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

DO YOU WANT A STEREO HI-FI SYSTEM? OR A SURROUND SYSTEM? WHY NOT BOTH? • How hard is it to create a best-of-both-worlds hi-fi and home cinema solution?

BenQ W2720i HOME THEATRE PROJECTOR • BenQ puts smart Android streaming within a full-size home cinema projector; the combination makes for both powerful and convenient delivery.

EPSON EPIQVISION EF-22B SMART MINI PROJECTOR • Projection guru Epson delivers a small projector with a big vision at a nice price, sticking with 2K resolution but bringing Google smarts and built-in sound.

LEICA CINE PLAY 1 SMART MINI PROJECTOR • The German camera-maker’s second projector is smaller and smarter, and proves technically brilliant at delivering big-screen images wherever you choose to put it.

KALEIDESCAPE MOVIE PLATFORM & PLAYERS • The longstanding premium movie platform Kaleidescape is now officially available in Australia, and it comes with its own movie store. How does Kaleidescape work, and what does it deliver?

R_VOLUTION PLAYERONE 8K UNIVERSAL MEDIA PLAYER • Load in your movie collection and let R_volution index and identify it, then deliver it to your television and/or sound system at the best possible video and audio quality. And that’s just the start…

STEWART FILMSCREEN PHANTOM HALR HIGH AMBIENT LIGHT REJECTION PROJECTION SCREENS • When choosing a projection screen, take care to consider carefully the environment in which it will be used. With the right screen, the difference can be night and day…

CHOOSE BETWEEN A ONE-BOX SYSTEM OR HI-FI SEPARATES… • It turns out we need to declare an inherent bias on this question, having found seven reasons to sway you one way, and less than a handful the other.

DENON DP-450USB TURNTABLE WITH USB RECORDING • Sleek and black, nicely-priced, and loaded with neat features including very simple USB recording: Denon shows that after 100+ years it certainly hasn’t lost its turntable-making chops.

MARANTZ MODEL M1 WIRELESS STREAMING AMPLIFIER • Full-sized hi-fi performance from a compact box, with built-in app-controlled streaming and easy multiroom expansion: has Marantz here delivered a real high-performance little room player?

TRIANGLE CAPELLA WIRELESS ACTIVE SPEAKERS • The simplicity of these streaming active speakers is impressive, but it’s the sheer size of their performance which amazes all who hear them.

VIVID AUDIO KAYA S12 STANDMOUNT STEREO LOUDSPEAKERS • It’s Vivid Audio’s smallest speaker, with just 12 litres of internal space. Yet it loves going loud and it’s not short of bass. What’s its trick?

YAMAHA NS-2000A STEREO LOUDSPEAKERS • Glossy, slim, sounding as gorgeous as they look, these floorstanders remind the world that Yamaha knows more than a thing or two about the art of loudspeaker design and manufacture.

VAF SIGNATURE i93 MKV STEREO LOUDSPEAKERS • Meet the latest version of these Australian speakers that aim for the ultimate reproduction, honouring the artists and engineers who create music, to faithfully reproduce their recordings with true-to-life accuracy.

BOWERS & WILKINS ZEPPELIN PRO WIRELESS STREAMING SPEAKER • Bowers & Wilkins’ latest Zeppelin ‘Pro’ wireless speaker may be the greatest Zeppelin yet: the sound is improved with...