Every year, ultimate AV gives their kudos to products they think stand out from the crowd. The first thing upon seeing the list, of course, is to check if any of your stuff is on it. I’m glad to say that in the past my Linn 5140 and 5120 speakers have indeed made the list, but the rest of my system sadly never did.

This year’s award for the top video projector, unsurprisingly, goes to the Sony Qualia 004. This SXRD front projector retails for $30k, so it better be good! It also won product of the year. For a little bit of a surprise, the gold award went to another Sony projector - the VPL-HS51 Cineza. At almost a tenth of the price, coming in at $3500, it packs great value for the money.

As far as television/video monitors go, ultimate AV gave the nod to the JVC HD-52Z575 D-ILA, which retails for $4495. It’s 52″ inch LCOS-based RPTV with a resolution of 1280 x 720.

Would you choices have been any different?

ultimate AV - Ultimate AV Editors’ Choice Awards 2005