home audio

One quick (and hopefully final) note about the SiriusXM Internet Radio fiasco from a couple weeks ago: It's over. The company appears to have pulled the plug on nearly all the giveaways, even if you received a confirmation e-mail. Fortunately, you can still get Pandora, Slacker, Songza, and plenty of other music-streaming services for free. Let it go, OK?

If you're unhappy with the audio quality from your TV's built-in speakers, you may have considered the Vizio sound bar I've written about countless times in this space. It often dips below $50, a hard bargain to … Read more

This is an update of a deal I've posted before.

Most HDTV speakers sound pretty crummy. In their defense, there's just not a lot of room for cones and whatnot inside those skinny LCD and plasma panels. But it's disappointing! Here you spend all this money for a beautiful screen, and your ears pay the price.

One affordable way to improve the audio situation: a sound bar, which is a speaker/receiver combo that sits above or below the screen and does the work of two or more standalone speakers.

While supplies last, TigerDirect has the refurbished … Read more

And now for something completely different.

Need a wireless speaker to complete your home-theater surround system? How about a Pandora-friendly speaker for the living room? Maybe you're just tired of sitting in the dark.

Whatever the case, here's a product I didn't even know existed until this morning, but now feel I must have: today only, 1SaleADay has the Soundolier DUO-CP lamp with wireless speaker for $129.99, plus $4.99 for shipping.

The Soundolier has a list price of $379.99, and that's exactly what you'd pay for one at Amazon. Elsewhere I've … Read more

When it comes to home audio, do you like it old-school? By which I mean tower, surround, or bookshelf speakers paired with an actual stereo receiver? Then you've come to the right cheap-show.

While supplies last, Amazon has the Denon AVR-1312 5.1-channel home theater receiver for $139 shipped. It sells elsewhere in the $180 range, and had a list price of $250 when it debuted about a year ago.

This is not the receiver for hard-core audiophiles, but rather an affordable entry-level option for folks who want to vastly improve the sound quality of their TV audio -- … Read more

Sound bars are an excellent compromise between shelling out for an expensive surround-sound system and settling for the tinny sound from your TV's built-in speakers, but that doesn't mean they're perfect. In fact, sound bars have quite a few real-world problems and limitations that are often glossed over, only to rear their heads after you've got one set up at home.

Here's what you should know before you make the jump to buying a sound bar.… Read more

CNET Reader Kato asks:

I have speakers directly hooked up to my TV via the "speaker audio out." It works fine. I then hooked up additional speakers I had from a computer. Upon doing so the volume on the original speakers went way down and I get even less from the new speakers. What am I doing wrong?

Oh, so many things...… Read more

Pioneer delivered a great line-up of AV receivers in 2011, highlighted by the VSX-1021-K. That model was one of the first non-Apple products to offer AirPlay compatibility--the ability to stream any audio from iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch models. CNET awarded the Pioneer four stars, with only the Denon AVR-1912 besting it in the $500 AV receiver line-up last year.

A new product year hits the reset button, and Pioneer is back with a quartet of receivers for 2012. In addition to bristling with plenty of HDMI inputs, some of the new receivers offer a variety of ways to stream audio content, including AirPlay, DLNA, and Bluetooth options. Prices range from $249 to $599. Expect the receivers to be available for purchase before the end of March.

Here's a quick breakdown of the new models and an overview of the most important features:… Read more

I've always been partial to Bowers & Wilkins' Mini Theater-series speaker systems, especially the orb-shaped PV1 subwoofer that came with the higher-end setup. B&W seemed to have managed a near-perfect balance of style, technology, and performance with those systems.

This year's updated MT-50 and MT-60D packages feature upgraded M-1 satellite speakers, which are said to have a "longer-throw mid/bass driver" to deliver improvements in low-frequency response. The new M-1 satellites are rated to reach 55Hz, which is a lot better than the 90Hz low-end of its identically named predecessor. … Read more

You know you're an audio geek when you're most interested in the bit of the product demo where you get to hear how it sounds. Well, after about 10 minutes of listening time with the Beolit 12, a new AirPlay-compatible speaker launched under the Danish company's new B&O Play line, we have to say we were impressed.

Listening to a couple of tracks of our own over the 3.5mm stereo minijack (the Bang & Olufsen store we were in was afraid of us hogging Wi-Fi bandwidth for AirPlay), we have to say that this … Read more