CES 2011

I've always thought that Gallo Acoustics speakers look great, but they also sound great as I found out when I listened to the new $6000 Reference 3.5 being powered by a Spectron Musician 3 Signature amp and Resolution Audio CD player. It went surprisingly low for a relatively small speaker, and the mids and highs were clean as a whistle.

After five years, Arcam has updated its Solo Music CD/tuner/integrated amp to the Solo Neo by adding a network card with WiFi so you can stream music from your PC. Also available is a USB port for music files on a mass-storage device, all for around $2000.

Swedish speaker maker Perfect8 assembled a 2-channel rig in its Venetian suite that would set you back a cool $1,000,000! Aside from the speakers, which include a pair of Forces and three Cubes with powered subwoofers, the system includes electronics from Ypsilon, an Audio Stone Pythagoras turntable, and ZenSati cables. I heard a recording of cello and pipe organ, which was spectacular—a beautiful, open sound and great bass response. For more on the Perfect8 speakers, <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/eight_is_enough/">click here</A>.

Of course, you're going to need a 3D Blu-ray player to go with that new 3D TV, and Panasonic is ready to oblige with the PP-BDT350, seen here with a pair of shutter glasses on top of the DMP-BD85, a 2D model with WiFi and a claimed boot time of 0.5 second. The PP-BDT350 implements HDMI 1.4, and both let you access online content. Not shown is the DMP-BD15, Panasonic's second-generation portable Blu-ray player, which also provides access to online content.

Samsung introduced a bunch of new TVs at its press conference, but they were turned off before I could get some photos, so I'll have to wait until I can shoot them in the booth to tell you about them. Meanwhile, I can say that Samsung is bullish on 3D, partnering with DreamWorks and Technicolor to get content to consumers as quickly as possible. DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, shown here on the right with Tim Baxter, president of the Consumer Electronics Division of Samsung Electronics America, made a guest appearance to talk about the importance of 3D and deliver a copy of the world's first 3D Blu-ray, <I>Monsters vs. Aliens</I>, to Baxter.

Toshiba's big announcement was the introduction into the US market of its Cell TV, first seen in a "soft launch" last year. This flagship sits at the pinnacle of a new lineup that includes 10 series of LCD TVs, seven of which are LED illuminated. Thanks to the incredibly powerful Cell processor in its outboard box, the Cell TV has it all, including LED local dimming with 512 zones (five times as many as most current local dimmers), 3D capabilities (including real-time conversion of 2D to 3D) using active-shutter glasses, 480Hz refresh rate (actually 240Hz with backlight scanning), WirelessHD 60GHz (wireless HDMI) and 802.11n WiFi connectivity, VoIP video-phone capability, and Super Resolution+ and Net Resolution+ video processing, which upscale SD images and clean up low-res Web video, respectively.

In addition to its plasmas, LG's new LED LCDs embody the Infinia design concept and offer WHDI wireless HDMI connectivity and Skype capability. Show here from left to right are the LE8500 (backlit with local dimming) and LE7500 (edge lit with some addressable "zones"), which are both only 1 inch thick. Not shown is the flagship LE9500, which is 3D-capable with a refresh rate of 480Hz (actually, 240Hz with backlight scanning). Again, pricing was not announced, and these sets should hit the market in the spring and summer.