Best Buys – Audio & AV

Best Buys Audio & AV is loaded to the gills with authoritative reviews on all types of hi-fi and home theatre products, from wireless speakers to valve amplifiers, AV projectors and streaming computer audio – it’s a must-read for those looking to assemble or upgrade their home entertainment systems. By publishing easy-to-read, well researched reviews, Best Buys Audio & AV provides at-a-glance summaries together with detailed reviews by Australia’s most experienced hi-fi and AV teams from Sound+Image and Australian Hi-Fi magazines.

Best Buys – Audio & AV

EPSON PROJECTORS HOME CINEMA SOLUTIONS, FROM LITTLE TO LARGE • Choosing the right projector is a case of knowing your needs and then accommodating your budget. Epson’s home cinema range offers everything from smart convenience through to a high-end projector capable of delivering a mega-massive 22-metre-wide image.

KALEIDESCAPE STRATO E MOVIE PLAYER & PLATFORM • Top-notch movie playback quality, lossless Atmos audio, and a fast-track to Hollywood: Kaleidescape’s longstanding premium movie platform has a new 4K player and a proper Australian movie store. How does it all work?

LEICA CINE PLAY 1 SMART MINI PROJECTOR • The legendary camera-maker proves it can deliver big-screen projection images as thrillingly as its cameras deliver small ones. And one price has just been slashed.

LEICA CINE 1 ‘CINEMA TV’ Best

HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT SCREEN FOR YOUR ROOM • Different screen surfaces exist to service different scenarios. Understanding the differences will allow your projection system to perform at its best, writes Visual Fidelity’s screen guru Paul Kutcher.

TCL 65C8K 4K MINILED TELEVISION • Every year TVs get better, HDR performance gets brighter. Here comes a TCL EISA award-winner in sizes up to 98 inches; we got to know the 65-inch C8K, which can hit profound peaks of 4500 nits.

BOWERS & WILKINS ZEPPELIN PRO WIRELESS STREAMING SPEAKER • Bowers & Wilkins’ latest Zeppelin ‘Pro’ wireless speaker is the greatest Zeppelin yet. The sound is improved with in-house drivers, and the price is now highly attractive against pricier competitors.

DENON CEOL N12 MINI SYSTEM WITH CD PLAYER, RADIO TUNERS & HEOS STREAMING • Mini/micro systems have come a long way since the big flashy plastic all-in-ones of the last century. Denon’s CEOL system brings an astounding array of modern sources, and knows how to handle them.

AUDIO-TECHNICA AT-LPA2 TURNTABLE, WITH AUDIO-TECHNICA OC9XEN MOVING-COIL CARTRIDGE • Acrylic plinth, acrylic platter — clearly an attractive turntable, and blessed with a high-quality moving-coil cartridge. Is this the deck to tempt you back to black?

MUSICAL FIDELITY B1xi INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER • Part rebirthed classic amplifier of the past, part all-new potentially classic amplifier for today, the B1xi does everything we could have hoped for, in addition to reminding us that music should be fun.

WATTSON AUDIO MADISON LOUNGE EDITION STREAMER/DAC • Welcome to the wonderful world of Wattson’s unusual hi-fi component designs. Strange as this streamer may look, the sound emerging from it was simply first-class.

WATTSON AUDIO MADISON POWER AMPLIFIER STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER • If you liked the look of the preceding streamer, you’ll be primed to consider matching it (kinda) with this high-end amplifier from the same Swiss company.

MOFI ELECTRONICS SOURCEPOINT 8 STANDMOUNT STEREO LOUDSPEAKERS • ‘Rock star’ speaker designer Andrew Jones has delivered a whole range of ‘SourcePoint’ (coaxial)-led speakers for vinyl company MoFi. This one is a blinder.

RICHTER DRAGON S7 SPECIAL EDITION FLOORSTANDING STEREO SPEAKERS • The new Series 7SE version of these Australian-designed legends do not disappoint — they deliver 21st-century aesthetics while maintaining the brand’s...