Rattled through a few movies again this last two weeks in between episodes of The Crown. I thought the new Tarantino movie was very disappointing. I really liked Joe Pesci's performance in The Irishman and actually liked it as a whole, but thought De Niro was out of his depth. The highlight? Midsommar, by some distance. Not a perfect film but I do like Ari Asters films a lot.

Recommended Movie - Midsommar (2019)

A couple travel to Sweden to visit their friend's rural hometown for its fabled midsummer festival, but what begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Just a quick message to let everyone know this is the last week we will be open before Christmas.

Christmas & Hogmanay Opening Hours will be as follows

Closed from Sunday 22nd December, Re Opening Saturday 4th January.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to everyone.​

Thats all of the new Arcam models here and available for demonstration including the AV40 processor which is a little early. Get in touch if you are interested in a demonstration and we would be happy to let you hear them.

Just a quick message to let all of our wonderful customers know that we will be closing early on Saturday 7th December as it is our staff Christmas meal. We will close at 3pm and with a fair wind be open as normal on Monday 9th at 10am as normal.

After a number of months of behind the scenes testing im proud to announce we are now stockists of Starke Sound Subwoofers. Ive been searching for some time for something that stacks up against the Velodyne DD+ range, and boy have we found it. The range will expand slowly over the coming months. We currently have the Starke F35 on demonstration for those in doubt.......

STARKE SOUND SUBWOOFERS

Arcam are set to launch a whole raft of new AVR’s on us and a new processor in the next few weeks. The new models are as follows: AVR10 (£2299), AVR20 (£2999), AVR30 (£4999) AV40 Processor (£3749)

All will incorporate the new updated Dirac Live 2 room optimisation technology and support Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and IMAX Enhanced. Main features include 4K (UHD) HDMI 2.0b with HDCP2.2 ability, Bluetooth connectivity and seven HDMI inputs. 

The major update from last years models other than a facia change would appear to be 12-16channel delivery for 3D audio. The entry level 12-channel, 60W AVR10 looks like it is going to be a replacement for the current AVR390, although the 390 should remain in the range for the foreseeable future while stock lasts.

It starts getting interesting when you bump up to the 16-channel Arcam AVR20. This uses Class A/B amplification and is rated at 90W per channel. Step up to the top of the range AVR30 and you will get the fantastic Class G amplification previously used in the AVR850 to deliver 100W per channel.  Last years AVR850 was the best integrated short of the Focal Astral 16 so it will be very interesting to see how the new unit performs.

Completing the range will be the new AV40 Processor which is very competitively priced. It employs the ESS 9026PRO audiophile DAC. Add into that 16 pro-grade XLR outputs, 16 single-ended RCA outputs, seven HDMI inputs, three HDMI outputs, 4K (UHD). Interestingly Arcam have decided not to eek out the old models while we wait for the next HDMI change, and also no mention of any kind of flexibility with upgrade boards like their peers Emotiva, Denon & Marantz

We will also see three new power amps: the stereo PA240 (£1999), four-channel PA410 1299) and (finally I hear you cry) a seven-channel PA720 (£2499).

As always we will look favorably on pre-orders and trade ins to enable upgrades to these units while offering flexible payment terms.

Our B&W Nautilus x Trinnov event proved very popular with clients travelling from as far as Bratislava to hear the unique and unusual combination of the Trinnov Magnitude, Trinnov Amplitude 8 & The B&W Nautilus. With around 60 people over the three days it was a pleasure to let everyone hear something that less than 1000 people have actually heard in the UK since their inception.

One of the most eye opening customers who demonstrated the system was the drummer from the band "The Miracle Glass Company". A local band from Edinburgh with reasonable international acclaim. He actually came in a bit under the radar, as I totally dint recognise him. It turns out the track he ended up playing on Tidal was the bands new single, which he also produced. This put him in the unique position of listener, artist and producer, so he was in an excellent position to judge the merits of what the Trinnov was trying to do in conjunction with the Nautilus speakers.

The B&W Nautilus speakers need no introduction and spawned pretty much every trickle down product from B&W for decades, it was great to hear a 20 year design totally stand up to scrutiny and they performed magnificently over the three days.

The Trinnov demonstration was literally night and day, from the touch of a button. The Trinnov is uniquely able to to tell the difference between direct sound and indirect reflected sound, so you can literally turn off the negative acoustic effects of the room. Also, its ability to understand the natural character of the speaker and not adjust this, maintains the phrasing of the speaker much to the typical audiophiles delight. After all if you've bought a set of big Harbeth's, you want them to sound like Harbeth's! Overall, programmed correctly, it is by far the most sympathetic, accurate, room and speaker optimisation system on the market bar none. 

I'd like to say a massive thanks to Tom & Ian from Trinnov, Jonathan from B&W, Lawrence Dickie from Vivid, all the staff at HiFi Corner and finally all of the customers who attended for making the event such a success.

We have secured the Nautilus and Trinnov kit for another two weeks should any one who missed out wish to come and have a critical listen of the system in their own time. We also have a Trinnov ST2 available for home demonstration should you wish to hear how sympathetic room optimisation can transform your Hi-Fi system in your own home.

B&W NAUTILUS

TRINNOV

THE MIRACLE GLASS COMPANY

We have received our first delivery of the new Spears & Munsil UHD Test / Set-up disks.

Order HERE

What looks like it was originally a concept model looks like it is going to be a reality. Emotiva XPA half size mono block amplifiers named the XPA-HC1. 21.5 lbs each and they will deliver 300 watts into 8 ohms and double down at 4 ohms to 600 watts. We expect these to arrive on the same delivery as the new XMC-2 processor in around 4 weeks. Also what now looks like a October arrival will be a lite version of the new RMC-1 codenamed the RMC-1L.

XPA-HC1
RMC-1
RMC-1L
XMC-2

The Movie Rooms & HiFi Corner are offering you a very rare opportunity to hear the B&W Nautilus Speakers, with a full active crossover control provided by the magnificent Trinnov Magnitude.

This event will be very limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Representatives from Trinnov and B&W will be in attendance.

The perfect sound? We will let you be the judge.

The 19th of September will be strictly invitation only. There will be open sessions on Friday 20th & Saturday 21st. All listening events will be held between 10:30am - 17:00pm in our brand new reference Hi Fi demonstration room. Join us to hear two pieces of iconic, groundbreaking, audio engineering.

Email sales@themovierooms.co.uk to reserve your place.

High variable frame rate upto 120fps is coming with HDMI 2.1 at sometime in the future and while its relevance will be most prevalent for games, film directors have also been toying with it in recent years. The Hobbit was released in the cinema to mixed reviews at limited HFR screenings, but did you know you can experience HFR if you have a normal 18GBS rated 4K system?

If you buy the film "Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk" on 4K UHD BD, this is currently the only film encoded at 60fps, 4K. This will work on a normal 4K 60hz 18GPS system and will give you a taste of the effect of this ultra smooth, high resolution image. Its effect has split viewers but there is no doubt with its 4K capture, 4K DI and HFR, this film offers the best picture available on a hard copy disk so far released, by a long distance. It is also the only film to offer full 18GPS down the HDMI cable making it a perfect torture test for systems and cable infrastructure with long runs.

This will win no awards for the film itself, and buying it is somewhat akin to audiophiles who only listen to really well produced music on their high end hifi, but as a technical achievement within the current HDMI 2.0 structure it is unique so is well worthy of a mention.

YOU CAN BUY THE DISK ON AMAZON BY CLICKING THIS LINK

Sensitively done with a great cast of young actors. Im only halfway through this at the moment but it is already very good.

In 1989 a jogger was assaulted and raped in New York's Central Park, and five young people were subsequently charged with the crime. The quintet, labeled the Central Park Five, maintained its innocence and spent years fighting the convictions, hoping to be exonerated. This limited series spans a quarter of a century, from when the teens are first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, going through their exoneration in 2002 and ultimately the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014. The cast is full of Emmy nominees and winners, including Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, and Blair Underwood. Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Ava DuVernay co-wrote and directed the four episodes.

WHEN THEY SEE US TRAILER

I have a small amount of SVS T-Shirts left over from our event. So, every SVS sale at RRP from now on will get a shirt until they are gone. If you order online drop me an email to advise on size.

Read the fantastic review by Kalman Rubinson HERE

Just a small note so everyone is aware. We will be closed from Saturday 29th June until Friday 5th July for my annual leave and I will not be checking my emails over this time. I will respond to all of the emails on my return.

If your enquiry is urgent and you need to speak to someone while im away, please contact my colleague Kenny at Hi-Fi Corner and he will be able to help in my absence.

Kenny can be contacted on the following email address - sales@hificorner.co.uk or on the telephone number - 0131 5567901

Dan

This year ARCAM celebrates 25 years of launching truly great, award winning home theater products. It all started back in autumn of 1994 with the launch of the world’s first audiophile AV amplifier the XETA One. In the spring of 1995 ARCAM went into full production with the XETA One and since then they have been at the cutting edge of AV performance and currently have many thousands of clients all over the world enjoying our incredible home theater products. To celebrate this 25 year milestone they are offering 25% off their DIRAC based AVR's.

The Silver Celebration trade-in offer

1. Trade-in any home theater receiver of processor and claim £500.00 against the purchase of an AVR390

2. Trade-in any home theater receiver of processor and claim £700.00 against the purchased of an AVR550

3. Trade-in any home theater receiver or processor and claim £1,000.00 against the purchase of an AVR850

Contact us at the shop for details on the promotion.

ARCAM AVR's AT THE MOVIE ROOMS

Sony Proffesional have been in touch to advise that they have a limited offer on some of their projectors. The VPL-VW570, VPL-VW760ES, VPL-VW870ES, VPL-VW5000, & VPL-VZ1000 all come with a free 5 Year warranty until the end of August this year. After that the extended warranty will be available as an optional charged extra.

SONY PROJECTORS AT THE MOVIE ROOMS

Whilst toiling for something to watch with Mrs Movie Rooms we gave this a try and boy im glad we did. One of the best series ive watched I think.

Brit Marling plays the role of Prairie Johnson, a young woman who returns home after a 7-year disappearance. Her sudden return is not the only miraculous occurrence: everyone is shocked to learn that Prairie is no longer blind. While the FBI and her parents are anxious to discuss Prairie's disappearance, she won't talk about what happened during the time that she was missing. Zal Batmanglij, the co-creator and an executive producer of the series, is the director of every episode.

THE OA TRAILER

A Quiet Place (2018)

A great Atmos soundtrack for those with strong nerves!

In a post-apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing.

A QUIET PLACE TRAILER

There are a lot of pretenders to the throne, and many competitors recently seem to think that if they shout loud enough at customers they will believe what they say, even if they are wrong. The Trinnov is truly the most adaptable, up-gradable and future proof piece of equipment ive ever seen, and I dont use that word lightly. When its competitors are out dated, the Trinnov platform will still be pioneering the cutting edge of what is possible in home cinema.

I've not had the opportunity to try this app out yet, but it seems to be a sign of things to come this year what with the upgrade to DTS-X Pro later in the year. This new Mac OS App lets you discover all Trinnov machines currently on your network. From it you can execute basic essential functions from saving and loading presets to control volume or dim and mute. As well no more need of VNC you can now directly access the User Interface of your machine(s) to perform a new set-up or calibration.

DOWNLOAD HERE

The Movie Rooms & Hi-Fi Corner are proud to announce the Grand Opening of our Experiential Showroom.

2 Joppa Rd, Edinburgh, EH15 2EU

Evening Event: Fri 31st May 4pm - 9pm

Day Event: Sat 1st June 10:30am – 5:30pm

We will be hosting a series of talks and demonstrations over both days in our new state-of-the-art listening rooms by industry experts. These presentations will be announced and reservations will be available in the next few weeks.

I was dubious at first, but this is really a first rate movie. About as good a directorial debut as it gets, and Ga Ga is great sans the meat dress.........

A Star is Born (2018)

Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers -- and falls in love with -- struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer until Jackson coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jackson fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.

A thoughtfully put together film which is technically brilliant. Absolutely loved every minute.

First Man, the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969. A visceral, first-person account, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost—on Armstrong and on the nation—of one of the most dangerous missions in history

Brimstone (2017)

Hard work at points but a great movie with some fine acting.

We have sold some of the CI products for a couple of months and after completing two THX systems for customers we thought we would go the whole hog. We are now a fully fledged Klipsch Reference Premier dealers and range all of their products including the CI, THX & Heritage line of Hi-Fi products. We will have a selection of the AV Kit winging its way to us next week for demo, including some of the new Reference Premier models. News and reviews to follow.

KLIPSCH WEBSITE

Demonstration Suites

Things are changing at The Movie Rooms. After over 5 years in our old offices we have moved to custom built premises. We have moved out of the City Centre and out to the seaside at Joppa, in the east of the city. The new offices and demonstration rooms are custom built with acoustics in mind from the ground up. We will have a truly reference cinema in one room, and a smaller more flexible cinema for more day to day use. We will also have 3 other smaller demonstration rooms.

We are now open for visitors so if you would like to pop in and are in the area, we would love to see you.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support over the last 5 years of The Movie Rooms existence. We have come a long way in a short space of time and with this move will secure our place as one of the best equipped, least pushy & most knowledgeable places to buy your AV for a good few years to come.

First one of the new year and we hit it off in style with "It Comes At Night".

After a mysterious apocalypse leaves the world with few survivors, two families are forced to share a home in an uneasy alliance to keep the outside evil at bay -- only to learn that the true horror may come from within.

IT COMES AT NIGHT TRAILER

Trinnov Audio is pleased to announce that it will add support for the IMAX® Enhanced format to its Altitude range of high-end AV preamp/processors. IMAX Enhanced is a certification and licensing programme jointly created by IMAX and DTS that certifies high-end consumer electronics products for playback of digitally remastered 4K HDR content with enhanced DTS audio.

Since its introduction in 2015, the Altitude 32 has been acclaimed by home theatre enthusiasts and professionals worldwide.

Trinnov’s success has been in part built on its revolutionary hardware platform. Altitude processors use an Intel processor rather than third-party chipsets for audio processing, decoding, and rendering. This software-based approach enables Trinnov to be the only manufacturer that can implement new technologies directly into its products. This disruptive approach allows for unprecedented durability and upgradability; powerful advantages in a fast-changing technological ecosystem.

“Trinnov has always been fully committed to performance & durability. We recently announced the warranty of our High-End products would be extended, retroactively, to 5 years. To further fulfil this commitment, we will continue to implement the latest technologies and are extremely proud to integrate IMAX ® Enhanced, continuing the collaboration we started with DTS when implementing DTS-X”, said Arnaud Laborie, Trinnov’s co-founder, and CEO.

IMAX Enhanced will be added to the Altitude 32 and the Altitude 16 as a free software update in the second half of 2019.

And, more importantly, Trinnov will be the first to add the DTS:X Pro technology, an improvement of DTS:X that enables 32 simultaneous discrete channels rendering versus 11 simultaneous channels in the current implementation.

DTS:X is an immersive object-oriented audio format. In high-end commercial cinemas, DTS:X can utilise up to 64 uniquely-rendered channels (plus LFE) for astoundingly high spatial resolution and realism. Until now, however, the residential version of DTS:X has been limited to a total of 11.1 channels.

Typically, this meant seven “bed” channels at listener level, an LFE channel, and four upper channels above the listening area. Trinnov’s Altitude® will be the first surround processors to offer DTS:X Pro to the high-end residential market.

The Altitude 32 will support up to 32 uniquely-rendered DTS:X Pro channels. It remains the only surround processor capable of rendering more than 12-16 uniquely-rendered channels, allowing for greatly increased spatial resolution and realism.

“Trinnov has been collaborating with the DTS team since 2014, leading to a first public demo of a DTS:X 22.2 system at CES 2015 on an Altitude 32 processor. Our software-based platform consistently enables us to release new formats before other high-end home cinema processors.

In turn, our design allows us to offer the latest technologies to our customers at their earliest availability. This was the case with DTS:X, and having worked closely with DTS, we are now very satisfied to be able to introduce DTS:X Pro as their first licensee of this technology. This accomplishment is yet another example of our commitment to high spatial resolution.” - Arnaud Laborie.

By means of a simple and free software update, owners of existing Altitude processors will be able to enjoy DTS:X Pro in 2019.

From its introduction in 2015, Trinnov’s Altitude32 has been fully capable of rendering 32 discrete channels. Now, as DSP-chipset manufacturers are finally about to achieve rendering of 16 channels, Trinnov engineering has created a solution to enable even more discrete channels from the Altitude32, expanding the count to 48 discretely-rendered channels by using the Altitude’s 32 analogue outputs and its 16 AES digital outputs simultaneously.

This will allow – for the first time – users to experience the full immersive capabilities of Home Atmos, with its maximum 24.1.10 layout, plus an additional 14 channels that enable more possibilities in terms of bass management, multi-amplified speakers, and Trinnov Remapping.

However, the 16 AES digital outputs require an AES multi-channel High-End DAC that performs as well as the Altitude’s own renowned DAC. Trinnov’s solution is the new Altitude48ext. Based on the Trinnov Magnitude32, the Altitude48ext provides 16 channels of AES/EBU input and up to 32 channels of analog outputs, using the same state-of-the-art DACs used in the Altitude32. This ensures perfect coherence in the final rendering and brings the total potential channel count to 64 independently processed channels.

The 48ext (“48 extension”) is much more than just a DAC. It is a fully capable Trinnov unit with the processing power to perform tasks such as implementing and calibrating up to 4-way active crossovers, unlimited bass management, and both third-octave and FIR equalisation. Combining the 48ext with an Altitude32 that has the 48 channel option gives users access to 48 discrete channels and as many as 64 independently processed channels, pushing even further the boundaries of what is achievable in a high-end Home Theater.

TRINNOV 48 & 64 CHANNEL UPGRADE

We have now moved into our new offices. Renovations are still on-going and it looks like the new demonstration facilities will not open to visitors until the end of January 2019.

When we do open to the public, we will have 6 new demonstration areas spanning 6500 sq ft.

Should you wish to be included on the invitation list to the grand opening, drop us an email and we will add you to our notification list.

Until then business will continue as normal on the phone and via email. The clearance sale will also continue and will end officially when we re-open.​

We are now fully ensconced in the new offices and warehouse in Joppa. Unfortunately its going to be another month or so before we can accept visitors but I'm still available on the telephone and email as usual. The clearance sale continues, and will probably run right through until our official opening.

Dan

With the recent demise of Oppo’s playback devices our field was looking a little fallow for premium replacements, until recently. In the next few weeks we will see two models from Pioneer, and a further unit form Panasonic.

Over the past 3-4 years Pioneer have produced some of the best built electronics in the market bar none. Of note were last year’s BDP-LX58 and BDP-LX88 players which to be fair in the realms of Blu Ray playback and build quality had no peers. We should see the first of the new 4K units in the next two weeks and the first model through the door will be the Pioneer UDP-LX500, it will be priced at £999. In October this will also be joined by the Pioneer UDP-LX800 priced at £2,199. Details are a little scant on the higher end unit, but we will add these to the product page as soon as we have them. We are aware that one of the attractive features of the outgoing Oppo models is that they were relatively easy to make Multi Region for DVD & Multi Zone for Blu Ray. This is something we hope to address with the Pioneer players over time, again this will be added to the product pages and the news section of the website should we have success.

Around this time the new premium Panasonic DP-UB9000 will arrive priced at £899, slightly under the RRP of the Pioneer units. This promises all the usual features along with a clever tone mapping facility for HDR, this will be very useful for projector based HDR systems which have lower lumens than LCD & OLED displays. It should equate to a significant upgrade in picture quality for most if not all UHD/HDR projection systems, particularly with those early release 4K UHD disks with static HDR10 metadata.

Links to the new players are below and we are accepting Pre-Orders for the new units on a first come first served basis.

PIONEER UDP-LX500

PIONEER UDP-LX800

PANASONIC DP-UB9000

This month a bit of the old Chop, Chop!

America had Al Capone; England, the Kray brothers and Australia - proving once and for all its antipodean sense of humour - has Mark "Chopper" Read. "Chopper" is inspired by the books of Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read, arguably Australia's most infamous former criminal. "Chopper" draws on police records, court transcripts, news coverage and interviews with people who knew Chopper Read.

CHOPPER TRAILER

JVC’s new range is finally here, consisting of three D-ILA projectors adopting the newest Native 4K D-ILA resolution. The top of the range DLA-NX9 will be the world’s first 8K e-shift home theater projector, along with two Native 4K UHD models.

The DLA-N7 & DLA-N5 along with the DLA-NX9 are all planned for release from late October 2018.

The DLA-NX9 with its 8K e-shift technology together with its 100mm diameter high resolution glass lens will offer UHD e-shifted 8K images with a much higher resolution than 4K that rival reality even on the largest screens. In addition, the DLA-N7 & DLA-N5 incorporates JVC’s latest 4K D-ILA device and 65mm diameter glass lens to reproduce smooth, detailed 4K imagery significantly improving on past years performance

VIEW OUR FULL JVC RANGE HERE

If you own an Arcam, Lexicon, Audio Control or NAD unit compatible with Dirac, this one is for you.

Dirac have recently announced they are releasing a beta version of Dirac Live that is available for customers to apply to become a beta tester. Main upgrades include an advancement in Uphase control over pairs of speakers which should bring a significant audable benefit.

More information is available here.

An incredibly achievement for SVS as their legendary SB-4000 has recently been acclaimed as the best home cinema subwoofer in the world in 2018 on price vs performance.

Voted on yearly by EISA, this is a very prestigious award with the performance to back it up.

The full review is available here.

Today's Movie of the Month is 1987 classic, Raising Arizona. One of the better movies of Nicholas Cage, this comedy-crime eccentric film is maybe the Coen Brothers' least disciplined, but one of their most solely entertaining to watch movies. Certainly a charming, light hearted one to watch.

Fast-paced farce about an unlikely pair who go to extreme lengths to have a child. When an incompetent robber marries a policewoman, they discover that they are infertile. In order to appease his wife's longings for a child, the man steals one of a set of quintuplets, but mayhem ensues when the child's rich father sends a rabbit-shooting bounty hunter after the kidnapper.

RAISING ARIZONA TRAILER

It's not nearly time for Halloween, but it's never too early for a good horror.

This cinematic classic is regarded as one of the best in the genre from the 2000's, and for good reason. Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, Mary Harron's adaptation centres around Patrick Bateman, a self-absorbed hyper-capitalist obsessed with his own image and is wrapped up in his own delusional, sociopathic tendencies. Like the book, it is unclear what to make of the ending, nor do we reach any closure as to why he has these tendencies in the first place. Is it a critique of the postmodern world viewing everything (and everyone) as a commodity, or just a collection of ramblings from a disturbed individual? Either way, Christian Bale puts on an eerily convincing act.

In New York City in 1987, a handsome, young urban professional, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), lives a second life as a gruesome serial killer by night. The cast is filled by the detective (Willem Dafoe), the fiance (Reese Witherspoon), the mistress (Samantha Mathis), the coworker (Jared Leto), and the secretary (Chloë Sevigny). This is a biting, wry comedy examining the elements that make a man a monster.

Watch the trailer HERE.

Lexicon bring us two AV amplifiers and an AV processor; the RV-9, RV-6 and MC-10.

The RV-9 and RV-6 are compatible with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Dirac setup, as well as an impressive audio processor that uses the Logic7 up mixer to take full advantage of any speaker with a natural soundstage encompassing three dimensional audio playback. Both units also have streaming capabilities and come with Spotify built in.
Lexicon's MC-10 boasts similar specifications, but without the streamer capabilities, making it a great unit to include in any AV or hi-fi set up.

More information is available in this video.

One of our top picks for a cinema processor, Trinnov's Altitude 16, has received another glowing review, described as "one of the most sophisticated home cinema processors on the planet" by the Home Cinema Choice.

Read the full review HERE.

As you might have heard, Oppo Digital announced a short while back that they will be stopping production gradually and should be out of all stock by the end of the year. Following this, they will continue to provide technical support and occasional firmware updates.

Oppo's EU distribution centre is due to open shortly and we have placed further orders for the 203 & 205 Blu-Ray players. We should have a limited flow of stock until the end of the year, but of course this is subject to change due to demand.

If you'd like to get your hands on a Blu-Ray player from one of the most highly regarded brands in the industry, I'd recommend you put an order in sooner than later. We are running a first come first served waiting list as these come in to stock.

More information is available on their site.

You may have noticed we are now moving the Movie of the Week to Movie of the Month; mainly because we are so busy with sales, demonstrations and home installs.

I don't usually post movies that are so new, but this film has definitely caught my attention as a modern-day masterpiece. With incredible reviews and reception, 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (high praise indeed!) and 10 major awards under its belt including Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best LGBTQ film of the year, I couldn't resist seeing what the hype was about. Simultaneously heartwarming and heart wrenching, this coming-of-age drama set in Lombardy in the 80's is definitely one to add to the watch list this summer. Plus, it has an impressive soundtrack with the talents of Sufjan Stevens and The Psychedelic Furs...

It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME TRAILER

One of the newer additions to the brands we stock, Procella, have been added to the web shop.

These are some, if not the, best cinema speakers I have ever heard. A couple of years back, I had the honour of visiting David Crozier's cinema in London to hear them and discuss dialogue sound reproduction.
They completely blew my socks off. Since that experience, I've had a bit of an affinity with Procella, similar to the first time I ever heard Harbeth speakers on a two-channel Hi-Fi system. You can have a read about the kind of thing I experienced here.
It's with this that we're delighted to announce that we can now supply these cinema speakers. If your interest has been peaked, feel free to get in touch to discuss them.

We have added a page dedicated to all of the products that we sell which have THX certified status. While its merits are hotly debated, it gives customers a clear identifier of the quality and suitability of specific products for cinema applications.

Using industry standards and a proprietary testing methodology, THX engineers evaluate and certify the audio and visual fidelity of consumer electronics to ensure they deliver the optimal entertainment experience.

Ultra2
THX's Ultra2 certification is given for home theater components said to be good enough for a large home cinema of 3,000 cubic feet (85 m3) or more

Select2
THX's Select2 certification is given for home theater components said to be good enough for medium-sized rooms, up to 2,000 cubic feet (57 m3) in size, with a 10–12 feet (3.0–3.7 m) viewing distance from the screen.

for more details visit - www.thx.com

Onkyo have released the TX-NR686; the newest Onkyo 7.2 channel THX-certified receiver that is rife with glowing reviews so far.
This model is provides the chance to enjoy multi-room and high quality resolution music playback, not to mention support for DTS:X, HDR, 4K and Dolby Atmos.

It is incredibly straightforward to control through the dedicated Controller app with multiroom capability available on smart devices, compatible with all major streaming services such as Tidal and Deezer as well as AirPlay, ChromeCast and Bluetooth. It supports all major file formats including DSD, FLAC and WAV file formats for audiophilic set-ups for 192 kHz/24 bit playback via its high-current drive and high power capacities. With six rear HDCP HDMI inputs, a front HDMI input, a sub out, main out and a built in phonostage and DAC, this receiver seems to do it all and is certainly one to keep an eye out for.

As we are now over “crazy season” I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a news roundup of a few things that have happened over the last few months.

AV Amplifiers and Processors.

We have now added Datasat and Storm to our listings on the website. Datasat have advised that there will be some new products in the pipeline which will be very exciting. We have had the new Storm I.ISP 3D.16.12 Integrated amplifier on demonstration for the past few months and we have been really bowled over by it. With DIRAC on board it really is the top of the tree as far as integrated amplifiers go without question.

Denon have also launched their new AVC-X8500H integrated amplifier which has been extraordinarily popular with old owners of the Denon AVR-X7200WA. Redesigned from the ground up with several features internally which make the unit a unique proposition for those who require high end sound with huge channel counts. The addition of the new Audyssey app gives previously unheralded control of the EQ system which was long overdue.  

Marantz being a close stable mate of the Denon have also launched a processor to replace the old AV8802a aptly named the Marantz AV8805. This also includes the ability control the EQ via the Audyssey app. I’ve always been a fan of the Marantz units core sound quality and ran a Marantz integrated for most of last year in my own set-up to great effect.

The all new Emotiva RMC-1 Processor will be with us next month and we should be one of the first to receive one of these units for demonstration. Sonically, the RMC-1 features a full 16 channels of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound (7.3.6 channels), with a decoded audio signal for each channel that is processed by a separate high performance AKM Verita 32-bit DAC, operated in precision balanced mono mode. Support is provided for native audio decoding of single and double rate DSD digital audio signals, accepted from either HDMI or USB sources. Auro 3D will also be supported albeit with an optional license. Analog audio signals are routed by precision circuitry that rivals the most expensive audiophile preamps. The analog signal path features premium audiophile-quality components at all critical locations to ensure the integrity of audio signal is preserved. The RMC-1’s Reference Stereo mode helps to create a two-channel listening experience that is unparalleled at the price point. Dirac Live automatic room correction, running on all 16 channels at a full 192 kHz sample rate, establishes the perfect synergy between the RMC-1, the listening room, and the rest of the system. For those who prefer a more interactive user experience, the RMC-1 includes comprehensive 11-band parametric equalization on every channel, in addition to compatibility with the popular Room EQ Wizard room correction and analysis software. To say we are excited to see this would be the biggest understatement of the year.

We still have no news on the new Anthem products which we expect at some point this year, again as soon as we hear anything we will update the news site.

All of the above-mentioned units are available for home demonstration now, apart from the Emotiva RMC-1 which should be available in late May.

UHD Blu Ray

The biggest shock of recent months was that Oppo will be removing themselves from the physical media market and discontinuing their UHD BD players, Headphones and DAC’s. There have been a few rumors with regards exactly how quickly these units will disappear from the market. Our understanding is that Oppo UK will close, and then an EU distribution center will open in the coming months with stock becoming available again until around late 2018. Oppo have confirmed they will outsource servicing and software updates on these units to not leave customers in the lurch.

The hole in premium high end UHD players will likely be filled by Pioneer who have two new units slated for release later in the year in the similar price bracket as the outgoing Oppo’s. As the Pioneer BD units were arguably better than the Oppo’s in our view, we await more details with bated breath and will update the news page as we get some more details.

Because of this unexpected news we have moved on our demo Oppo 205 which has been residence in the demonstration room since its launch and replaced it with the Sony UBP-X1000es which has a fantastic premium build quality and specification to match.

OLED TV

We expect the imminent arrival of the new Panasonic OLED TV’s;

65" Premium OLED - TX-65FZ952 - £3999

55" Premium OLED - TX-55FZ952 - £2499

65" Entry level OLED - TX-65FZ802 - £3499

55" Entry level OLED - TX-55FZ802 - £2299.

I’ve ordered myself a TX-55FZ802 for the living room so will be writing a detailed review as soon as I can get it on the wall. Given Panasonic’s recent pedigree with OLED, expect a lot. The new Studio Colour HCX² 4K processor represents the pinnacle of Panasonic’s image processing expertise. Built on colour, black level and brightness know-how learned from their reference-quality plasma TVs and professional broadcast equipment, the system has also been tuned by a Hollywood colorist to deliver picture quality true to the filmmakers' vision. They really are the most accurate TV’s out of the box we have ever seen, to emphasize this all this year’s sets carry THX approval and certification.

Speakers

I’m usually drowning in speakers at the shop and this year is no different. We have tied up with ATC to offer their fantastic products to our customers and have already supplied some of their speakers with great effect in two recent jobs.

KEF has an all new range of Q series speakers which are on permanent demonstration in our smaller room at the office. Also, on permanent demonstration are the Goldenear Supersat speakers and Supersub subwoofers. We still haven’t found a small speaker to best these for performance, mainly due to their deployment of a ribbon tweeter which has little roll off up to 20khz in a couple of our rooms which is astonishing for such small speakers.

We will have some further additions to our installation range of speakers in the coming weeks but as the ink isn’t dry on that deal I’m afraid I can’t reveal any details. As soon as I can, it will be on the news page.

Today for Movie Of The Week is 2006 comedy-drama "Little Miss Sunshine". Showcasing some of Steve Carrell and Greg Kinnear's best performances, this charming - sometimes crude - family-drama was one that really resonated with me, showing family dynamics at their worst and best.

The Hoover family -- a man (Greg Kinnear), his wife (Toni Collette), an uncle (Steve Carell), a brother (Paul Dano) and a grandfather (Alan Arkin) -- puts the fun back in dysfunctional by piling into a VW bus and heading to California to support a daughter (Abigail Breslin) in her bid to win the Little Miss Sunshine Contest. The sanity of everyone involved is stretched to the limit as the group's quirks cause epic problems as they travel along their interstate route.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE TRAILER

Today's Movie of the Week is 2011 espionage hit, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" starring Gary Oldman. Missing the high speed car chases, huge explosions and gory confrontations, this film brings action to the spy genre in a much more subtle way.

In 1970s England the head of MI6, Control (John Hurt), dispatches an agent (Mark Strong) to meet with a Hungarian general who knows the identity of a Soviet spy in the organization's ranks. However, the mission goes wrong, and the general dies before he can reveal the information. Undersecretary Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney) calls veteran agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) back from forced retirement to ferret out the mole and stop the flow of vital British secrets to the Russians.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY TRAILER

Today's Movie of the Week is the brilliant "Sid and Nancy" 1986 cult biopic following the fatally dysfunctional relationship of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. One of Gary Oldman's first hits, his performance as Sid is a must-see for any Pistols fans.

Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) takes his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), along for the ride. Along the way, the couple's turbulent relationship strains the patience of bandmate Johnny Rotten (Andrew Schofield) and manager Malcolm McLaren (David Hayman), while plunging Sid and Nancy into the depths of drug addiction and co-dependency.

SID AND NANCY TRAILER

Movie of the Week today is Geoff Murphy's "The Quiet Earth", a New Zealander's take on the 'last human on Earth' narrative. While considered a sci-fi movie, it does anything but overload you with special effects - it is more of a character driven insight into the human condition.

When everyone around him vanishes overnight, scientist Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) finds himself seemingly the only person on the planet. The isolation initially drives him to the brink of suicide, but eventually Zac adapts to a day-to-day routine. After meeting two other survivors, Joanne (Alison Routledge) and Api (Pete Smith), a Maori, the trio roams New Zealand trying to understand what caused everyone else to disappear, why they remained behind -- and whether disaster will strike again.

THE QUIET EARTH TRAILER

The Movie of the Week is 1986 crime drama, "River's Edge". Keanu Reeves' debut film that brought him to light. This is a good choice for a rainy night but be prepared to feel unsettled at the end.

Teenage burnout Samson (Daniel Roebuck) has murdered his girlfriend and left her naked body lying on the bank of a river just outside their small California town. He not only doesn't run away, he brings his friends to gawk at her dead body. Speed freak Layne (Crispin Glover) tries to force the teens' silence to protect their friend, but conscience is gnawing at the others -- particularly Matt (Keanu Reeves) and Clarissa (Ione Skye Leitch), who want to go to the police.

RIVER'S EDGE TRAILER

The Movie Of The Week is 'Gregory's Girl', a classic Scottish coming-of-age movie that I've recently come to appreciate, after watching begrudgingly on repeat as a child in school. It's been a while since I've seen any Scottish films featured in the limelight.

Gregory Underwood (Gordon John Sinclair) is a graceless teen soccer player on a hapless team. When a girl named Dorothy (Dee Hepburn) shows up to play, things change quickly; Dorothy becomes a top player, while Gregory and the rest of the team become enamored of her. Gregory works up the courage to invite Dorothy on a date. She accepts, but Gregory finds he's been deceived into taking out another girl. Despite his confusion, Gregory eventually warms to the situation.

GREGORY'S GIRL TRAILER

An epic selection for the Movie of the Week this time,  Scorsese's 1995 crime drama 'Casino' with big screen legends Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone. Violent, tragic, drug-riddled and... well, see for yourself.

In early-1970s Las Vegas, low-level mobster Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but over the years, problems with his loose-cannon enforcer Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), his ex-hustler wife Ginger (Sharon Stone), her con-artist ex Lester Diamond (James Woods) and a handful of corrupt politicians put Sam in ever-increasing danger. Martin Scorsese directs this adaptation of Nicholas Pileggi's book.

CASINO TRAILER

KEF have launched the newest addition to their premium REFERENCE range, the Ci5160REF-THX in-wall speaker. Featuring a 25mm vented aluminium dome tweeter, at the exact acoustic centre of a 125mm mid-range driver, and a 160mm bass driver with a huge vented magnet assembly, this is the in-wall speaker you should get your hands on. 

KEF Ci5160REF-THX

The latest Movie of the Week is Federico Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita' from 1960. This film details the seven deadly sins, takes place on the seven hills of Rome, and spans seven days. It was also a mass box-office hit, and was condemned by the Pope of the time. Definitely worth looking into.

In Federico Fellini's lauded Italian film, restless reporter Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) drifts through life in Rome. While Marcello contends with the overdose taken by his girlfriend, Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), he also pursues heiress Maddalena (Anouk Aimée) and movie star Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), embracing a carefree approach to living. Despite his hedonistic attitude, Marcello does have moments of quiet reflection, resulting in an intriguing cinematic character study.

LA DOLCE VITA TRAILER

We are back open today, it looks like the worst of the snow has passed so we will just be catching up after the chaos of the past few days. Thanks for everyone's patience who are waiting for deliveries.

We apologise if you are currently waiting for a delivery, we have a Red weather warning in our area for Wednesday, Thursday & Friday of this week, and most delivery services have been suspended.

A good time to stay at home and watch a movie I guess!

Regards

Dan

Our Movie of the Week this weekend is one of Mel Brooks' finest, "The Producers" from 1967. This get-rich-quick buddy comedy has been remade recently, but the original casting should not be lost in time. With a timid Gene Wilder and a borderline-grotesque Zero Mostel, the newer version cannot hold a candle.

Down and out producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel), who was once the toast of Broadway, trades sexual favors with old ladies for cash contributions. Max's new accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder), offhandedly muses that if Max found investors for a new production that turned into a flop, he could legally keep all the extra money. The duo begins to put together the worst play possible, titled "Springtime for Hitler", with a terrible director and a hippie-freak star.

THE PRODUCERS TRAILER

This week is a modern dystopian classic; "The Maze Runner" adapted from a 2009 novel of the same name. With a sequel already under its belt, the franchise has another installment "The Death Cure" in cinemas now. Revisiting the original movie, this Lord of the Flies-esque action film draws you in with the cryptic world building elements and leaves you hanging with many questions unanswered.

Thomas (Dylan O'Brien), a teenager, arrives in a glade at the center of a giant labyrinth. Like the other youths dumped there before him, he has no memory of his previous life. Thomas quickly becomes part of the group and soon after demonstrates a unique perspective that scores him a promotion to Runner status -- those who patrol the always-changing maze to find an escape route. Together with Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), the only female, Thomas tries to convince his cohorts that he knows a way out.

THE MAZE RUNNER TRAILER

We have just opened an account to be able to supply products from Power Inspired. I traded one of these units in recently and was intrigued by it and what effect it would have on my system at home, so I thought i'd try it.

I guess the fact we have opened an account with them gives you an idea what I thought. The difference was absolutely staggering. So much so I bought one for my own system at home. It seemed to make a huge difference to the soundstage and clarity of the system and really has to be heard to be believed.

There are a lot of "snake oil" comments about products such as this so im going to do the "Pepsi challenge" with these units, if anyone has any doubts, im happy to loan it out. Im confident it will improve most, if not all systems.

POWER INSPIRED AT THE MOVIE ROOMS

A bit late this week as Kenny (who usually does TMOTW for me) is on holiday. This week is Blade Runner 2049. This is a fantastic film, I do feel some people have gone a bit overboard with it's praise, but it rightfully sits alongside its sibling as a towering achievement visually.

Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a new blade runner for the Los Angeles Police Department, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. His discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former blade runner who's been missing for 30 years.

The Movie of the Week this time around is the chic teen drama "Clueless", starring Alicia Silverstone. Adapted from a Jane Austen classic "Emma", this sharply satirical representation of late-nineteenth-century teenage romance was, and continues to be, a staple in any teenager's coming of age. Yes, the movie is aimed at teenagers, but like all good comedies, it will appeal to anyone who has a sense of humor and an ear for the ironic.

Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other. Emboldened by her success, she decides to give hopelessly klutzy new student Tai (Brittany Murphy) a makeover. When Tai becomes more popular than she is, Cher realizes that her disapproving ex-stepbrother (Paul Rudd) was right about how misguided she was -- and falls for him.

CLUELESS TRAILER

This time around, the Movie of the Week is Tommy Wiseau's "The Room". This bizarre, genre-confused film is regarded by many as 'the worst movie ever made', yet people love it. This film has developed a huge cult following over the past 15 years, so much so that a documentary has recently been made ("The Disaster Artist") by James Franco about the movie and the artist behind it. It has no redeeming value whatsoever - and that's exactly what is so charming and hypnotic about it.

Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) is a San Franciscan man who seems to have it all: a high-paying job as a banker, a bunch of friends--one of them being Mark (Greg Sestero), to whom he's the closest--and a beautiful fiancee named Lisa (Juliette Danielle), whom he's been engaged to for seven years. From the outset, Johnny's got everything going for him...that is, until he faces the worst form of betrayal ever, and from then on everything begins to crumble.

THE ROOM TRAILER

This week's 'Movie Of The Week' is Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'. This pizza-parlour brawler is a clear metaphor for American class struggles and race relations in the 80's that are still very relevant today. Definitely worth a watch.

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

DO THE RIGHT THING TRAILER

Only ten sleeps to go! This week's Movie of the Week is the legendary "Die Hard", arguably the best Christmas movie ever. Although fiercely debated whether it is actually a Christmas movie or not, we're classifying it as one because there is no criteria or committee that determines who gets on the list or not. 

New York City policeman John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and two daughters on Christmas Eve. He joins her at a holiday party in the headquarters of the Japanese-owned business she works for. But the festivities are interrupted by a group of terrorists who take over the exclusive high-rise, and everyone in it. Very soon McClane realizes that there's no one to save the hostages -- but him.

DIE HARD TRAILER

The Movie of the Week this time around is "Blackfish", a low-budget documentary that forced SeaWorld to clean up its act. Highlighting the injustice of these mammals in captivity, this film rocked the world's perception of dolphin and orca shows and sparked huge controversy.

The story of Tilikum, a captive killer whale that has taken the lives of several people, underscores problems within the sea-park industry, man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals.

BLACKFISH TRAILER

Local clothing shop Pieute are running a charity raffle to provide some clothing for a clothes bank. We have donated some KEF M400 headphones as a prize and a plethora of other local businesses are doing the same. It's for a great cause so get involved and buy some raffle tickets direct from their shop if you are in town. 19 Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh EH1 2QG

PIEUTE CHARITY RAFFLE INFORMATION

Today's Movie of the Week is Diablo Cody's 2007 masterpiece, "Juno". Ellen Page's portrayal as Juno was voted on Empire's list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, and for good reason.  It's a beautifully humanising view of teenage mothers, and seeing this as a young person was incredibly valuable.

When precocious teen Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) becomes pregnant, she chooses a failed rock star and his wife (Jennifer Garner) to adopt her unborn child. Complications occur when Mark, the prospective father, begins viewing Juno as more than just the mother of his future child, putting both his marriage and the adoption in jeopardy.

JUNO TRAILER

Taking a break from the more serious movies previously featured, The Movie Of The Week this time around is "Hot Fuzz", directed by Edgar Wright in 2007. Wright is one of my personal favourite directors, with his detailed cinematography and humorous spin on just about everything he creates. Out of his best known 'Cornetto Trilogy' with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the buddy-cop Hot Fuzz is certainly my top pick.

As a former London constable, Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf (Nick Frost) for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Nick smells something rotten in the idyllic village.

HOT FUZZ TRAILER

Typically, over the last few years Velodyne has been my go-to subwoofer brand and I’ve run them at home in various guises from the EQ Max all the way up to the DD10+. The latter residing in my system until my 2-year-old decided she liked to smash her plastic tiger off it, rapidly.

Unfortunately, the DD10+ had to go and as an interim measure (while she still won’t do as she is told) I thought it would be a good time to buy something a lot cheaper so that if she did destroy it, I wouldn’t lose thousands of pounds in the process. The SVS PB-1000 seemed perfect, so home it came with me. Now bearing in mind you can buy almost 7 of these for the retail price of the Velodyne I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope to be honest, but, needs must.

The SVS PB-1000 has a touch of the Model T about it, you can have it in any colour you like, as long as it is black oak vinyl. The finish is reasonable give the cost of the unit. My only gripe is that you can see the join in the veneer on the base of the cabinet. Given the fact you obviously can’t see this in its operational position, this is minor but should be mentioned.

On the back of the unit you get all of the usual suspects in terms of connections. It contains a 10” drive unit with FEA-optimised motor for low distortion, high-power voice coil, long-throw suspension for high output at deep frequencies and a lightweight cone for enhanced sensitivity and transient response. The amplifier is a Sledge STA-300D with 300 watts RMS continuous power (720 watts peak dynamic power). It is an efficient and cool-running Class D type. All this sounds very basic as you would expect from a £519 subwoofer, but the real magic seems to lie in the inclusion of the front-firing 3.5" high-flow port with inner/outer port flares. Ported subwoofers being somewhat of a rarity at this price point. This allows the subwoofer to plumb the depths down to 19hz, on paper. Usually these figures are to be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt, but the units measured response in my room got down to 20hz without too much bother at all.

Testing the subwoofer with the opening of Casino Royale, it performed admirably and while it has none of the speed and attack I’m used to, it is very entertaining and very cinematic.

Running the bass tones at the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow and also the “drop” scene tells me the performance is no fluke either.

Essentially, this subwoofer is much better than the sum of its parts. On paper it looks like a reasonably average woofer, what seems to lift it is the engineering behind the numbers, everything working in harmony to produce an astonishing kick for the money as well as subtilty when it needs to.

There has been a plethora of branded subwoofers launched in the last few years to try and chase SVS’s performance at their price points and none have really come close across the board. While the SVS PB1000 footprint is rather large, if you can fit it in and have a limited budget to spend, you won’t find any better anywhere on the market. Run two together, and I think you would be in seventh heaven.

The SVS PB1000 is now available for demonstration in store or at your home, contact us at the shop for details.

Review by Dan Bland

The Movie Of The Week this time is 1982's "Tootsie", showing off Dustin Hoffman's diversity in his roles.  This film will make you laugh, that's for sure, but it'll also make you rethink about the things that really make you happy in your life, something too few of us think about...almost never.

New York actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is a talented perfectionist who is so hard on himself and others that his agent (Sydney Pollack) can no longer find work for him. After a soap opera audition goes poorly, Michael reinvents himself as actress Dorothy Michaels and wins the part. What was supposed to be a short-lived role turns into a long-term contract, but when Michael falls for his castmate Julie (Jessica Lange), complications develop that could wreck everything.

TOOTSIE TRAILER

RRP is £3147

£2359 Including Delivery​ & 5 Year Warranty - Contact the shop for details.

VIVITEK PRE-ORDER

Their founder was an audiophile legend and classic bootstrap success story. With decades of wins in the speaker business—and renewed ambition to realise his potential as a California movie producer—1990 was the year he decided the home cinema experience demanded a high-end speaker that captured the million dollar sound he sought with relentless fervour… an unmatched sound engineered to revolutionise the entire audio landscape.

A full range of product will be added to our site shortly, if you have any specific questions about their range drop us an email or give us a call.

DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY WEBSITE

This week's Movie Of The Week has to be the thrilling, agonising, and strangely romantic "The Third Man", released in 1949 by British director Carol Reed.

Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, "The Third Man" stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to find him dead. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Maj. Calloway (Trevor Howard) and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna (Alida Valli).

 THE THIRD MAN - TRAILER

As it moves into October and Halloween draws near, it seems natural that the Movie of the Week be one with a slight macabre tone. This week, it is "Heavenly Creatures" by New Zealand director Peter Jackson.

Wealthy and precocious teenager Juliet (Kate Winslet) transfers from England to Christchurch, New Zealand, with her family, and forms a bond with the quiet, brooding Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) through their shared love of handsome big screen tenor Mario Lanza and games of make believe. But when their parents begin to suspect that their increasingly intense friendship is becoming unhealthy, the girls decide to run away to America, hatching a dark plan for those who threaten to keep them apart.

HEAVENLY CREATURES - TRAILER

It seems only fitting to mark the passing of Harry Dean Stanton with one of his films for Movie of the Week. This week "Paris, Texas"

A dishevelled man who wanders out of the desert, Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) seems to have no idea who he is. When a stranger manages to contact his brother, Walt (Dean Stockwell), Travis is awkwardly reunited with his sibling. Travis has been missing for years, and his presence unsettles Walt and his family, which also includes Travis's own son, Hunter (Hunter Carson). Soon Travis must confront his wife, Jane (Nastassja Kinski), and try to put his life back together.

PARIS, TEXAS TRAILER

After a number of months of negotiation I can finally announce that we are now full dealers for ATC loudspeakers.

ATC, Acoustic Transducer Company, is a specialist British manufacturer of loudspeaker drive units and complete sound reproduction systems, including the relevant electronic equipment. ATC designs and manufactures loudspeaker drive units and systems to achieve levels of performance far in excess of the industry norm. This is achieved by adopting a thoroughly professional engineering approach to the issue of basic design, materials science and production technology.

We are very excited to be on board with ATC, and will have a range of products to demonstrate imminently.​

ATC WEBSITE

BUY DENON AVR-X6400H

The old Blade Runner has been released on 4K UHD BD, and what a magnificent job they have done on it. I managed to watch it in full yesterday and it is positively sparkling. This is what the new format is all about for me, old classics given a new lease of life.

BUY BLADE RUNNER UHD

MARANTZ SR7012 - Pre Order

MARANTZ SR8012 - Pre Order

MARANTZ AV7704 - Pre Order

Our movie of the week has been somewhat neglected of late. This week "Arrival". I re-watched this on Wednesday and I have to say I love it. Not your usual sci-fi fare, and I do believe that Denis Villeneuve is the best director working today.

Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.

Arrival Trailer

It has been some time since I’ve even entertained an Onkyo in the shop, over the past few years they seemed to have lost their way a little and until recently I had removed all semblance of products from our website. The recent partnership and takeover of Pioneer AV seems to have them back on track with decent UK support using the Pioneer infrastructure in the UK which was already very solid, so given their track record in the past of producing fantastic ground breaking AVR’s it seemed only sensible to re-visit the brand again after a couple of years to see what had changed, if anything.

Onkyo sent us an TX-RZ820 for demo with no commitment from us, if it didn’t measure up it would go back. The TX-NR820 is currently the flagship unit of the new models with the higher end unit’s due for replacement at some point next year, so this will eventually sit somewhere in the middle of their range I believe when it all comes out in the wash. It is a 7.2 amplifier featuring Dolby Vision, HLG & HDR10, BT2020 & full 4K passthrough. The unit has no video processor on board to manipulate or alter the incoming/outgoing image. It is also THX Select 2 certified amplifier and has a plethora of streaming options built in (more than you could wish for).

For its part, the Onkyo is a very simple unit to get up and running, it shares the same on-screen menu system as the new Pioneer amplifiers which is a huge improvement over the old dot matrix style they used to use. I made a similar comment about the Pioneer SC-LX901 amplifier I reviewed some months ago and it truly does bring them into the 4K age looks wise, well overdue. It makes set-up of the amplifier very simple. Internally set-up options are kept to a minimum, and the concise layout make it clear what you are changing and what effect it will have. The omission of a video scaler makes set-up even easier, it being straight pass through with no changes.

One of the major omissions this time round is the lack of the Audyssey XT32 EQ system which was so prevalent on Onkyo amplifiers of the past, instead it features Onkyo’s own AccuEQ automated set-up system. I remember a lot being written at the time that this would be a very bad move for Onkyo and that their auto setup system couldn’t be a match for the Audyssey. While Audyssey is good if you know how to get the best from it, it does have a lot or quirks which can, if set-up wrongly, give a poor sound. So at the time I took this omission and these comments with a large pinch of salt. So, In reality, this was my first experience with AccuEQ and overall I have to say it was a very positive one. Very simple to use and to be honest a pretty accurate result after the automatic stage, distances were slightly off as were channel levels but after checking with a laser measure and an SPL meter, the sound was bang on. I have experienced this with every other Japanese AVR with exception of the Pioneer which adjusted everything pretty much perfectly. Once manually adjusted for a “hot seat” after the auto set-up, the sound was excellent, very good integration of the surround speakers, excellent bass management and integration of the subwoofer and the overall timing of the system was superb, very entertaining. The most positive thing I found was that it didn’t really sound like anything else I have heard for a while. The best way I can describe it is that it had a somewhat dry midrange to it, but not in a negative way at all. I actually kept the Onkyo at home for some time and I think if they had a model with the same specification that could do four height speakers I might seriously consider one for the house on sound quality alone.

While very good the Onkyo isn’t perfect. I could find no way to change the amplifiers display to tell me what surround mode I was listening to, all it would display was the input. I had to keep checking the onscreen menu for confirmation in the initial set-up stages. I found that the display on the front was almost the same as the one they were using 10 years ago, a strange kind of green colour which personally I feel needs updating, although I’m sure there are fans of it out there. The remote is extraordinarily basic and cheap feeling, which is not the best in the world. Finally, there was no in-depth manual in the box, all you are given is a basic set-up manual which seems to be becoming a trend with manufacturers these days. To give the Onkyo TX-RZ820 it its due though, these issues take nothing away from the sound of the unit, and some may call these issues minor.

Overall it was a pleasure to have it in the house for the two or three weeks it was there and I think I would have no problem recommending it to a customer who required a 5.2.2 or a 7.2 set-up in their home. The Onkyo TX-NR820 is now available for home demonstration or in our cinema in central Edinburgh.

It has taken me a bit longer than expected to get around to review this, but that delay has given me time to set up a couple at customers houses in different sized rooms, test one on the hi-fi in the office as well as set up dual units in our demonstration cinema.

The first thing that strikes you about the unit is the size of the box, roughly 13” in each direction give or take a little. Physics somewhat dictate that it is usually very difficult to get any kind of impact from a subwoofer this small, this unit seems to be the exception to the rule though. Packing a monstrous 1400-watt digital amplifier inside, two 8˝ long-throw high-output bass and drivers, two 10.5˝ x 9.5˝ quadratic planar infrasonic radiators, leave little space for the actual cabinet. This structure features very little in the actual makeup of the woofer itself in terms of its actual surface area, but what is does have is a lovely angled glossy modern design, rather unlike anything else on the market today. It is most definitely not just another black box.

Instinct would say that what cabinet structure this unit has, the speakers would probably be fighting their way to jump out of it given the amount of technology and power packed in there, surprisingly the unit is almost totally inert. This stems from its design, something which has clearly had a lot of thought. The concept of this arrangement of drivers and radiators is not something new to Goldenear, a similar array adorns the Forcefield subwoofers which have been around for some time now, and somewhat slipped under the radar in recent years. Being brutal, while these Forcefield subwoofers sound fantastic, they do somewhat scream “subwoofer” at you and are to be polite somewhat aesthetically challenged. The Supersub does not suffer from this, and would feel at home in the most modern of surroundings.

The culmination of this design gives you phenomenal power from a very discreet box, the closest comparison sound and size wise would be the Paradigm Seismic 110, which itself is somewhat aesthetically challenged looking more like a cannon rather than a subwoofer. The Supersub’s performance from a box this size is nothing short of astonishing, put on the opening scene form Quantum of Solace and you can feel the tight bass in the seat of your pants, even in larger rooms. Given its power it is also happy running all the way up to 120-150hz in a controlled punchy manner.

One thing which is slightly unique is that the unit doesn’t have a phase control, all you have is volume and crossover, the latter can be bypassed with an LFE switch on the back. It also has stereo inputs for use with stereo setups, something I’ve not seen on a subwoofer for some time. I did ask why there was an absence of the phase control and the answer was somewhat surprising, as the subwoofer should be somewhat phase inert given its driver and radiator configuration. Something somewhat borne out by my tests. The unit is extremely flexible with its positioning when using a single unit, bass was reasonably consistent at the seating position in most of the rooms I tested, something of a godsend for most people who can get inconsistent bass from forced positioning. Using two in a small room, I did encounter some issues and the lack of control of phase did cause me some positioning issues but nothing that couldn’t be overcome by rotating the subwoofer itself on its original position. In larger rooms, phasing issues seemed less apparent although you might be able to argue that given its design you could move to the larger model the Supersub XL rather than duals if the response form the original position is good. There isn’t one single answer in truth, the room dictates the bass response as well as the subwoofers position in it, but I did find this sub to fill the room with bass from a single point better than any other I had tested considering its size.

Given its design if there is a negative, possibly the music performance lacked a little “edge” but I would have to be fussy to criticise it in that department given its performance in other areas. This is no Velodyne DD18+, but I think if you are looking for a small, good looking, powerful subwoofer which is flexible with its position, this one is tough to beat.

GOLDENEAR SUBWOOFERS

Its almost that time of year where we start to review the new AV receivers again. It looks like this will be slightly different this year with both Onkyo and Pioneer running a two year life cycle on their top end units. Im going to review the Onkyo TX-RZ820 shortly as soon as I can get it home. The new Yamaha RX-V3070 should be here first as usual, followed by the Marantz SR7012. Anthem are being very tight lipped, although their AVR's are due for an upgrade at the end of the year going by past cycles. Denon as yet are also not dishing any dirt on the replacement for the very popular AVR-X7200WA. If I hear anything, ill post it up.

YAMAHA RX-V3070 - MARANTZ SR7012 - ONKYO TX-RZ820

We can now supply products from HD Fury. In basic terms, if you have a HDMI connection problem, chances are these products will be able to fix it. Drop us an email if you are having issues and we can see if we can help out.

HD FURY RANGE

We have been tasked by PIEGA to help clear out some models which are about to be or have been discontinued. There are limited numbers of these available. All of them are currently listed in our special offers section of the website, link below. 

THE MOVIE ROOMS SPECIAL OFFERS

It’s been a while since we had a general news roundup, so here we go!

Subwoofers - Velodyne

I’ve recently completed an in-depth course of calibration training with Velodyne, mainly covering their DD+ range of subwoofers. While these have been on the market for some time, they still offer the pinnacle of performance and room EQ technology of any subwoofers on the market today, and trust me I’ve heard and sold them all. What makes them unique is a couple of things. Firstly, the RTA (Real Time Room Analyser) giving you an invaluable tool to find the best position for your woofer/s in any room. The unique way the set-up test tone sweeps through the entire system, not just the subwoofer means you can not only analyse the subwoofers performance, but also the crossover accuracy of the main and surround speakers as well as well as their integration. This also lets you set up multiple subwwoofers perfectly, as the test tone sweeps these at the same time taking them into account during each step of the calibration. For those tricky rooms including the stacking of multiple subwoofers to gain bass height or extra delivery in a sweet spot, the Velodyne also includes a manual 8 band Parametric EQ which works at the same time as the RTA, giving you instant feedback for a manual tune up. Notwithstanding the performance of the subwoofers (which nothing can touch) these features alone take the guesswork out of bass, and particularly the set-up of multiple units. We have permanent dual DD10+ subwoofers set up in our small demo room if you wanted to experience – perfect bass, if ever there were such a thing?

Room EQ – Trinnov Optimiser 2.0

I recently had the pleasure of testing a Trinnov ST-2 Hi-Fi at home on my hi-fi system. The main components of my hi-fi at home are; Audio Research SP9 Tube Pre-amplifier, Arcam Alpha 10P Power Amplifier and Harbeth Monitor 30.1 speakers. I’ve been happy with the sound of my hi-fi, and the inclusion of the Trinnov into the system was partly to compliment my ongoing research into room EQ and its effects on various systems (good and bad). What it gave me more than anything was a visual insight in the form of graphs into the acoustic problems within this room and area, and how best to tackle them. It flat out improved my sound in this room, that is without question, significantly so. This shouldn’t be a surprise as it is the same technology in use in their cinema processor the infamous, Altitude. Most impressive was its ability to still let the system breathe and not remove its natural sound which is very accurate and warm anyway, probably more important to listeners in hi-fi systems than in a cinematic scenario.

Projectors – Optoma & Sony

Optoma have released some 4K UHD capable DLP projectors, the UHD-60 is available now for £2498, its larger sibling the UHD-65 will be available later in the year and will sport a better contrast ratio. While not a native 4K chip, our experiences with “faux 4K” on projectors have overall been positive, most outperforming the native 4K Sony’s these days on both specification and performance so we look forward to seeing it in action. Speaking of Sony, they will launch a replacement for the VPL-VW320es next month. After a couple of years of small upgrades, we are hoping for something significant. Time will tell.

TV – LOEWE & Panasonic OLED

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve had more flat screen TV’s than I care to mention, something like 13 in 12 years. With the advent of OLED technology and the price of these screens tumbling it was finally time to move to the more innovative technology of OLED at home. Traditional LED TV’s have been developed now to the point that they are actually very good, the recent Panasonic 902 being a notable highlight. Unfortunately, the technology was never designed to hold a moving image, let alone be a TV set. The re-purposing of this technology (mostly it seems based on low energy consumption and cheap build costs) has some legacy effects in terms of being able to light the LED TV panel evenly, and marks in the image known as DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) on motion with a consistent colored background (skiing and football being the worst culprits) plagued LED sets and seemed to be part of the manufacturing process. In recent years efforts have been made to use dimmable zones to control the light on LED sets which in most manufacturers screens have produced more consistent, blacker images, but when you are already starting from poor, these improvements put in context seems less impressive. Dimmable zones produced another problem of haloing, where light and dark scenes are adjacent on the screen the screen lights the whole “zone” creating a light halo, again not great. Plasma screens were the answer for some considerable period, providing great consistency, but as the resolutions got higher so did the energy consumption and at the dawn of the age of 4K, plasma was extinct. OLED was somewhat a whisper of a promise for many years, Sony produced the very first OLED screen which you could go into a shop and buy, but only LG committed to it and bet that it would be the display technology of the future. Years of high panel failure rates off the production line along with a major accident killing staff on the OLED production line failed to dampen their commitment to the point now where LG are the only producer of OLED panel technology for TV sets in the world. Reliability has soared and prices have come down, effectively leaving us with a massive leap in picture quality from both LED and Plasma, truly the display technology of the next age. Some discussion still rages about the perceived limit of the brightness of OLED compared to LED sets, which in the most part is true. In my view, it depends on the purposing of the monitor and in the real world, side by side there is no doubt in my mind that OLED is a considerable leap forward in consistency and quality. While we can sell all the current OLED sets including LG and Sony, we have LOEWE and Panasonic sets on display in our showroom and are happy to answer any questions.

Speakers – Piega

Our Piega Classic speakers have been running in the demonstration area for a few weeks now and are really starting to shine. For AV use I have always loved what is possible from ribbon tweeters and the Piega sports one of the best on the market. If you are in the market for a larger speaker I would seriously consider them. They have garnered some great reviews over the past few months and make some very impressive higher end offerings for Hi-Fi enthusiasts and cinema buffs alike. We can offer demonstrations of these models by appointment should anyone be interested.

I finally got this puppy set up in the demonstration room which is on loan from Goldenear. It is just running in at the moment but I have already placed an order for a demonstration unit based on it's out of the box performance. Once both are run in and I have had a proper listen Ill produce a written review.

GOLDENEAR X SUBWOOFER

We have now added Piega Loudspeakers to our range. Piega's speakers hone a mixture of ribbon technology and seamless aluminium housings - Which are one of the main features responsible for the outstanding sound characteristics of their loudspeakers.

Piega was founded over 25 years ago, and the passion of Leo Greiner and Kurt Scheuch to develop and build speakers has continued unabated, as well as their ambitious aim that the sound from Piega loudspeakers must "reproduce" the original.

All Piega Loudspeakers come with a 6 year warranty. Contact us for a demonstration, ill be adding the range to our website in the coming days.

Prices range from £250 - £16,000

PIEGA WEBSITE - CLICK HERE

Trinnov have announced that the will be launching a slimmed down version of the Altitude32 later in the year. The Altitude32 has yet to be challenged technologically, especially in terms of its rendering and processing, but Trinnov felt a fully-featured and capable mid-level immersive audio processor was still missing on the market. Trinnov intends to change that. Details are still scant but the unit will include 3D-Remapping and the Optimizer which are two features which currently make the Trinnov Altitude the best domestic home cinema processor money can buy. We expect to see this unit around September 2017. 

TRINNOV @ THE MOVIE ROOMS

Absolutely nothing to do with Commander Bond’s least favourite secret criminal organization, SPEKTOR is a new affordable range of DALI speakers, engineered to the high standards you expect from your favourite Danish brand, and designed to complement the existing PICO and ZENSOR offerings.

The new range will comprise four bass-reflex models at launch, all being available in either black ash or walnut. The baby of the range is the £159 SPEKTOR 1, boasting a 4.5in wood-fibre bass driver married to a 21mm soft dome tweeter.

SPEKTOR 2 (£199) ups the ante by incorporating a 5.25in woofer married to a more capable 25mm soft dome tweeter in a slightly larger cabinet. Topping the range is the £499 SPEKTOR 6, a beautifully proportioned floor stander with two 6.5in woofers partnered with the same 25mm soft dome tweeter.

Last but not least, there’s the all-important centre-speaker model, the £169 SPEKTOR VOKAL. Boasting a pair of the 4.25in bass drivers used in the SPEKTOR 1, allied to the larger 25mm tweeter from the SPEKTOR 6, the VOKAL will deliver outstanding clarity as well as superb dispersion. 

The second of this year’s tests starts in earnest and the Pioneer SC-LX901 is next up to bat, replacing the recently reviewed Yamaha RX-A3060 in my system at home. There seems to be a major overhaul with Pioneer this year which probably has something to do with the recent purchase of the brand by the Onkyo Corporation. This as it turns out looks to be a large positive. The set-up menu system has been totally overhauled, and the graphical user interface is much better laid out than previous iterations with a higher resolution and better graphics, by far the best looking on the market. The entry point into the on-screen menus is familiar giving the options for; System set-up, MCACC Set-up and Network/Bluetooth Setup and rather than the cluttered jumble usually presented on high end amplifiers. This is easy to navigate with clear options as to what you are changing and what the effect of that change will be.

As usual the MCACC excels at the set-up stage, and is by far the best automatic EQ system on the market provided by a Japanese manufacturer. The fact the amplifier seems to make a huge stab at correcting for phase within the system is a massive plus point. Distances were correct down to the centimeter and levels were bang on including the subwoofer which is rare from these basic automated systems. I didn’t take any amount of care with the initial EQ mic position, rested on the back of the sofa for an initial run gleamed a great result, so much so that I didn’t feel the need to revisit this. I suspect if I had with a proper mic stand, the results would have been even more impressive, if that is even possible. So many EQ systems particularly Audyssey are fussy about the microphone positions, it is refreshing to see one that isn’t and still gives a fantastic result giving it a clear advantage to the novice user.

Pioneer amplifiers in the past have often been described as “bright” which is unfair, they are not bright but rather very clear, ruthlessly so. If there are any issues within your system, chances are the Pioneer may find them. What I experienced was a super accurate clean joyous sound, not bright at all. Over the years Pioneer seemed to have developed their digital amplifiers to the point where they are super-efficient giving you loads of power on tap, without the unit itself ever getting stressed or harsh sounding. In previous years Pioneer included their X-Curve system for people who felt the top end was a bit lively. Proper use of this tamed the amplifier in larger rooms, at higher volumes, to great effect. This year’s amplifier seems to be happy at higher volumes and the further refinement of the digital amplification would appear to have enabled Pioneer to remove this feature form the 901 (or at least I couldn’t find it!).  

Rather like Denon & Marantz products 3D up mixing was confined to its original source material so DTS Master Audio cannot be used with the Dolby Surround Up mixer, no great shakes as the unit seems to seamlessly switch between the two while also letting you have a preferred-up mixer for TV for example.

The real star of the show though is Pioneer I-pad control app, leagues ahead of the competition. This gives you brilliant access to the main features in the unit, Hi-Res 2ch up conversion, bass & dialogue emphasis and overall system emphasis. Usually I would avoid any tweaking after the initial set-up as you invariably make things sound worse. The Pioneer is slightly different. It seems to have the ability to subtly change the sound with clever finger swipes and pinches, without effecting the initial EQ to any great degree. Most importantly, once you are done fiddling, it is east to get back to the original refence point. Again, brilliant for the novice user to maximize their enjoyment of the system.

Add into the fact that the 4K video scaler is very good, way better than most TV’s internal scalers making all video content benefit, 11 channels of internal amplification and build quality like a tank, makes it a serious contender alongside the likes of any Anthem or Arcam with their advanced EQ system. For my two pence, I think it is outstanding. The Pioneer SC-LX901 is now on demonstration in the shop.

Next up, the Marantz SR7011………….

Dan

FACEBOOK REVIEW WITH PICTURES

PIONEER AV AMPLIFIERS

My yearly round of amplifier tests starts in earnest. We have a bit of a queue forming this year and all of the following will be assessed at some point over the next few months; Marantz SR7011, Denon AVR-X6300, Pioneer SC-LX901, Arcam AVR390 & Yamaha RX-A3060. The latter was first through the door this year.

I managed to get the 3060 set up over last weekend and have so far lived with it for a number of nights. For reference it replaced an Arcam AVR550 which I have been running for the past 6 months waiting for the first of the new arrivals to test.

The general look of the chassis has not changed for some years, but it would appear that something may have changed underneath. Overall I have to say I think it is an improvement over the RX-A3050 which I tested last year; in some key areas. It was difficult to put my finger on exactly why as the changes were subtle; but for me, important. I do feel this year’s unit is a bit more balanced, particularly with dialogue which is what the RX-A3050 I felt struggled with. The RX-A3050 last year seemed to almost sound different every time I sat down with it, and I was constantly trying to adjust it for differing content. This year it was definitely not the case and once set-up I have left it as is. From late night listening to large scale DTS-X soundtracks all were portrayed with a very even, likable hand.

The Yamaha to my ear has its usual a very easy going sound out of the box; which for dialogue needs crisping up a little to hear the pronunciation of the words at lower volumes. Some editing with the manual PEQ setting on the centre channel brought much more insight to the sound. Overall I have been really impressed. I strongly believe you can make the Yamaha’s sound how you want them to sound, at a base level with the manual PEQ and also on a system & surround effect level with the adjustment of the DSP surround mode editing on an I-pad.

If there is areas of criticism, the EQ section is laid out poorly and the menu system is a little complex for most basic users. I also found the video scaler added no discernable benefits to the video performance, turned on it actually produced some minor image tearing on football scaled to 4K. All in all, it is a very accomplished performer, well worth its asking price. Next Up Pioneers SC-LX901.

Yamaha RX-A3060

What Hi-Fi Review

For those of you who were interested our art journey, you may remember that we sponsored a tour of paper butterflies made by an anonymous artist who as left wonderful paper sculptures in libraries and museums. We gathered together paper butterflies made by young and not so young from all over the world. These have now been made into a final, paper sculpture by the anonymous 'booksy'. The Butterfly Tree and Lost Child can be seen at the Edinburgh Book Festival. If you are in Edinburgh during August, you are welcome to have a peek at this wonderful collaborative project that we are pleased to have supported. 

VIDEO

Good News - The new firmware for the AVR550 & 850 adds full DIRAC EQ of the height channels!

Bad News - DTS-X Update wont be with us until Q4 of 2016 with no exact date as yet.

Bad News - Prices are going up as of 1st August £2699 for an AVR500 & £4499 for an AVR850.

The Optoma 4K plot thickens.........

OPTOMA 4K PROJECTOR

We are now official retailers for Ultimate Screens. Superb quality fixed frame screens in 16:9 or a 2:35:1 format upto 4.35m wide. Right up there with Screen Excellence, Seymour & Screen Research but with a slightly more attractive price........

ULTIMATE SCREENS @ TMR

Things have been a little quiet on the site and Facebook page with a few big projects taking up a lot of our time. We are back with a bang though, and can announce we are now partners with Cineversum projectors and can now supply the "Blackwing" series.

Cineversum have been designing high quality projectors for over 20 years and are renowned for adapting the most advanced technologies of the professional cinema industry into projectors for discerning home user. Cineversum ensure every single unit is carefully checked and pre-calibrated for top performance before leaving their laboratory.

The new Blackwing MK2016 series have boosted light output which directly reflects the increasing demand for larger screens and brighter 3D. The three chip LCoS panels support 4k resolution at 3840x2160, HDR and DCI-P3 colour gamut. The ultra quiet Blackwing is housed inside a futuristic deep metallic-black chassis designed by the famed French designer Antoine Béon. The futuristic shape is reminiscent of the Stealth Fighter; hence, the name BlackWing.

Cineversum’s passive 3D option is unique in the residential market and has numerous benefits. The passive 3D glasses are lighter (around 10g), less expensive and more comfortable than the RF glasses. More importantly, the 3D picture quality is spectacularly improved with more brightness, more detail and more colours. Viewers have less dizziness, eyestrain and headaches with passive 3D than they have using active technology and because Cineversum’s passive solution does not require the user to stack two projectors together, they are easy to install and considerably more aesthetically pleasing.

Contact us at the shop for further details.  

CINEVERSUM WEBSITE

CINEVERSUM BLACKWING RANGE

We can now offer a full 3D line drawing, rendering and design service prior to your installation with us. This now gives you a very good idea of what the project is going to actually look like when it is finished, even if the room is not yet built.

Im finally getting chance to update the site after 4 months of nonstop hectic-ness. We have had premier German TV manufacturer Loewe on board for a couple of months and have an ART 40 on demo in the office. The full range should be up and live on the site later today.

LOEWE 4K TV

Bought a non 4K AVR and don’t want to change it? This is the solution, do all the video switching in this clever box and take one HDMI feed to your AVR for audio. Voila, you have a fully functioning 4K AVR!

DVDO QUICK 6R 4K HDMI SWITCH

Cheaper than a Lumagen, better than a Darbee........anyone with an Anthem or Arcam AVR shouldnt even think about it.

DVDO ISCAN MINI

We have been a bit quiet of late on the site as we have been covering for some of our colleagues who are on holiday. In that time, we have had delivery of the new Arcam AVR550 and AVR850, the new Anthem MRX520, MRX720 & MRX1120. Notable is the MRX1120 in being it is one of a few integrated amplifiers to be able to run 7.2.4 speakers in an Atmos configuration internally.

I have also tested a couple of other amplifiers at home, one being the Marantz SR7010 which was quite fantastic. The highlight being the 4K video scaler which quite frankly did a stunning job on all of my sources. The only thing holding it back was the Audyssey XT32 room EQ which in my opinion is best turned off.

It has been a while since we had a quick news round-up so here we go.

We have recently decided to take on well-respected subwoofer manufacturer Velodyne and have been putting a few of their subwoofers through their paces. Initial results particularly with the SPL-1200 Ultra are very promising and they will be a welcome addition to perhaps one of the best ranges of subwoofers in the country. We really are the place for BASS! Velodyne’s products will start making their way onto the website as I get time to add them on.

The new Arcam AVR amplifiers have finally landed although in small numbers. Arcam have always had the best core sound of any receiver in our opinion so with the addition of class leading room correction in the form of DIRAC the future looks rosy. Both the AVR550 and the AVR850 are available for demonstration upon request. The jury is still out on a dedicated pre amplifier but I would be surprised if they didn’t eventually end up doing one, time will tell.

Pre-orders are well on their way to being sold out on the new Anthem AV range. We will be offering our normal generous trade in values for any existing Anthem owners looking to upgrade again this year to the new MRX520, MRX720, MRX1120 or AVM60 and this will be advertised at launch for those wanting to take advantage.

Yamaha have officially re-launched their wireless MusicCast system and we have a Trio pack on display in the show room for those looking at a convincing alternative to Sonos.

Finally we have launched our Winter Sale on the 1^st December. While the deals are killer all year round at The Movie Rooms, we have sourced some exclusive deals for this month. I aim to add a product a day until the New Year on this page so let’s see how far we get! Some of the deals are very limited so grab them while you can.

Dan - Manager

VELODYNE WEBSITE

WINTER SALE

ARCAM AVR AMPLIFIERS

The Movie Rooms in conjunction with Anthem AVS are proud to be able to offer the first real chance in the UK, for customers to be able to hear the up-coming range of new products from Canadian manufacturer Anthem.

Tom from Anthem will be in attendance and we will have the new AVM60 Processor, and also MRX1120 running in a Dolby Atmos configuration.

The event will be in Edinburgh and held from Midday-8pm on Wednesday 18th November 2015 at our sister companies demonstration area; HOMESOUND LIMITED, 246 Causewayside, Edinburgh, EH9 1UU

This is an open event, but to help with planning we would be grateful if you could drop us an email at sales@themovierooms.co.uk if you intend to come along.

Congratulations to Kathy MaCrae of Edinburgh for winning a Sonos Play 3 in our recent competition at the "Scale Scotland" event. Proudly being presented by our MD Struan Mackenzie.

A couple of days ago I was invited to be a guest of Pulse Cinemas to experience their facility in Essex. After an early start and an interesting journey and landing with Ryan Air, we finally arrived at the fantastic facility early doors, and raring to go. We firstly listened to their small room which is about the size of an average garage conversion. Kitted out with Procella Speakers and Datasat Electronics in quite a dampened room I thought, the system sounded fiery and definitely woke me up! We then moved to the larger premium room with Triad speakers and Datasat Electronics. Both rooms were frankly superb, and a very different sound to what I experienced at JBL with their Synthesis system some weeks ago. Equally as good, with each having their different accent to the sound which let’s face it, if you know what you are doing can be tailored to fit a listeners preference. The larger room was a proper cinema experience, with phenomenal amounts of bass that just seemed to keep going on and on and on. Both very impressive, but the best was yet to come.

Later in the day we were surprised with a visit to David Crozier’s cinema. David worked in the motion picture business for decades, capturing sound and dialogue from actors in his role as a production sound mixer. Recipient of four British Academy (BAFTA) nominations and winner of an Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures award for Finding Neverland, David was and is the real deal as it were when it comes to sound. Basically, if anyone knows sound and knows the motion picture industry, David does. Responsible for sound on films like Harry Potter and Mission Impossible, his CV is long and strong. Now retired and teaching his passion, he is still on the judging board for BAFTA and as he proudly put it uses his cinema “every night of the week”. David’s cinema has been updated somewhat since the article was written for the Procella website, and now features Procella Speakers in an Auro 3D Configuration with 18” subwoofers, Datasat RS20i Processor & Power Amplifiers, Screen Research Multi Aspect Projection Screen, Oppo BDP-105D, Kaleidescape and a Runco 1080p Projector. Simply put, the sound from David’s cinema was staggeringly clear and dynamic and while being at reference level (possibly louder at points) was an utter joy to listen to. The best cinema I have ever heard without question. Interestingly this affirmed my own preference on how to correctly set-up a cinema, somewhat confirmed by David’s professional ears and own preference which we discussed for most of the day and over an evening meal.

Our second day consisted of Datasat RS20i training and a tour around the old DTS facility which is now Datasat HQ in the UK. Treated to a visit inside the cutting room, cinema and projection booth; we got to see behind the scenes of somewhere where a serious amount of Hollywood’s golden audio was mixed and produced. We were also given access to “the vault” before it was moved to the USA. This houses every master copy of DTS audio that was mixed there, and included the Bourne Films and Star Wars to name but a few, a real treat and a proper goose bumps moment for me.

My overriding feeling from the visit and the Datasat RS20i is that it is a magnificent piece of engineering, and a fantastic sounding cinema processor. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to a potential buyer, the surprise of the visit for me was David’s Procella speakers. Not a brand I have spent much time dwelling on in the past, but something I am defiantly looking at in the future and also one I would heartily recommend. I must extended a big thanks to Pulse for having us, but particularly to David Crozier who is one of the nicest men you will ever meet and the most knowledgeable film professional I will probably have the pleasure to talk to.

Should you wish to hear what a Datasat RS20i can really do, we currently have a unit available for demonstration in Edinburgh and would love to let you have a listen.

DATASAT RS20I

DAVID CROZIER ON IMDB

DAVID CROZIER'S CINEMA

SEE PHOTOS OF OUR VISIT HERE

Things have been a bit quiet on the news page of the site lately and I’m aware we have missed one or more Movies for the Weekend. Apologies for the lack of updates, we have been moving into our new office space and it has taken longer than we first anticipated. Well, as of today we are finally there and it is a really nice workspace. It is an identical space to our smaller demonstration area we already have, and adds to our complex of rooms available for customers to visit and experience top notch audio and video.

We have had a lot of new products pop their heads above the parapet, notably some new projectors in the form of JVC’s DLA-X5000, DLA-X7000, DLA-X9000. No native 4K this year from the masters of black but this would appear to be one of the only lacking areas with these new beamers. Sony have also launched slightly revised versions of their native 4K projectors in the form on the VPL-VW320es & VPL-VW520es. Talk among the industry and on the forums is of a revised version of the VPL-VW1100es coming our way soon as well. We are excited to see if the rumours of 8K E-shift and LED technology are true, I guess time will tell. All of the above projectors are on order and will be available to demonstrate as soon as they are available.

We have had some good success with the new Trinnov Altitude 32 with a couple of units already sold and waiting to be installed, we have a demonstration unit which will be with us in the next couple of weeks which will sit alongside the Datasat RS20i unit in our new demonstration facility and warehouse on the other side of Edinburgh. As I’m aware we will be the only place in the UK currently where you can compare the Datasat RS20i and the Trinnov Altitude 32 back to back, some of the finest residential cinema processors on the market. Towards the end of the month I will also be visiting Datasat to have a factory tour and experience two or three outstanding cinemas of theirs which I’m pretty excited about.

Denon, Marantz, Pioneer and Yamaha all revealed their current ranges for AV amplifiers but the most intriguing product is Yamaha’s new YSP-5600 Dolby Atmos & DTS-X Soundbar. I jokingly said 6 months ago someone would do an Atmos soundbar, and who better than Yamaha the kings of soundbar technology to produce it. I can’t wait to hear one now.

While most of our time is spent in the higher echelons of home cinema, it always excites me to get people who hadn’t considered home cinema or hadn’t heard it before. We recently hosted a show at a modeller’s convention in Edinburgh and rather than take the most expensive kit we had, I took some budget equipment along with not one piece being over £600. It was great to see people’s reaction to a relatively inexpensive system and talk to some people who had maybe not considered home cinema for one reason or another. Well worth doing.

Dan

We are almost caught up with the new products on the website. We have listed the new Tannoy XT seties, these have been getting some fantastic reviews of late and are well worth considering if you are looking at that price. Precision has also has had a nice price drop as of this morning.

Tannoy XT

Tannoy Precision

SVS who are famous for their skill with subwoofery have launched a new range of budget cinema speakers named "Prime" which are now on the site. These offer phenomenal value for money.

SVS PRIME

Lots going on recently at the shop. I will be moving into some new offices in the next two weeks. I will post up some pictures as and when the room/s are finished. Any local customers are welcome to pop in and say hello we are still in the same building and the kettle will be on (as always).

We are in discussions to place a Trinnov Altitude 8/16 on demonstration in the shop, I will update this page as and when this is a formality, but we seem to be dotting the "I's" and crossing the "T's". After my recent training visit to Trinnov in France, I will also be attending the training at Datasat in September so they can give me the full run down on their fantastic processors. Next week I will also be visiting the JBL Synthesis distributor in the UK to hear their system in operation.

Our sister company Hi-Fi Corner in Falkirk is having a full shop renovation in the next two weeks and as such they are selling the entire contents of the shop to clear the decks for the re-fit. It would be well worth a call to Paul the Manager on 01324 629 011 if you are looking for something, as there are some great deals to be had. I’m trying to get a list of items that they have so I can post it up.

We have been a bit quiet of late working on a number of projects, with some big news and some small. Big news will have to wait, but in the meantime we are fully up to speed with Trinnov Audio after our visit to their facility in France. We have also taken on some new accounts, notably with Belgian furniture manufacturer Ethnicraft who do some lovely furniture. We will be focussing on their AV stands, but if you like the look of anything else they do I’m sure we can oblige! I’m slowly adding some of their products to the site as I can. BDI also have a few new stands which will also be added, so keep an eye out for the new Vertica range. Add into the mix a new “S” range of speakers from Quad and two new subwoofers from Canadian manufacturer Paradigm and that tops off our summary thus far. More news to follow!

ETHNICRAFT

BDI VERTICA

QUAD S RANGE

PARADIGM PRESTIGE SUBWOOFERS

 Denon, Marantz, Onkyo & Yamaha have all launched new ranges of AV Amplifiers. These will start to come through to us in the next month and are likely to feature 4K, HDCP 2.2, HDR & 3D sound formats heavily. All of the current models are now listed but as details are scant these pages will be added to as we get specifications and photos. Prices are currently accurate and pre-orders are available for those wanting to get their name down.

Still no definite word from Arcam, Anthem & Audio Control but from the titbits of information we have gleaned so far, the Japanese manufacturers will have a fight on their hands as all are likely to sport extremely accurate room equalisation.

AV AMPLIFIERS

It would seem that Yamaha's boast that the new range of recievers sound better than previous years due to some key component upgrades has a ring of truth to it. We have just put a Yamaha RX-V679 on demo and I have to say it sounds very, very good for the money.

NEW YAMAHA RANGE

It's been a long time coming but the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has finally completed the specifications for Ultra HD Blu-ray. Great news, although with a small HDMI HDCP caveat. Time will tell but good news on balance we think. 

ULTRA HD BLURAY NEWS