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Equipment

Denon/Marantz 2020 Firmware Update Sound United has announced their latest firmware update to their high-end Denon and Marantz receivers. It is due out on November 11th 2020. This firmware will provide some significant new features and restore some that were removed over a year ago due to changes to Dolby […]

Denon/Marantz 2020 Firmware Update

November 10, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / Firmware Updates / News tagged Denon / Firmware Update / Marantz by fromvinyltoplastic

HDMI 2.1 Bug – 4K/120Hz Failure As the video industry continues to strive for ever higher resolutions and faster frame rates an obstacle has hit several AV receiver models. Driven primarily by the gaming world, the new HDMI 2.1 standard supports features to include; 4K resolution at frame rates of […]

HDMI 2.1 Bug – 4K/120Hz Failure

November 3, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged 4KP120 / 8KP60 / Denon / Fixed Rate Link / FRL / HDMI 2.1 / Marantz / Panasonic Solutions / Sound United / Yamaha by fromvinyltoplastic

Marantz AV7706 AV Pre-Amplifier- First Look (Image Credit: Marantz) On the heels of the release of both the Denon and earlier Marantz 8K AV receivers, Marantz has announced the release of this 8K surround AV pre-amplifier, the AV7706. This AV pre-amplifier features 11.2 channels of XLR and RCA pre-outs and […]

Marantz AV7706 AV Pre-Amplifier- First Look

October 25, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged 8K / AV Preamplifier / AV7706 / First Look / Marantz by fromvinyltoplastic

Sound United Closes Deal On Acquisition Of Bowers & Wilkins — Sound United Closes Deal On Acquisition Of Bowers & Wilkins Sound United LLC, the parent company to Boston Acoustics, Classé, Denon/HEOS, Definitive Technology, Polk Audio and Marantz has just announced that it has finalized the acquisition of Bowers & Wilkins, a leading British-based designer and manufacturer of premium home speakers, […]

Sound United Closes Deal On Acquisition Of Bowers & Wilkins

October 11, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged Acquisition / Bowers & Wilkins / Sound United by fromvinyltoplastic

Denons 110th Anniversary Range — Denons 110th Anniversary Range Images Credit: Denon Denon is marking its 110th birthday with a quartet of special edition products that combined make up a complete audiophile home component system. Each of these new products are manufactured at the Denon factory in Shirakawa, Japan and undergo an extended quality assurance […]

Denons 110th Anniversary Range

September 24, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged 110th Anniversary / AVR-A110 / DCD-A110 / Denon / DL-A110 / PMA-A110 by fromvinyltoplastic

JVC Updates 4K HDR Projector Performance — JVC Updates 4K HDR Projector Performance JVC will be rolling out a free firmware update to its native 4K and e-shift 8K projectors that is said to provide a major improvement to their HDR performance and ease of use. JVC’s Theater Optimizer technology, was originally released as a firmware upgrade […]

JVC Updates 4K HDR Projector Performance

September 20, 2020 in Equipment / Firmware Updates / News tagged DILA / DLA / DLA-NX5 / DLA-NX7 / DLA-NX9 / DLA-RS1000 / DLA-RS2000 / DLA-RS3000 / Firmware Update / HDR / JVC / upgrade / Version 3.5 by fromvinyltoplastic

iFi iPhono 3 – First Look After your turntable system you need to focus on the cartridges phono amplifier. Why? It’s the front end to the information amplification system. If the arm, cartridge and phono amplifier don’t provide a pristine electronic replica of what was on that vinyl then nothing […]

iFi iPhono 3 – First Look

September 16, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged Black Label / iFi / iPhono 3 / iPower X / Phono Pre-Amplifier by fromvinyltoplastic

EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Phono Pre-amp — EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Phono Pre-amp EMM Labs of Canada has released their new optical cartridge equalizer, the DS-EQ1 which is fully compatible with DS Audio optical cartridge range. Having auditioned the DS ES-1 optical cartridge, I am definitely an admirer of this cartridge technology. So it was with great interest […]

EMM Labs DS-EQ1 Phono Pre-amp

September 8, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged DS Audio / DS-EQ1 / Ed Meitner / EMM Labs by fromvinyltoplastic

Monoprice Tube Amplifiers - First Look — Monoprice Tube Amplifiers – First Look Introduction The tube amplifier has seen a resurgence in recent years due to the warm, pleasing sound that only a tube amplifier can offer. The Monoprice Pure Tube Amplifier, shown above, utilizes four EL84 tubes for the power output stage and three 6N3 tubes […]

Monoprice Tube Amplifiers – First Look

August 29, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged Class AB / Hybrid Tube Amplifier / Low Cost / Monoprice / Pure Tube Stereo Amplifier / Tube power Amplifier / Valve by fromvinyltoplastic

Darbee 4K - PXLVision Coming Soon — Darbee 4K – PXLVision Coming Soon Introduction I was so skeptical when several years ago one of my readers sent me a message saying that; “his new Darbee Darblet provided a significant visual improvement to his HD image with little or no artifacts”. This I had to see to believe, […]

Darbee 4K – PXLVision Coming Soon

August 16, 2020 in Equipment / News tagged 4K / Darbee / Darblet / DVP5000S / DVPTM / Pixelgen Design / PXLVision by fromvinyltoplastic

DS Audio Release Grand Master Optical Cartridge — DS Audio Grand Master Optical Cartridge (All Images Credit: DS Audio) Introduction When I decided to replace my Lentek Entre 1 I seriously considered DS Audio’s DS-E1 model, and auditioned it and the Hana SL and ML. The Hana SL, for me, was the better option but I still thought that the […]

DS Audio Grand Master Optical Cartridge

August 1, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged DS Audio / Grand Master / Optical Cartridge by fromvinyltoplastic

Marantz 8K SR-Series AV receivers - First Look — Marantz 8K SR-Series AV Receivers – First Look (Images Credit: Marantz) Hot on the heels of the Denon 8K receiver release we knew that Marantz would not be too far behind, especially as both compnaies share the same technical stable and are owned by […]

Marantz 8K SR-Series AV Receivers – First Look

July 25, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged First Look / Marantz / SR Series / SR5015 / SR6015 / SR7015 / SR8015 by fromvinyltoplastic

Denon X6700H & X4700H 8K Receivers If you are a regular visitor to my site you will already know my views regarding 8K video. But here we go again, ‘if they build it, many will buy it’. Denon’s world first 8K-ready AVRs are feature-packed and future-proofed. They build on the […]

Denon X6700H & X4700H 8K Receivers

June 11, 2020 in Equipment / News tagged 8K / AVR X2700H / AVR X3700H / AVR X4700H / AVR X6700H / Denon / HDCP2.3 by fromvinyltoplastic

Leak Is Back. What's Next Radford? — Leak Is Back. What’s Next Radford? Introduction The UK was the birth place of many of the original audiophile companies like Leak, Quad, Wharfdale, Radford, Celestion, Decca, EMI, English Electric etc. to name but a few. Many of these very […]

Leak Is Back. What’s Next Radford?

June 6, 2020 in Audio / Equipment / News tagged AIG / CDT / Leak / Stereo 130 by fromvinyltoplastic

Jelco Tonearm Manufacturer Closes So far this is just a strong rumor, but the Jelco web site and various industry professionals are indicating that there are problems ahead. Has the Ichikawa Jewel Company – the Japanese manufacturer behind Jelco, which has been manufacturing phono cartridges, tonearms and turntable accessories for almost a […]

Jelco Tonearm Manufacturer Closes

May 16, 2020 in Equipment / News tagged Ichikawa Jewel Company / Jelco / Tonearms by fromvinyltoplastic