2011 Audioholics Product of the Year Award Winners

[admin]

2011 proved to be a year of economic recovery in the A/V industry. It seemed apparent to us that many of the major manufacturers came out of hiding with a slew of new and improved products to entice fellow Audioholics to upgrade their A/V systems. Velodyne, for example, saw the high-end subwoofer market passing them by and decided to revamp their entire Digital Drive line to put everyone in checkmate. Yamaha took a good thing and made it better. Sherbourn got a much-needed restructuring in management and subsequently a new series of high performance products at competitive prices were born. RBH Sound took their highly successful Signature Reference line and updated their aesthetics - birthing the SX/R series. Oppo kept doing what they do best and made it even better by producing incredibly high value, high performance Blu-ray players that do everything right. If you are contemplating an upgrade to your home theater, the following products should help you accomplish that goal of achieving sonic and visual nirvana.

Discuss "2011 Audioholics Product of the Year Award Winners" here. Read the article.

 

[kevon27]

The PA 7-350 was not reviewed by audioholics. So how do we know if it's any good to get an award of the year?

 

[BMXTRIX]

Good stuff on that list. I'm not a huge Sherbourne fan after a product I got second hand had some issues and Sherbourne was not willing to repair it or talk to me about it since I didn't have a receipt. Ah well. Good on Samsung though. I got their 64D7000 plasma and am incredibly satisfied so far.

Eventually I will have to just break down and buy an Oppo I suppose.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

V-Moda headphones? Doesn't seem to fit with typical AH stuff .. $250 will get you a lot of choices from top brands...

I think we should have best of year budget product awards

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The PA 7-350 was not reviewed by audioholics. So how do we know if it's any good to get an award of the year?

Doh!

 

[zhimbo]

The PA 7-350 was not reviewed by audioholics. So how do we know if it's any good to get an award of the year?

Now that I think about it, I suppose that's actually a compliment.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I'd rather get an ATI AT3007 for $3695 brand new w/ 7 yr warranty, made in CA, USA, fully balanced amp.

ATI AT3007 For Sale | AudiogoN

I'm guessing this Sherbourn is made in China, single balanced, 5 yr warranty, & costs $4000?

 

[gene]

The PA 7-350 was not reviewed by audioholics. So how do we know if it's any good to get an award of the year?

I know b/c I know Emotiva and how they measure their amps. I know because Emotiva measurements closely track my measurements. I know b/c Emotiva uses the exact same $40k HDMI Audio analyzer from Audio Precision. I know b/c I examined the schematics and as an Electrical Engineer designed amplifiers for 7+ years prior to quitting my profession to do Audioholics fulltime. I know b/c its big and heavy

 

[gene]

I'd rather get an ATI AT3007 for $3695 brand new w/ 7 yr warranty, made in CA, USA, fully balanced amp.

ATI AT3007 For Sale | AudiogoN

I'm guessing this Sherbourn is made in China, single balanced, 5 yr warranty, & costs $4000?

That is a compelling argument but we have no direct experiences with that amp. I will have to contact ATI in 2012 and arrange a review. If it bench tests well, which it looks like it will, then it will surely be a candidate for our 2012 POY award. It is more expensive than the Sherbourn but having something actually made in USA is IMO worth the extra cost. Go ATI!

 

[smurphy522]

I know b/c I know Emotiva and how they measure their amps. I know because Emotiva measurements closely track my measurements. I know b/c Emotiva uses the exact same $40k HDMI Audio analyzer from Audio Precision. I know b/c I examined the schematics and as an Electrical Engineer designed amplifiers for 7+ years prior to quitting my profession to do Audioholics fulltime. I know b/c its big and heavy

I guess I'll clarify something that I had forgotten and may not be so obvious to other readers.

Gene quotes above about Emotiva and never clarifies that Emotiva and Sherbourn are both owned by Jade Design, Inc.

Something that Audioholics covered almost a year ago.

 

[shadyJ]

The Velodyne is no doubt a nice sub, but for that price you could do much better, like two Submersive HPs for instance. But if money were absolutely no object, I would certainly look at the DD18+. On the other hand, if money were no object, I would probably have a sub custom made for me by someone like Nathan Funk.

 

[wiyosaya]

I know b/c I know Emotiva and how they measure their amps. I know because Emotiva measurements closely track my measurements. I know b/c Emotiva uses the exact same $40k HDMI Audio analyzer from Audio Precision. I know b/c I examined the schematics and as an Electrical Engineer designed amplifiers for 7+ years prior to quitting my profession to do Audioholics fulltime. I know b/c its big and heavy

IMHO, this sounds at least a bit defensive -smileys aside. IMHO, a full review would be better.

 

[MinusTheBear]

I'm shocked that there are not any SVS subwoofers or the Aperion Verus Grand line mentioned in the POY considering how well they were praised in the reviews. Especially the new SVS sledge offerings that have tested which the AH staff have flat out said they are engineering marvels.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I'm shocked that there are not any SVS subwoofers or the Aperion Verus Grand line mentioned in the POY considering how well they were praised in the reviews. Especially the new SVS sledge offerings that have tested which the AH staff have flat out said they are engineering marvels.

Aperion Verus Grand was Product of year 2010...
SVS didn't release any new hi-end product this year, but hey - if it works - don't break it

 

[MinusTheBear]

Ahh that's right. I think I was confused because wasn't the Verus Grand reviews released after the 2010 POY awards?

 

[gene]

Aperion Verus Grand was Product of year 2010...
SVS didn't release any new hi-end product this year, but hey - if it works - don't break it

It's a difficult choice b/c the SVS certainly is among the best value/highest output subs out there commercially available. I thought it would be cheesy picking two products for each category so we instead chose a brand we reviewed but not awarded prior.

 

[GranteedEV]

Hmm...

7db 125hz peak...Is it accompanied by ringing? Can EQ fix it?

 

[gene]

Hmm...

7db 125hz peak...Is it accompanied by ringing? Can EQ fix it?

The bump is there to make Bassaholics happy Also it's much lesser in amplitude at the listening position While flat may look better it doesn't always sound better depending on the overall design. The bump is only +4dB relative to 1kHz which is not uncommon in loudspeaker design. The 8300s for example measure flatter. But remember, people like to see flat but actually prefer a little bass bump in their speakers. Most designers engineer this into the system purposely.

Mark really loved the sound of the 6300/R bumped response as a result of this and he has reviewed and designed 100s of speakers. He found no ringing as a result, it has to do with driver efficiency offsets not high Q EQing a response which can ring.

 

[GranteedEV]

While flat may look better it doesn't always sound better depending on the overall design. The bump is only +4dB relative to 1kHz which is not uncommon in loudspeaker design. The 8300s for example measure flatter. But remember, people like to see flat but actually prefer a little bass bump in their speakers. Most designers engineer this into the system purposely.

It may have less to do with the individual but more to do with CONTENT they're listening to and also it seems a lot of content has that frequency region shelved down to reverse compensate for people's smiley face EQ curves which are to compensate for loudness curves....

He found no ringing as a result, it has to do with driver efficiency offsets not high Q EQing a response which can ring.

Okay. I was just concerend given that the peak seemed related to the 100hz stated crossover or something. If it's just driver efficiency, I'd imagine a bit of a linkwitz transform circuit + external amp would be interesting.

 

[zhimbo]

This is a bad list 'cuz I can't afford any of it.

Well, I could probably swing the headphones if push came to shove.