Premiere Design

At the 2007 CEDIA Expo, I attended Meridian's press conference, during which the company unveiled its <A href="http://www.thef80.com">F80</A> table-top clock radio/CD/DVD player. I was a bit late, and the demo was already underway as I walked into the large concrete room with high ceilings. I clearly remember my first impression of what I heard—"Wow, that sounds great!" When I learned it was essentially a boombox, I was flabbergasted.

Sometimes in this blog, I like to profile new and unusual technologies that may&#151;or may not&#151;actually perform well. Sony's <A href="http://www.sony.net/Fun/design/activity/product/sountina_01.html">NSA-PF1 Sountina</A> speaker is just such a product. I have no idea how it performs since I've never heard it in action and I know no one who has, but the technology is certainly intriguing.

Lately in this blog, I've been concentrating on speakers with astronomical prices, which is loads of fun. But it's certainly possible to enjoy exceptional sound without spending six or seven figures. Take, for example, the new top-dog Klimt series from Austrian speaker manufacturer <A href="http://www.viennaacoustics.at">Vienna Acoustics</A>.

As I wrote about the <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/more_power/">Perreaux &#233;loquence 250i</A>, it claims to be the world's most powerful stereo integrated amp, delivering up to 530 continuous watts/channel into 4&#937;. But that's nothing compared with a new monoblock power amp from <A href="http://www.goldmund.com">Goldmund</A>&#151;the Telos 5000, which delivers up to <I>5000</I> continuous watts into 2&#937; (2500W into 4&#937;, 1250W into 8&#937;).

In this blog, I often focus on products that are at home in a home theater, but when a press release about the new <A href="http://www.perreaux.com/products/eloquence/250i_-_250w_stereo_integrated... &#233;loquence 250i</A> reached my inbox, I was intrigued. It claims to be the world's most powerful Class AB stereo integrated amp, so I had to investigate further.

One look and you know this is no ordinary speaker. The flowing, liquid lines of the Muon reflect the highest artistic expression, and rightly so—after all, it was created by renowned designer Ross Lovegrove for pre-eminent British speaker manufacturer <A href="http://www.kef.com">KEF</A>.

If you thought 1080p is as good as it gets, think again. Long known for its reference-quality audio products, <A href="http://www.meridian-audio.com">Meridian</A> now offers a video projector with <I>five times</I> the resolution of 1080p. Dubbed the 810 Reference Video Projector, this 140-pound behemoth uses three D-ILA panels, each with a resolution of 4096x2400 for a total of nearly 10 megapixels.