any room in the house. Typically these systems rely on a main cardframe (Crestron CNSMX-Pro) to be the central processor and they use easy to use user interfaces to make things happen (Crestron CT-1000). With today's increasing demand for web based home control these systems are upgradeable to do just that. Imagine that, you went on vacation and forgot to set the alarm. Go online and do it anywhere with your username and passwords. Wow now that is cool.

See www.crestron.com for more information.

Crestron CT-1000 Color touch panel

Tired of that old TV?

Runco has long been the best in residential projection systems, and has unveiled its new DLP based VX1C projector. With dramatically better black level than that of competitive projectors and a 10 bit video processor, this projector truly makes an impact. Also, this projector can handle all of the major aspect ratios with ease - something other projectors have failed to come to grips with. Don't be fooled by other competitors claims of more pixels or more resolution, take a look and see for yourself. It won't be long, and CRT based projectors may not be the best way to go anymore.

For more information see www.runco.com

Sounds Good to Me!

It isn't often that we are really impressed by a preamp. After all, they are all pretty much the same aren't they? Not at all. The Cinema Rhapsody by Audio Design Associates delivers on sound quality and at a good price. They took the award winning Cinema Reference (it's big brother) and slimmed it down a bit without making it cheap. It utilizes the same audio section and the same electronics, the only difference is in the amount of inputs and the lack of an AC-3 RF decoder for the laserdisc fans. Other than that, it's the same only at half the price. Easy to use and simple to upgrade, this is a great piece for your Home Theater.

See www.ADA-USA.com for more details

Speakers you can be proud of!

Made out of Avonite (a corian-like material) for maximum rigidity under high sound pressure levels, and with the best driver components in the world, it is no wonder that this small company in northern California is turning heads. By correctly designing the loudspeakers for the environment, participating in the design of the room, and layout of the speaker system, amplifiers and preamp-to-power, CAT has truly carved out a niche for itself in the high-end speaker market. They simply know what it takes to make it sound good. They even come in and engineer the speaker system on site to ensure the best possible sound. It is committment like that that makes us proud to represent them. . If you are thinking about building a Custom Home Theater, then you should seriously consider having CAT work for you.

See www.Calaudiotech.com for more information about CAT

Shape Changer!

One of the most frustrating aspects of dealing with Home Video is the multiples of ways an image can be displayed. Instead of just being the square (4 x 3) that we are used to we often time have aspect ratios like 2.35-1 or 1.85-1 and the list goes on. How then do we best show all the different aspect ratios on any one screen. In comes Stewart Filmscreen to save the day. By putting Velvet on rollers on all sides of the screen the screen can in effect change shape to fit whatever video you are watching. This gives you a cleaner neater image with out the annoying rough edges so common with front projectors. If you are considering purchasing a screen take a look at the Stewart Four Way Masking Screens. With them you just can't miss.

For More information see www.stewartfilm.com.

Thiel has long been the creator of great loudspeakers for the audiophile in all of us. Thiel has recently introduced the Power Point and Power Plane loudspeakers for difficult rooms and unusual situations. By making the footprint of these speakers smaller and mountable in so many different ways they have truly given the Home Theater and Music enthusiast without a dedicated theater a speaker to meet their needs. For more information see www.thielaudio.com