CEDIA 2009

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CEDIA 2009

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

JVC surprised me with the intro of a 3D-capable LCD TV. The 46-inch GD-463D10 uses circular polarization and passive polarized glasses to achieve the 3D effect, which uses alternate lines on the screen for each eye, effectively cutting the vertical resolution in half. It can also display 1080p at full resolution in 2D. The GD-463D10 is available now for $8995. I thought the demo looked pretty good, but not good enough to change my mind about preferring a good 2D image.

CEDIA 2009

The Procella Story, Continued: Now You Can Buy Them

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

More on Procella: "You can't buy them" -- that's what visiting engineers used to be told by the denizens of the DTS testing room in Europe. That is what inspired the Procella folks to go into the speaker business. Following a third-generation redesign, now you can buy them. Shown is the P8, bolted on the P15, and don't call the latter a subwoofer. It's a "powered bass unit" that goes down to 40Hz at a thundering 126dB.

CEDIA 2009

Integra Receiver Is PC Savvy

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

Look closely at the upper righthand corner of the Integra DTR-80.1 receiver back panel and you'll see a VGA input for your PC, a relative rarity. With nine amp channels (and 11 sets of binding posts) it's armed for bear. You might use those extra channels for width or height speakers, thanks to Audyssey DSX, or for height via Dolby Pro Logic IIz. Also shown were two other receivers and two preamp-processors. Integra products are sold through custom integrators only. See press release for pricing and further details.

CEDIA 2009

Trufig Makes Custom Fixtures Almost Disappear

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 10, 2009 | 3 comments

Trufig is a new brand from the founders of Sonance. Its job is to make touchscreens, lightswitches, and other custom installable goodies practically disappear into the wall, as you can see in the pic -- old-style fixtures at right, disappearing ones at left. It was inspired by the after-the-fact design process that's been taking place when Sonance's architectural speakers come up against the wishes of architects and interior designers. The things being made to disappear are not actually Sonance or Trufig products but things like Crestron touchscreens and Lutron light fixtures. Starting at $300 for a single-gang fixture, Trufig is not cheap, but it will presumably find its way into the high-end custom install market.

CEDIA 2009

Monster Makes HDMI Thin and Fast

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 10, 2009 | 1 comments

The continued flattening of video displays makes bulky premium HDMI cable look ever more like an anachronism. That's why Monster Cable has introduced the SuperThin HDMI cable. It's 75 percent thinner than Monster's usual HDMIs. A sexy swivel adapter further enhances its flexibility -- and, by the way, Monster's flat-panel screen mounts are now less than a half-inch thick. Another Monster product is billed as the world's fastest HDMI cable, carrying 21Gbps up to 50 feet, with the help of active circuitry from Gennum. Monster's Noel Lee: "Consumers need to be freed from the fear of obsolescence." After all, with analog cables, "you never had to worry about your cables expiring." More Monster news covered uninterruptible power supplies, powerline conditioners, high-end Turbine earbuds, and other headphone lines. They don't call this company Monster for nothing. Ever the party animal, Monster always throws a party at major shows, and this year's CEDIA party will be called "The Recession's Almost Over Party." That's the kind of attitude we like.

CEDIA 2009

Pioneer Project ET

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 3 comments

Atlantic Technology isn't the only company with a concept product at CEDIA. Pioneer is showing its Project ET (Entertainment Tap), a networking paradigm that could be incorporated into a real product by next year. The Linux-based box being demonstrated at the show holds a 1TB (terabyte) hard disk, optical drive that can read Blu-ray, DVD, and CD as well as burn DVD and CD, HDMI I/O, and USB and RS-232 ports; in fact, up to 128 USB devices can be connected, including more hard disks.

CEDIA 2009

Pioneer THX-Certified Class-D AVRs

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

Pioneer has no new A/V receivers at the show, but it did announce that several Elite AVRs are now THX-certified. What's the big deal about that, you ask? These are the first products with Class D digital amplifiers to receive such certification. Also newly THX-certified is the BDP-09 Blu-ray player.

CEDIA 2009

Pioneer THX-Certified Architectural Speakers

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 2 comments

Completing Pioneer's THX story at CEDIA is the newly announced certification of its Elite EX series of architectural speakers. As a result, the company now offers THX-certified products that encompass the entire signal path from Blu-ray player through A/V receiver to speakers.

CEDIA 2009

Projectiondesign Kroma Redux

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 1 comments

I blogged about this LED-illuminated DLP projector before the show, but now I've seen a demo, which looked great on a Da-Lite Affinity screen (0.95 gain), even with some ambient light. The LEDs are claimed to have a 100,000-hour lifespan, which corresponds to 12 or 13 years of normal use. Colors looked quite natural thanks to the advanced calibration process that assures an accurate color gamut and grayscale.

CEDIA 2009

Projectiondesign Helios Redux

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

The demo of Projectiondesign's 3-chip DLP Helios was mighty impressive on a 2.35:1, 11-foot-wide Da-Lite Affinity screen. The clip was from <I>10,000 B.C.</I>, an eminently forgettable movie that was chosen because it was color-graded on a Projectiondesign projector. The dual-lamp Helios was at its minimum lamp and iris settings to accommodate the screen, which means it can easily fill a screen up to 16 feet wide. Like the Kroma, the Helios produced very natural skin tones and razor-sharp detail.

CEDIA 2009

Projectiondesign Quantum

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

I hadn't heard of the Quantum before the show. This is Projectiondesign's "entry level" projector, which should be shipping next month for roughly $11,750, depending on the selected lens. It's small but mighty with a 220W UHP lamp and high-quality optics.

CEDIA 2009

Wisdom L100i/C150i Redux

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

After blogging about these in-wall speakers before the show, I was eager to hear them for myself. The demo consisted of some CD selections in 2.1 (using the new SCS subwoofer, about which more in the next post), multichannel audio from DVD concert videos, and a clip from <I>Monsters, Inc.</I> shown on a Screen Research ClearPix2 woven, acoustically transparent screen. The system controller provides Audyssey MultEQ XT and several memories for different setupsmusic, movies, speakers behind a screen or not, etc.and the result sounded great, with deep, clean bass and excellent imaging.

CEDIA 2009

Wisdom SCS

Scott Wilkinson | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

This skinny subwoofer, dubbed the Suitcase Subwoofer (SCS) because of its shape, hardly looks like it can go deep, but it does. Even more surprising is the driver compliment, which consists of two 5x7-inch "woofers" at the mouth of what Wisdom calls a complimentary folded horn. Only the horn's port is visible, and it can be configured to exit the cabinet on the front or either side, making placement very flexible. This serves the company's goal of a sub that can be placed where traditional subs can't, such as behind or under furniture. Power is supplied by a 500W amp, and the list price will be around $4000 when it ships in October.

CEDIA 2009

ADA Boasts Thick Pipe and Trinnov

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 10, 2009 | 3 comments

Why does the cable connecting the Audio Design Associates MPS-502 amp to its external power supply resemble a thick piece of plumbing -- like the pipe under your bathroom sink? Well, it has to carry 100 amps of current, so it can provide five channels with 450 watts each. Introduced in 1992, this was the amplifier on which THX based its amp spec. Throw in the PF-2502 to bring the system up to seven channels. In the present day, ADA is shipping two pre-pros, the Suite 7.1 ($5500) and Cinema Rhapsody Mach IV. You can buy the latter for $4100 but you'd be better off paying $7500 for the version with Trinnov auto setup and room correction. Trinnov will also be built into a separate equalizer product, the TEQ-1. (We are looking forward to trying Trinnov in the long-awaited Sherwood R-972 receiver.)

CEDIA 2009

PSB Image Continues Train of Redesign Thought

Mark Fleischmann | Sep 10, 2009 | 0 comments

Two years ago, PSB introduced the top-line Synchrony line. A year ago an almost equally high-end line was added, the Imagine. With the revised version of the Image, PSB's number three falls into place. There are two towers and three monitors and -- tower-averse as we are -- we think matched sets of any of the latter would make a fine basis for a system. These two-way stand-mounts include the B6 (6.5-inch woofer, $499/pair), B5 (5.25-inch, $399/pair), and B4 (four-inch, $299/pair). We've heard the B6 and B4 and they're superb, with more bass than you'd expect. This is one of the few speaker brands whose founder, Paul Barton, spends significant amounts of time in China QC-ing the product.

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CEDIA 2009

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