You just spent your hard-earned money on a new home theatre projector or a new OLED television. 

So, why is the grass blue? 

In a home cinema, picture quality is everything. Calibrating contrast, brightness, colour and sharpness is not most people’s idea of a good night in – get someone to visit any picture menu during a movie and you’re bound to get a barrage of groans.

But while not most of people’s favourite activity, calibrating your television or home theatre projector properly is rather important. A correctly calibrated TV or home theatre projector will create a much more natural image that is more pleasing to the eye, and may — depending on its light output afterward — draw less power and even last longer. 

Amplifiers are the beating heart of the audiovisual set-up. But they also have a habit of confusing the hell out of people.  Don’t despair, we’ll give you some insight in the world of amplifiers; make sure you know what is what when the time is right for your next purchase. And while we are at it, there is something we really need to discuss with you in regards to this topic. We sort of think you are going to thanks us for it, as the industry is playing some cheeky tricks on you.  We’ll bring you up to date and explain to you how to go about it.

‘I am debating between floor standing speakers and bookshelf speakers. I honestly don’t know which would be better for a home theatre….  I’m sure there is a reason why people choose one over the other, but I don’t know what it is.’-Ray Does this sound like you? You are not alone. Many people seem to have trouble deciding. The answer may not be as clear cut as you might think. Our solution: time to dedicate a blog on the topic. The straight answer- you guessed it: it depends.

High-Res audio is supposed to be the be all and end all in digital music.  

But what does the little gold and black ‘Hi-Res Audio’ logo mean. Is Hi-Res Audio really such a big deal? Should you pay attention to it? How is it different to other digital music files? And what do you need to listen to it? 

When buying a pair of headphones, people tend to have a pretty good idea of the style of headphone they want. Whether it is a pair of in-ear, on-ear, around-ear headphones; whether to go wired or wireless and whether to opt for such extra features as active noise-cancellation to help muffle ambient noise. Oh, and then there’s price. Everybody has a budget.

But unbeknownst to most people, choices go a bit further than that. Knowledge is the key to getting it right, so here’s what you may need to consider, before getting out the credit card.  

We’re a rather lucky bunch at Rapallo. We get to play with the best ‘toys’ available in the market, test them, compare them and show them off to our customers. The last few weeks, thanks to the good folks at JVC, Epson and Optoma, we have been able to see with our own eyes what is happening in the world of projectors. Let’s just say things are moving in projector world.

This week, we received the first production model to hit NZ shores of the Optoma UHD65 4K UHD DLP projector. We were sceptical, as we had never really been impressed with the price/quality point of DLP projectors before. Add to that that the BenQ 4K UHD projectors were a disappointment. So…. how did the even cheaper Optoma fare?

As you would expect us to do, we are constantly keeping up with what is happening in the industry: talking to suppliers, reading up on forums, testing new gear, visiting trade shows when time and budget allows, researching and learning (always!) new insights, and obviously keeping an eye on reviews and how to guides that are out there.

One of the articles that caught our eye was an article on ‘three awesome audio controls’ that was put out by Crutchfield (a massive USA retailer of AV gear amongst lots of other electronics). Well, believe it or not but their top 3 picks happen to be exactly our pick of the bunch.

A coincidence? We should think not! Of course, we need to share it with you… and add our own comments and thoughts.

Bass is the problem-child of the acoustics family. It’s unruly and difficult to handle. Which is why you might bump into all sorts of advice around bass management.

One of the most often recommended measures is the use two or even more subwoofers to handle unruly bass. While you might assume this is for added SPL, the greatest benefit will actually be taming the stroppy sibling with smoother and more consistent bass response as a result.

How to go about it? Let’s be clear: there is no 2 minute solution. But if you allow the time and effort, the rewards will be absolutely worth it. 

Rapallo’s new kid on the block Deano is making investments. Not in real estate or some fancy overseas bond. No, he’s putting some money towards his ever-evolving audio room. Not that it was in the plans.

Sometimes good audio equipment just finds you, rather than the other way around.

Here’s what happened: As part of his ‘training’, long-term audiophile Deano has made it a habit to take some of our demo material home for an in-depth familiarization with the products. After all, it is important for us to know the ins and outs of the products we recommend to our customers.

This is the story of how a pair of the ELAC BS403’s unexpectedly found a permanent place in his set-up. 

It’s been a good while since we published our first blog about wireless speakers. It is one of these areas that still has a plenty of room for growth (read ‘improvement’), which as a consequence means that things tend to move at a rather fast pace.

And they certainly do. Are we there yet? Nope, not by a mile. But we believe things are definitely progressing.

It has come to our attention that more and more customers ask for a wireless multi-room system when they come to us with their building or renovation plans or after they have purchased a new home.

So, it’s time to have another look at where we are at with wireless speakers of all kinds. What are our findings and recommendations? And how do you decide on what might work best for your situation and budget?