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Panasonic Pro 58 Plasma
Panasonic Pro has had among the better plasmas out there for many years. It has vivid color and good black levels. The quality is a nice notch above the super store strata.
They build plasmas without speakers and tuners- hence all your money goes to the panel and scaler- giving you a conspicuously good picture for a fair price. These are designed for home enthusiasts like us that will have cable or DSS (you won’t need a tuner in the plasma), and an outboard sound system (you don’t have to pay for Dixie Cup speakers built in!).
How much difference is there between a Panasonic Pro and a discount
line plasma? I think quite a bit. The next time you’re at
Panasonic has just brought out the 58” version for $4k. It’s a nice price on a very nice plasma. 33 1/4h, 55 1/4w, 3 7/8d, 120 lbs. With a plasma this large, bye bye rear projection! Other models:
37” $2200, 42” $2400, 50” $3400, 65” $12,000, 103” $70,000.
What is ART?
ART stands for Abbey Road Technology. You’ll see it on many remastered CDs out there. One of the main series I found it on is EMI’s Great Recordings of the Century Series.
EMI has been among the proud purveyors of great classical music for many years. EMI has decided to go through its archives and release “definitive” accounts of great performances.
For example, among
the most dazzling pianists since Franz Liszt is Georges Cziffra. Cziffra has a blazingly
fast and exciting performance of the most popular Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies. It was
recorded in stereo in 1975. EMI feels it is THE REFERENCE recording of these works and has
remastered it at
Part of Abbey Road Technology is being mastered and remastered on B&W speakers. The top engineers and musical minds at EMI have chosen speakers that you might have in your livingroom, to trust these timeless recordings with!
A Great Start!
You haven’t decided on which speakers you want to end up with. There are about 300 brands out there and you’re just not sure. {We are- B&W or Paradigm!} You’ve got some shopping to do. But you know you want some really nice gear in front of those speakers. You’d like some terrific stuff in front of them that will drive almost any speaker you’ll ever own.
So what do you buy to set the table? Well, The Absolute Sound likes a Transport and DAC combo for $30k, and an integrated amp for $37k. Thanks fellas, great research, keen ears!
Let us suggest a serious listen to the new Rotel separates!
The Rotel RCD-1072 CD player at $700 is one of audio’s best values. The rave reviews are industry wide. It’s clean, quiet and has a nice soundstage. You can beat it for a lot more money, but not by much- start here.
The Rotel RC-1082 preamp at $1200 is hot off the presses. With discrete circuitry, including remote, phono and IPOD input on the front, this preamp is “Bryston-like” for a fair buck less. The bass foundation is formidable. The soundstage is clear and broad.
The Rotel RB-1072 power amp at $900 offers 100 w/ch of Bang & Olufsen based ICE amp performance. Not many of us really need more power than this and the level of clarity is among the finest at any price! The RB-1072 will drive all but the priciest speakers we sell.
This trio of great products runs only $2800. With any luck, you’ll have a few bucks left over for some great speakers. A commensurate choice would be B&W’s new 683 for $1400pr featuring their lauded FST mid driver. For $4200 you’ve put together a killer system competitive with just about anything out there! Use Kimber Timbre Interconnects and 4TC speaker wire- consider the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.