How would you like to have an instant home theater/home automation system just by downloading an app? That’s essentially the situation with Roomie Remote, an iOS app (with an iOS7 update coming in the next couple of days) that, according to the company is “the last remote you’ll ever need.”
RBH was quick to get your pant legs shaking with their reference SX-1212P/R subwoofer. With up to 3,200 watts of power driving two 12” drivers, their demo of Oblivion had the seats moving more than Tom Cruise jumping on them. At $5,000 each they aren’t the cheapest subs out there, but that one sub was delivering the goods with tons of ouput in RBH’s modest sized demo room.
Maybe this wireless speaker thing is finally going to take off. Today at the CEDIA Expo, Focal demoed the $2,799/pair Easya tower speaker, which has amps and a wireless receiver built in. The system comes with a transmitter and a remote control, so all you need to do is connect your sources and you've got a whole system.
Bang & Olufsen returned to CEDIA after a several year absence to announce a high-performance wireless speaker platform that supports up to eight channels of uncompressed 24-bit audio at sample rates up to 96 kHz. The platform is based on the WiSA (Wireless Speaker and Audio Association) open standard and incorporates proprietary processing.
Clare Controls motto for CLIQ is “zero wires, zero config, zero headaches” meaning that it should offer both users and installers a better experience. The new CLIQ.host module represents a new, lower price point for the company’s cloud based automation solutions.
Cambridge Audio has been dinking around with Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) drivers for a couple of years in its pint-sized Minx speakers, but now it's bringing BMR into the spotlight with a new line of full-size speakers built for conventional home theater and stereo applications.
Bang & Olufsen announced that they will be adding the Spotify music streaming service to the BeoPlay A9 speaker/sound system. The A9 was launched in October 2012. Music is sent to the A9 using Apple's AirPlay streaming from iPhones/iPads/iPods and new Macs, or over a WiFi network as a DLNA media renderer (DLNA media controllers can send music to it). The problem with this setup has been that the music stops when a phone call comes into the controlling iPhone, or when the iPhone is too far from the A9.
Spotify Connect will be added to the A9 as part of a firmware update. It will be preloaded on new units and available for download for consumers who have previously purchased the A9. Bang & Olufsen worked with Spotify to create an iPhone app where users can pick songs, playlists, or radio stations from their Spotify streaming library and have them play on the A9. Because the software is loaded onto the A9's firmware, music playback will not be interrupted when a phone call comes in or when you take the phone out of range.
JVC’s 2013 launch includes, as usual, two separate lines of projectors, the Reference line and the Procision line. As before, the two ranges are essentially identical in performance, with the biggest difference being that the Reference line is sold only through professional channels and the Procision line through consumer outlets. We will address only the Procision lineup here.
The new Procision lineup consists of three new models: the DLA-X900R at $12,000, the DLA-X700R at $8000, and the DLA-X500R at $5000. The DLA-X35 from last year remains in the line unchanged at $3500.
The VPL-VW600ES SXRD projector is Sony’s latest 4k home theater projector. It offers a full 4096 x 2160 resolution, a claimed peak brightness of 1700 ANSI lumens, and a stated 200,000:1 contrast ratio (with Sony’s dynamic Advanced Iris 3). Its HDMI 2.0 inputs will accept 4K sources at up to 60 frames per second.