Product and Tech Discussion


OVER THE MOON – Aesthetix Mimas Integrated Hybrid Amplifier

The new issue of The Absolute Sound magazine includes an article and review of one of our favorite components, the Mimas Integrated Hybrid Amplifier from Aesthetix.

Reviewer Neil Gader writes:

“For me, the Aesthetix Mimas is the very definition of what I am seeking today in an integrated amplifier—unalloyed transparency and musicality served up with rich reserves of power.”

Download and read this excellent and in-depth article about the Aesthetic Mimas:
OVER THE MOON – Aesthetix Mimas Integrated Hybrid Amplifier (PDF – 1.6mb)

Hello, Mimas!

About 3 years ago I had a lunch with my good friend, Jim White, owner and Chief
Design Engineer of Aesthetix. Jim asked me if I felt anything might be missing from their product line. We talked about music loving customers who are listening through home theater products instead of a real music setup with Preamps and Amps. And how many clients just want a simple, beautiful sounding, “just add speakers and source” listening system without spending a king’s ransom.

This week Jim called me with this very nice surprise. The Mimas integrated hybrid amplifier, intended for high performance audio and home cinema systems.

I feel that the Mimas amp should be a great answer to many of our customer’s desires. It will seamlessly adapt to any existing home theater system without musical compromise. And it will offer options to vinyl listeners and present an excellent value for serious music lovers.

We should be getting our prototype in our shop next week. Jim feels we should see the finished product soon. I will update as soon as we’ve had a chance to give the Mimas a listen.

Kaleidescape – the Ultimate Home Movie & Concert Source

What is Kaleidescape?

Think of it as a totally uncompromised movie library which allows you to get the absolute best performance from your Home Audio/Video system.

When people purchase and stream movies off of Netflix or Amazon and others, there is no doubt they can look and sound pretty good.

Or so I thought.

We recently invited Danny from Kaleidescape to our showroom to demonstrate their new flagship line of products. He spent an hour explaining why their technology is better than anything else available today. The downfalls of streaming movies and concerts over the internet is that they require significant compression in both the sound and visuals. He made a very convincing case for why people who want the best will want to have Kaleidescape.

Later we moved to our home theater for his demo of the new Strato Player.

We watched a few minutes of a female action-movie called “Lucy” streaming on Amazon through our top of the line Roku player. Then we switched to the Kaleidescape Strato Player and cued up the same movie. It was immediately one of those “Oh my God” differences. Not just the amazing picture quality difference, but oh the sound too. I bought it on the spot and we should have it here in our showroom by Saturday for demo. I want to invite anyone who is interested in getting the very best quality from their Home Theater to please allow us to demonstrate this amazing accomplishment.

I have to warn you, you are going to want it too.

Samsung Redefines the Art of Flat Screen TVs

I recently attended the San Diego CEDIA show looking for new fun toys to offer at our showroom. While walking toward the Samsung booth I noticed they were displaying fine artwork next to their new television sets. I thought to myself how clever. Then I realized what I was actually looking at was a high definition flat screen TV. For sometime I’ve wanted a bit larger screen in my bedroom but didn’t like the idea of an even bigger black panel on my wall. I knew immediately this could be a great solution.

The way these sets emulate the art is very convincing.There are unlimited choices of art work to select from or if you prefer you can use personal photos. Samsung offers a good library and even an art store through an application you download onto your phone or laptop style computer. This app can also find your personal photos or allow you to customize photos you have downloaded from the web. They also allow you to choose the color and type of matting to give the illusion it is a framed picture or painting.

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