mike manning audio established 1989

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LAST MINUTE REDUCTIONS! We have secured a small quantity of Pioneer's stunning DVR545HX 160Gb DVD/HDD Recorders at a price which beats our local high street competitors.

Why go to the "sheds" and shell out £350 for the baby DVR440HX when only a little more will get you double the Hard Drive space, USB/HDMI/FIREWIRE connectivity and enhanced media support?

Visit our Yeovil branch now to grab a last minute bargain!

We had a quick sample of Moon's CD5.3 CD player and i5.3 integrated amplifier early last month (thanks to the team at Redline Distribution) and were left with big smiles across our faces!

They really do redefine what a one-box CD and integrated amplifier can achieve in a market which is normally dominated by pre/power amps and two-box Cd players.

If you fancy experiencing the big, bold and musical performance of this duo phone or call into our yeovil store now to book a demo!

A large gap was left in the market when Rega ceased production of the classic P2 turntable recently, and it looked like Project were going to have the entry level market to itself (with the Debut III).

However that is set to change with the suprise announcement from Rega that from the 9th of October the new P1 deck will make a splash on the market.

The new deck shares the same "no nonsense" engineering simplicity that they renowned for, i.e manual speed change/arm lift etc. In the package price (£200) you will get an Ortofon OM5e cartridge and the newly develpoed RB100 tonearm which makes this an enticing proposition for anyone who wants a QUALITY "plug n play" type vinyl solution.

JUST IN! We have recieved Velodyne's SPL-800R subwoofer and like the their renowned DD Series, it is a stunning example of beauty, brains and brawn. They have taken the original SPL Series II's 1000-watt RMS amps, long throw drivers, and compact, beautiful cabinets and added a 6-band automatic digital room equalizer with included mic, a remote control and full DSP control.

The result is a subwoofer that adapts to your room's décor and acoustic anomalies with performance that leaves others in its class in the dust.

We were rubbing our collective hands at the prospect of setting up a P42XHA58EB instore after being bowled over by it's performance at Cedia (Click here) this summer, and thankfully the performance exceeds even the mighty Pioneer XDE(fresh from the box and uncalibrated!).

The most significant improvement the Fujitsu gives is an amazing sense of depth/perspective to moving images (the waterfall scenes in Planet Earth make you feel light-headed if you fear heights!) and colour graduation appearing more natural to the point of not noticing!

With a final few tweaks to it's setup the 58 Series panels will provide the ULTIMATE Plasma Viewing experience!

Pioneer have taken the wraps off their latest plasma range, the 7G Series, and as predicted the range consists entirely of "one box" solutions styled around the highly successful 436SXE.

Two 42" models with Freeview will be available in September, the 427XD and 4270XD (analogue-only XA versions will be available too).

Both feature the latest 7G panels, CA slots for TopUpTV, Electronic programme guides (EPG), and integrated speakers. The 427XD has 2 HDMI inputs, a analogue PC input, a variable subwoofer output, SR control, Picture-in-picture/PAP modes and ISF C3 Colour management.

Topping off the range will be 2 50" models (XD and XA versions). Feature wise they follow the 427XD/XA but offer 4000:1 contrast ratios (compared to 3000:1) and speakers are wisely an OPTIONAL extra.

Click HERE for the PDF Spec Sheet on the 427XD

19th July 2006

With the launch of the RDV1092 and RSX1057 Rotel will be without doubt setting new benchmarks in performance.

Replacing the current RDV1060, the new dvd player brings improved performance via component video plus the ability to scale upto 1080P via it's v1.1 HDMI output. This will be interesting to sample as the market is flooded with cheap dvd players who's scaling capabilities REDUCE the quality of the picture as a whole!

Being a serious movie playback machine, formats such as Divx are NOT supported (MP3 playback being the only compressed format that gets a look in), thankfully the engineering has been channelled into giving exemplary DVD Video/Audio and CD replay.

The RSX1057 is an evolution of what is a stunning integrated AV reciever (the RSX1056). Rotel have made numorous detail changes to keep it ahead of the competition, additionally having HDMI switching means that it has a little more universal appeal as a central hub for your High Definition setup.

The replacements for the popular DVR433 and DVR530 DVD/HDD recorders have settled into the market now and it's good to see that they are starting to recieve the reviews that they deserve (What Video+High Definition August 2006).

Both DVR440HX and DVR540HX feature DVB Freeview tuners, Showview EPG for analogue (plus digital on the DVR540HX) timer recordings, and the CD Jukebox function that no other manufacturer seems to place highly or even offer!

Also their latest multi-drive means that format support is huge. DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+/- R DL, DVD-RAM (caddyless) are all catered for playback AND recording.

The DVR440HX sports a 80GB HDD, the DVR540HX doubles up to 160GB. A VERY important feature, that again other manufacturers don't really cater for, is the ability to VARY the bitrate (or quality) when transferring from HDD to DVD. This means that you can take a recording on the HDD and tweak the quality so it fits the DVD disc perfectly!

Pioneer have enjoyed considerable success in the budget DVD player market over the years (the 575A and 585A machines in particular), however with the unfortunate trend of lesser manufacturers slapping HDMI outputs on poor quality decks, Pioneer have released two new budget machines with great performance at their core while adding HDMI as a bonus.

The DV490V sports component and RGB scart outputs, plus provides support for MP3/WMA/JPEG/DivX/VCD/SVCD and CD/DVD R/RW.

The DV696AV goes a stage further by offering improved visuals and support for the Hi-resolution music via DVD Audio and SACD formats too.

The Brio amplifiers have always stood for affordable quality and now, thanks to a Series 3 update, also provide a step up in power and more importantly musicality.

Our Taunton branch has this gem instore now, so why not book a dem today?

STUNNING HARMAN KARDON PACKAGE DEAL
CLICK ON PICTURE ABOVE FOR FULL TECH' SPECS'

Harman Kardon's Digital Lounge System (comprising the beautiful DLHS500 DVD Player/Reciever, DLHT32 LCD HD Ready TV, and DLHKTS11 speaker package) is in store now and looking just as gorgeous as it did at the recent Cedia Expo.

To celebrate the launch we have, for a limited time, a great package deal combining the system with Logitech's Harmony 885 Universal remote!

Just phone for further details!

Coming from Harman you can expect a quality performance to back up the impressive specs:

29th June 2006

BBC HD Broadcast on Dem In-Store NOW!

We now have the BBC's HD Preview station running in-store allowing you to evaluate the picture quality of what you will actually recieve, rather than relying on the 'generated' footage used by the high street multiples. Currently this preview channel is covering selected Wimbledon and World Cup matches which is great tester for the service.

Our opinion on what has been shown is VERY favourable, the level of detail and almost silky handling of skin tones on the Wimbledon coverage is stunning, even though currently they are broadcasting in the inferior 1080i standard (720p has more lines of information per frame and improved fine detail in motion sequences).

It's also good to see that the BBC are trying to clear up the confusion over 'HD' in the public's eyes (click on 'HD' to view a recent BBC report)

Quadraspire 'SILENCERS' now in stock.
If you don't agree with us about the BIG improvement that these little equipment (etc) stands can produce...then bring them back in their box for a full refund.

Full mail order on these wicked little gems. Two types available. 'Silencer 20' at £20 per set and 'Silencer 50' at £50 per set.

PHONE us (on our Yeovil number) with your credit card and we'll pop a set in the post for you today! You are bound to come back for more.

Phone: 01935-479361 or 07966-415712..
or E-MAIL US for more details

Rotel 06 and 10 Series Components Coming SOON!

Rotel have spent an enormous amount of time maximising the performance and value for money offered by their new 06 Series range. With the O2 Series having been on the market since 2002, without any rivals really challenging their musicality, the 06 Series has a LOT to live up to!

The line-up consists of:

RA-04/05/06 Integrated Amplifiers, RDC-06 CD, RT-06 DAB/FM/AM Tuner and the RC-06/RB-06 Pre/Power amplifiers.

Also imminent are the mouthwatering new 10 Series digital power amplifiers, the Mono RB-1091 and Stereo RB-1092. Using Rotel's Class D Technology (implemented tremendously in the RMB-1077 7 Channel Power amp recently), the RB-1092 was summed up by Ken Kessler (in Hifi News) by stating "The trouble this amp could cause if we stopped worrying about brand names".

Praise indeed, the fact that Class D also allows 2x500W into 8 Ohms is merely the icing on the cake!

28th February 2006

The new PIONEER ALL-IN-ONE 43" Plasma TV now in stock. See 'TELEVISIONS etc' page for more details.

28th February 2006