Hi-Fi-Insight News and Reviews (5)
Sky HD Price Reduction
January 30th, 2009
Sky have slashed the cost of a Sky HD Box and existing Sky/Sky+ customers to a new all time low of just £49. Sky say the new move will create around 1000 new jobs which is good at a time when the UK economy needs a bit of a boost. This latest move by Sky follows several high profile promotions last year when they were offering a Sky HD Box for £79.
Currently Sky has around 800,000 HD subscribers and it is hoped this latest push will double those figures at least. As with all these types of deals, it is important that you read the small print so you know exactly how much it is not only going to cost you upfront but also per month, especially as the offer is subject to a minimum twelve month contract. But don't let that put you off because Sky are offering a cracking deal, so here is a breakdown of what it might cost you. [...]
Posted in Home Cinema | No Comments »
Philex 2867R DVB Signal Strength Meter
January 28th, 2009
If like me, you are a big believer in installing television and satellite dishes yourself to ensure correct mounting and use of the highest quality cable etc, then the Philex 2867R DVB signal meter is a very cost effective and handy tool to have.
The Philex 2867R DVB signal meter is powered by a single 9V battery and is simple to use, you just connect the aerial cable to the meter and it will display a signal reading. It has a red power led and four green leds that light up depending on signal strength. The signal strength of the Philex 2867R is measured from 50 dB/uV to 80 dB/uV. A properly installed aerial (even if its mounted in the loft should be able attain at least 60 db/uV assuming you are in a strong to medium reception area and this is where this tools comes in so handy because not only can you rotate the aerial so as to gauge where to point the aerial for the strongest signal but you can compare signal readings at the point nearest the aerial and at the TV connection end, and then diagnose if you have a wiring problem. [...]
Posted in Accessories | No Comments »
Net Audio Quad 405-3 Amplifier Update
January 22nd, 2009
For the last six months or so Hi-Fi Insight has been listening to a Net Audio supplied Quad 405-3 with their own new amplifier boards which use the best components currently available (at a sensible price)
to greatly surpass the sound quality of the original Quad 405 and 405-2. The op-amp used in these new boards as standard is an Analog Devices AD843 which at around £8-10 per chip is a very high quality, low noise/distortion option. [...]
Posted in Amplifiers | 5 Comments »
Arcam FMJ Blu-Ray Player
January 12th, 2009
Arcam was busy at last week's 2009 CES showing off a prototype of its forthcoming FMJ Blu Ray players. Having gained a reputation for its high end DVD and home cinema equipment, Arcam has stayed away from the High Definition player market whilst the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray was being fought. But now that was resolved well over nine months ago, Arcam has been able to focus on this latest proposed addition to its FMJ range.
Respected website Blu-ray.com has the heads up on the Arcam FMJ blu-ray which is proposed to be available in two flavours, the first hopefully being around June 2009, when a BD Live blue-ray player will launched with HDMI, Composite, 1gb flash memory, ethernet and RS232. Then at the end of the year a superior model will be launched with additional component, better video processing, DVD upscaling and eight channel output. [...]
Posted in Home Cinema | No Comments »
Sennheiser HD-800 Heaphones
January 9th, 2009
The much awaited and anticipated Sennheiser HD-800 headphones have been released in time for this year's CES on show at booth 21240 in the South Hall and have been dubbed the "World's Best Heaphone", which is some claim. The well respected website Head-fi.org have already auditioned a pair and stated that they are one of the best headphones they have heard of any type which means that these new Sennheiser phones a re a bit special and clearly set new standards in headphone technology.
The reason that the Sennheiser HD-800 headphones have been getting all this attention is mainly down to the design of the drive units which allow these phones to raise the ball park in terms of sound reproduction through the use of a newly patented design known as a "Ring" Driver. Sennheiser's Ring Driver transducer differs from the normal cone and round shaped diaphragms in that the vibrating area that produces the sound is in fact ring shaped and this ring is able to produce an extremely natural and detailed sound by design which produces far less distortion compared to normal diaphragm designs. Couple a 56mm ring driver with state of the art aerograde plastics and silver-plated, low-oxygen copper cables and you have a design that can produce the most amazing sound all the way across the audio frequency spectrum with only 0.02% total harmonic distortion. [...]
Posted in Accessories | No Comments »
Hi-Fi-Insight News and Reviews
