Dw318 Optoma Projector

I guess most people buy their TV's because they're nice? They fit their budget, they like the picture, and they've got the right connections? Well I'm sorry, but unless it's under £500 and over 100 inches, I'm not really interested. Projectors offer such amazing wow factor for such little outlay that it beggars belief that they're not more popular than TV's. Yes, admittedly, they take much more setting up and commitment than your normal 'plonk it on the sideboard' and 'plug it in' flatscreen TV. And granted, in a bright room, the picture quality is nowhere near as good as a backlit LCD, Plasma or LED. Come to think of it, I understand why they're not more popular, but c'mon, my argument started well. In fact, this DW318 that I use is set up in a spare room. My room. Hooked up to my Xbox, a 5.1 surround sound Amp and DVD player and it's a fully fledged Cinema room. Racing games on it just feel immense, or perhaps immersive is a better word to use. Racing around a full scaled Nurburgring can see hours eroded from my life. The DW318 is 720p, But 1080p projectors can now be found for sub £1000. It has a number of inputs and even has it's own (totally useless) speaker in it for HDMI audio. Picture quality is superb compared to my old VGA projector there's little in the way of distortion, motion blur, and blacks look dark, yet detailed. Yes at 100 inches plus, you can, close up, clearly see the pixels, but sit yourself a good 6ft back and the picture is bigger (relatively speaking) than your local cinema screen.   The Dw318 is 3D capable, but you'll either need an Nvidia 3D ready Computer, or a £280 3D convertor box to take a 3D feed from your 3D bluray player or Xbox. Movie nights take on a whole new meaning, popcorn becomes essential. If you have anywhere in your house, a spare room where a fold down futon could do as a spare bed, if you have any chance of creating your own mini cinema, do it, do it now, you won't regret it.

Logitech remotes

If you haven't got round to the 21st century way of controlling your AV equipment yet. Let me help make your life a lot easier. Lets examine the situation currently. You want to watch a Sky Movie in surround sound on your kick ass system? You turn the TV on with one remote, or you use your sky remote, then your sky box. You perhaps have another remote, for your amplifier. So you turn that on too. The TV is on the freeview channel, (or it's auto switched) so you select AV and sky shows on the screen. You get your amp remote again as you were last playing a computer game, and you select the right input and you hear sound. Ok, so maybe your setup works a little better than this, but it happens in some households. It's barely an exaggeration as such; it could happen.
If this does sound familiar. Then you really ought to invest in a Logitech Remote. I have a pretty basic 525 which I picked up from Richer sounds for around £30 on clearance. Then I went and bought another for the cinema room. The logitech remotes use 'activities'. For example 'Watch Sky' could be one of them. The device is programmed using a pretty slick application available on Mac or PC. Once it's programmed, you simply click the "Watch Sky" and thats when the magic happens. Leave the remote on the arm of the chair, and watch it turn on your TV, Skybox and Amp. Then it'll switch your Amp to the right input, and switch your Tv to the right input. Then the remote customises itself for the 'activity' based on what you told it. The volume keys control your amp. The menu keys work the skybox, and programmable keys do whatever you want them to. Seriously, it's that simple, learn how to use the programming application and you can make the remote do whatever you want it to. Great piece of hardware, each and every one of them. The only criticism I have is that my cheap one feels cheap, it creaks a little, but otherwise, it's damn near perfect.

Venturi Mini

There are a vast quantity of FM transmitters for streaming music to your car stereo. I've tested vast amounts of them, and all in all, most of them are utterly appalling. Even he devices with 'smart scan' which supposedly scans the whole FM airwaves to find the frequency with the least radio traffic on it rarely produces music that doesn't subsequently evoke anger and less enjoyment of the music. A few years ago, this device fell into my hands and I was lucky enough to acquire a prototype unit to test. The unit has a button on the left which puts it in FM Tune Radio mode, which allows you to select the frequency to use. There is no smart scan, thats for you to decide. Choose a white hiss frequency and marry the two up. The button on the top right allows you to pair the device up with your mobile and there is also the option to download your phone book to the device. So far I've not found a device it won't work with. Once connected the unit will automatically pair with your phone and transmit on the frequency you choose. Tune your radio and you're ready to roll. Press and hold the number button on your car stereo and this is your new handsfree car kit. The unit has a superb mic in it, which picks up your voice when an incoming call comes in, and the callers voice comes out through your car stereo. Press the music button on the top left and you can, hit the green play button to play the last song you were listening to on your smartphone. Scroll the wheel in the middle to skip tracks. hit the call button and you bring up the phonebook. Scroll through the letters with the wheel and the names display on your radio display. Seriously, it's like a fully fitted (expensive) car kit for under £100. I love this device so much I got a second one for my wife. Of course, we've changed our cars a couple of times in the past few years and we've not had to bother finding cars with Handsfree kits, because, well, we've got these and they work brilliantly. If you want, you can also feed a 3.5mm aux in from an ipod or similar device. There's also a USB port that you can use for charing your device.

Bose IE2 (MIE2) and new SIEi2

I used to have Monster beats in ear headphones (iBeats), but to be frank, they never really felt quite as good as my older much cheaper senheiser CX300's. The CX300's were much lighter and much more comfortable and offered very similar sound quality. Then I found the Bose IE2's. These really were like a breath of fresh air. The sound quality from these in ear headphones is like nothing I've heard before. Public Service Announcements 'Spitfire' made me duck as the sound of the spitfire flies through the middle of your ears. Bass is well produced, detail is incredible, the sound is both wide and open. They sound more like listening to a hi-fi than in ear headphones. They don't isolate noise, they are not advertised as, nor do they, eliminate noise. Considering that they're about the same price as the iBeats, they blow theym away in every respect. The 'stayhear' earbuds, take a bit of getting used to, but they do hold the earphones in place exceptionally well and they're so comfortable that you can genuinely forget that they're in place. I've had the misfortune of pulling on the cords a couple of times, snagging it on bike handlebars once, but they've taken the beating well. I've had these a good six months and they're easily the best I've ever owned. I'll never go back to in ear headphones these are simply in a different league. Bose have moved the world of in ear sound quality up a level or three.

Edifier MP300 portable speakers.

These speakers are marginally larger than golf balls. The sound that they produce, brings a smile to my face every time I play any music of any type on them. They are not big enough to be used as a main stereo set, but when purchased with the case, they offer the best in terms of portable sound that I've ever heard. The detail is tremendous, the stereo separation and overall soundstage is an absolute delight. Every time I have played these, the listener has always commented on how amazing they are, for the size of the units. On holiday earlier this year, they were played in a marble villa and they filled the whole house up with loud, detailed music. Even outside for a BBQ, they did a really decent job! The leads are pretty short, but I think if the speakers were moved too far away, it may upset the balance of the sound. On a desktop for a Laptop or used in a small bedroom, I think, for the money, that you would struggle to find anything half as good as these. I sell Sonos and Bose speaker docks, for 7-10 times as much as these can be picked up for, and I have to say, hand on heart, honestly, these sound significantly better. The one critisism is that they need to be switched on with the volume button, like I say, the leads are short and tangle easily, but apart from that, these are the best small speaker, in my opinion, on sale today.