Audio Video News

A great demo can be a thing of beauty—and InFocus, NAD, and PSB put together one of the best we've ever seen here at HE 2002. They started with a great concept: $10,000 can purchase a complete home theater package that can give anybody all the magic of a true cinema showcase. The system starts with InFocus' new $5000 ScreenPlay 110 DLP projector, which is optimized for DVD with a dual-mode TI DLP chip capable of both 16 X 9 and 4 X 3 projection. The unit incorporates Faroudja DCDI processing and a six-element four-speed color wheel. It will accept high definition inputs (though downscales them to 480p), has component inputs, and is NTSC, PAL, and SECAM compatible. The system included NAD's 80Wpc multichannel 761 A/V Receiver and T531 DVD player ($1500). PSB contributed a pair of Image 5T loudspeakers ($799/pair), an Image 9C center channel speaker ($399/each), a pair of Image 10S ($649/pair), and an Image SubSonic 6 powered subwoofer ($649/each). Add a Dalite grayscale screen and you'll "have enough left over from $10,000 for a nice meal," as the presenter put it.

But a brilliant concept alone does not a perfect demo make. The three companies provided comfortable seats, a dramatic setting, and a brisk, informative presentation that laid out the system's premise, benefits, and accessibility. They presented three short vignettes (with nary a gunshot or explosion among them) and they told us what each illustrated: A scene from Shakespeare In Love demonstrated dialogue intelligibility and good fleshtones, an HDTV tape of the Leno show showed how crisp the image could be, and a scene from Moulin Rouge illustrated the magic of the movies with its overwrought romanticism.

It was good marketing. It was forthright and informative. And it made us—and everyone else in the audience—want that system! Other companies take note: This is how it should be done.

Also on display were two new projectors from SIM2 Sèleco. The HT200 DMF is a Dual Mode DLP projector with internal Faroudja DCDI processing. It's based on TI's 480P DLP component set, a Dual Mode chipset capable of 16:9 widescreen with a resolution of 848 X 480 pixels and 4:3 format with a resolution of 800 X 600 pixels. The HT200 DMF retails for $8595. Also on display was the new SIM2 HT300 DLP projector, which is based on the new 16:9 TI DLP chipset boasting 1280 X 720 resolution (which supports native 720p HDTV). The HT300 has a 6-segment color wheel, better than a 1000:1 contrast ratio, double keystone adjustment, and a D-sub input for PCs. It sells for $14,995.

mbl showed a new $5800 111rc center channel speaker, which shares technology from its $17,900/pair 111b loudspeaker. We heard it with multichannel music recordings and it was spectacularly transparent.

Another impressive center channel loudspeaker, albeit one with fewer zeroes to the left of the decimal point, came from Polk. The LSiC costs $579.95, but it's one heavy-duty speaker that outperforms many models costing multiples of its price. The rest of the LSi system was pretty impressive, too. They're good enough for audiophiles, but priced for everybody. Ya gotta love that.

We were impressed by Muse's new MAP (Modular A/V Platform), which is a four-slot modular chassis that the company can configure to a specific customer's needs. The version we saw included a CD/DVD transport with DAC and processing capabilities for all surround formats. In that configuration, the MAP retails for $6600. We can't wait to find out more about the MAP's seemingly endless possibilities.