Theo Nicolakis

Theo Nicolakis has been reviewing high end audio, video, home theater, headphone, and portable music products for the past 14 years. His reviews have appeared here on Audioholics as well as Techhive.com, PCWorld.com, MacWorld.com, and more. 

His reviews span high end two-channel and home theater systems, AVRs and immersive audio processors, headphones, DACs, DAPs, music servers, sound bars, and display technologies.  His breadth and depth of experience encompasses midrange systems to six-figure luxury systems.

Theo maintains two 7.x.6 Dolby Atmos/DTS:X/Auro-3D setups, a 4.1 setup; a whole-house, multi-zone distributed audio system; and multi-protocol streaming setups with Roon, AirPlay, and Chromecast. He has extensive experience with Anthem Room Correction (ARC),  Audyssey MultEQ-X, and DIRAC room correction solutions.

Theo holds a Master of Science in Management and Systems from NYU.  A 30-year veteran technologist, he has deployed global data and AV networks over IP; designed mobile apps and web portals; rolled out cloud-based infrastructures; and designed global streaming media solutions. He’s our resident Roon expert and go-to for steaming audio.

Theo has a wide range of musical tastes an enjoys U2, The Police, Rush, Alicia Keys, Dido, Adele, Sarah Bareilles, Sade, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, John Williams, James Horner, and Dominique Fils-Aimé, among countless others.

Theo is an avid Marvel and Star Wars fan. When he’s not listening to music or getting lost in a good movie, he enjoys hockey, skating, cycling, baseball, football, drawing, or kicking back to a good fantasy novel.

Theo’s reference audio and home theater systems:

Theo runs separate 7.4.6 and 7.2.6 Dolby Atmos and DTS:X reference systems. His reference components consist of:

Free-standing Loudspeakers:

• Revel Ultima2 Salons
• RBH SVTR Towers
• SVS Ultra
• RSL CG5

Subwoofers:

1. Perlisten D212s
2. RBH-1212NR
3. SVS SB16-Ultra

AVR and Processors:

1. Anthem AVM 90
2. Denon X8500HA

Architectural Speakers:

1. Focal IWLCR 1000 series
2. Focal 300 series
3. Revel
4. Atlantic Technology

Amplification

1. Benchmark AHB2
2. Monoprice 8250x
3. Monoprice Monolith 7
4. Lexicon CX7

Video Displays

1. JVC DLA-3100 (DLA-NZ8) BluEscent Laser Projector
2. Sony 80K 77-inch OLED
3. Vizio P-Series Quantum

Projection Screen

• StudioTek 130 G4 acoustically transparent screen

Power Products

1. Bryston BIT20

1. PS Audio Humbuster III
2. Emotiva CMx2+
3. Panamax

Headphones:

1. Focal Cle ar MG
2. Mark Levinson No. 5909
3. Oppo PM-2
4. Bowers & Wilkins PX7

Media servers and streaming services

1. Roon Nucleus Server
2. Cambridge Audio CXNv2
3. Qobuz
4. Apple Music

Equipment Rack Solutions 

1. Salamander Designs