Pioneer Elite PRO-200: rear-projection television
Screen size: 60" diagonal
Aspect ratio: 16:10.7
Inputs: 4 sets A/V, 4 S-video, 1 set component video, 1 BNC video; 1 line-level center-channel audio, 2 RF
Outputs: 2 sets A/V, 1 set stereo audio
Dimensions: 56.25" by 53.5" by 25.75" (H by W by D)
Weight: 267 lbs.
Price: $5800
Manufacturer: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc., P.O. Box 1540, Long Beach, CA 90810. Tel: (310) PIONEER, (310) 746-6337. Fax: (310) 952-2960. www.pioneerelectronics.com
search
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Calibration
The Pioneer Elite PRO-200 presented an unfamiliar and troubling face to John Gannon, a technician with the Imaging Science Foundation. "This television is a scathing attack on the NTSC standard," Gannon said, after he'd pushed and nudged its performance into line with that standard. "This is just not something you expect in a Pioneer Elite product."
At the factory contrast setting, the PRO-200 measured more than 16,600 kelvins (K) through the entire middle range of IRE color-temperature references. In addition, this was true for each of three settings…
"Like many audiophiles I have often sped home from a concert to fire up the audio system, and then, to the sore vexation of my wife and guests, spent the rest of the evening plunged in the morbid contemplation of what, exactly, was missing."
That's how I led off a piece for Stereophile a few years back (Vol.11 No.4, p.58). Live, unamplified music---the sine qua non, the benchmark, the mantra, no?
Most of us desperately want to believe in this "absolute sound," but is it possible that for the majority of our tribe it remains a ritualistic chant, intoned by many and practiced by…
I had the ceiling sheetrock---no flimsy ceilings going diaphragmatic in my concert hall---suspended from the rafters with hundreds of exotic, Sorbothane-like units for improved isolation, and hung with the aid of lasers. I installed adjustable, acoustically absorptive blinds so I could tune the room's reverberation characteristics---its RT60---for each musical program. I hung over $25,000 worth of Italian low-voltage lighting fixtures from the ceiling so they could be grouped, aimed, and dimmed to bathe the performers in just the right light. My acousticians swept the hall with sinewaves,…
"Why do you put on those live concerts in your store?"
In a technical business like audio, you get a lot of abstruse questions. But I want to tell you about a question that about popped my internal fuses the other day. It went: "Why do you put on those live concerts in your store?"
In a technical business like audio, you get a lot of abstruse questions. But I want to tell you about a question that about popped my internal fuses the other day. It went: "Why do you put on those live concerts in your store?"
Pardon me? Why do I put on live concerts in my store? Because live music is what it's all about. Because there's no better way to spend an evening with 120 other people. Because I want to expose friends and customers to music they might not otherwise hear. Because maybe it'll change someone's life. Because…
More, I think, than any other link in the audio chain, loudspeaker designs tend to reflect the personal preferences, opinions, and philosophies of their creators—think Henry Kloss, Paul Klipsch, Rudy Bozak, David Wilson, Jon Dahlquist, Arnie Nudell, and Amar Bose (just kidding). Consider, if you remember, where Ken Kantor took Acoustic Research when he took over AR's design reins. Might as well have called AR NHT, for all that the new designs followed the old.
Audio Physic long reflected company founder Joachim Gerhard's restless mind, which could be seen and heard in his wildly…
A specially designed Vibration Control Terminal, floating on a Neoprene frame, contains a single pair of WBT five-way binding posts. Like all of Audio Physic's floorstanding models, the Caldera sits on two heavy, smoothly machined cross-pieces of aluminum screwed into the cabinet bottom. Set into circular endcaps are the floor spikes, which are conveniently adjustable from above. A top plate covers each spike to give the footing a neatly finished appearance that goes with the handsome overall design.
Setup
Careful placement is key to achieving sonic satisfaction with any high-…
The same basic tweeter (with a custom rear chamber designed by Franco Serblin) also produced gorgeous highs in the Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage, so I'm at a loss to explain this seemingly bad behavior, or why designer Diestertich appears to have changed what sounded like the ideal voicing I'd heard at CES. Even novice and casual listeners visiting my listening room described the Caldera's sound as "bright"—regardless of which amps, two solid-state and two tubed, I had in the system at the time (though I don't think "bright" is the word an experienced listener would use). I doubt Diestertich…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-and-a-half-way loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" ring-radiator tweeter, 7" ceramic-coated aluminum-cone upper midrange unit, 7" ceramic-coated aluminum-cone lower midrange unit, two 10.6" ceramic-coated aluminum-cone woofers, two 10.6" Nomex-cone passive radiators. Frequency range: 22Hz–40kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m.
Dimensions: 46.9" (1200mm) H by 11.2" (290mm) W by 19.5" (500mm) D. Weight: 132 lbs (60kg).
Finishes: Light and dark maple, black ash, cherry, makassar ebony, rosenut.
Serial numbers of units…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Simon Yorke S7 turntable; Immedia RPM-2, Graham 2.2 & Phantom tonearms; Lyra Titan, Graham Nightingale, Grado Statement Reference cartridges.
Digital Sources: Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD player and kW SACD player, Alesis Masterlink CD-R recorder.
Preamplification: Musical Fidelity kW & kWP preamplifiers, Manley Steelhead phono preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Musical Fidelity kW & kW750, Music Reference RM-200 (tubed), Audio Valve Baldur 70 (tubed).
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX2.
Cables: Phono:…