CES 2014

Dynaudio has rethought its Excite line, of which the smallest member is the X14 ($1500/pair). Just about every part has been overhauled, including the one-inch silk dome tweeter, said to have 65 percent more usable surface area than a typical same-sized driver; and a 5.25-inch proprietary woofer made of magnesium silicate polymer. Yes, there's a matching horizontal center, the X24 ($1000). There's not an Excite sub as such but Dynaudio suggests the 10-inch Sub 250. All shipping end of January.

Let’s face it, square and rectangular speakers are boring. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all, which is why I did a double take as I walked past the Edifier booth and spotted a row of colorful and stylish e25 Luna Eclipse speakers. How refreshing, though I had to admit the Luna reminded me of one of those egg chairs from the’60s, and in a setting right out of 2001: A Space Odyssey to boot.

Eton has made a name for itself with its extreme audio products. If you need a portable radio, an emergency radio, a solar-powered speaker, or even a crank-powered radio, Eton probably has just what you're looking for. Now they have something new in their outdoorsy lineup.

While most press conferences here at CES are geared towards big, life-changing electronics, there is a growing segment of conferences and products devoted to kids and families. While most companies target products to women by making them smaller and well, cuter, other companies are recognizing that moms also purchase serious technology to make their lives easier. Another oft-overlooked segment is the educational and children’s technology market.

After a week of CES buffet food, I could probably stand to lose a few pounds. Maybe I should strap on some Fitness Technologies gear and go for a swim. FT specializes in sports electronics, offering three small players, each with a different wrinkle, and each advertised as "the world's smallest." In addition, to being small, the players are also waterproof. And when FT says "waterproof," they mean it; these players can be submerged in up to 10 feet of water (IPX8 rating). Swim, sail, surf, kayak, snorkel, ski, jog, scuba - you get the picture.

French speaker company Focal made its entry into the burgeoning soundbar market at 2014 CES with the clever two-piece Dimension system, comprising a parallelogram-shaped soundbar and optional matching subwoofer. The slender soundbar, which is only 3 inches deep and made of aluminum, can be used alone and mounted to the wall (bracket included) or mated with the 4.5-inch-deep “vibration-free” subwoofer to form a TV platform. Both pieces are 61 inches wide, making them appropriate for use with screens 50 inches or larger.

The soundbar plays down to 50 Hz and uses five, “ultra-flat” 4-inch drivers to keep the enclosure depth to a minimum. Highlights include “acoustic integration” settings to optimize performance and two HDMI jacks plus optical and analog inputs. The subwoofer, with two elliptical woofers in a push-pull configuration, is rated down to 30 Hz. A built-in six-channel amplifier delivers 450 watts of system power.

The Dimension soundbar is expected to sell for $1,400 when it becomes available later this year; the companion subwoofer will sell for $500.

Dolby Atmos, a new object-oriented surround standard, was perhaps the biggest audio story at CEDIA, with speaker and receiver makers both unveiling Atmos enabled products. At GoldenEar Technology that was the HTR 7000 ceiling speaker ($500/each), which angles sound at the downward angle recommended by Dolby. There were four of them running along with GoldenEar's world-beating Triton One tower in front, SuperCenter XL, and smaller Triton Two in the rear, powered by a combination of Pass and NAD amps fed by an Integra pre-pro. One of the cool things about Atmos is that the ceiling speakers are fed with genuine spatial information specified by the mixer, as opposed to fake height channels derived from other channels. Combined with GoldenEar's signature folded ribbon tweeter, this made for strong height effects, which were especially striking in the Dolby demo material. A scene from Transformers: Age of Extinction showed off the system's dynamic prowess, including the folded ribbon tweeters' ability to remain coherent at high volumes.