As the year winds down and the industry slows down (slightly) to reflect on the year that was and the year ahead, we are taking a look back at the top stories of 2025. These are the most-read stories that were published since January 1, 2025. This edition details the most-read reviews and offers some stories that our editors thought deserved more attention.

By John Sciacca The Arc Ultra and Sub 4 also reflect an expedited release cycle in Sonos’ product launches. The original Playbar, released more than a decade ago back in 2013, was in the lineup for seven years, while the Arc had just a four-year run. And short of just throwing a “2” on the name the way Sonos likes to do, the Ultra moniker indicates this is a new beast rather than just a follow-on. And, by God, it is.

By John Sciacca At this price, performance, and feature set, the JVC DLA-NZ500 sets a new benchmark for sub-$10,000 projectors and should be on a very short list of projectors to consider at that price.

By John Sciacca Is the new BRAVIA 8 worth the upgrade? TL/DR, yes! But you’ll need to read on to find out exactly why it is better…

By John Sciacca Don’t let the size fool you; the MRX SLM is a full-featured AVR, packing in the build quality and virtually every feature and configuration option that you’d expect from its bigger Anthem brothers.

By John Sciacca If you walked the vast majority of people into a room with these playing, they would be gobsmacked by the amount and quality of sound coming from nowhere and everywhere.

Some randomly selected stories that deserve a second look.

By Anthony Savona For a good portion of the industry, the desire to join the design team has been a relatively recent push that evolved with the addition of lighting fixtures to the equipment arsenal, providing integrators with an even greater reason to have a seat at the table. Navot Shoresh, founder and owner of Spire Integrated, however, recognized the value of partnerships with those trades decades ago and has since cultivated prosperous relationships with interior designers and architects — as well as builders and electricians — resulting in some of the finest luxury homes in the Michigan area.

By Katye McGregor Bennett A friend recently shared details of their visit to a high-end technology integration showroom designed to showcase the latest in high-end audio, video, and smart home innovations. This particular showroom offered all the comforts of modern living, where everything from lighting to climate control could be adjusted with a simple voice command or command on a touchscreen. Sadly, what they experienced was an unexpectedly frustrating encounter that underscored a critical flaw in the world of smart technology: A simplified user experience often takes a back seat to a razzle-dazzle demo. The culprit? A smart toilet in a beautifully appointed bathroom.

By Peter Romaniello, IALD We’re about 10 years into having lighting integrated within the AV industry, and I have spoken to — and worked with — many integrators in that time. The feedback that I often get from them is that lighting takes a tremendous amount of time to get right, which is certainly true. To help custom installers get it right quicker, I am going to outline the three phases of a lighting project and present some of the more common pitfalls and roadblocks you will face in them, along with how to overcome these challenges.

By Anthony Savona In August 2020, Tianna Krause and her husband, Keoni, bought a six-acre property in Maui, Hawaii, that they intended to use to build their dream home. While plans got underway, they first built a few smaller structures to live in. Construction on the main home was set to begin when the Maui wildfires struck on August 8, 2023. The Krause property became a gathering point for those in need. “The fires made us want to build our home faster because we weren’t sure what was going to happen,” says Tianna. So, they got down to work, bringing on Derek Pace and the team at Certified Sounds to handle the technology from the very start.