LATEST ADDITIONS

With the Showcase pre/pro-and-amp combo, Krell hits a new low—price point, that is.

Much is made of the intense competition that goes on in the receiver game, and understandably so. For the most part, these are companies that have piles of money to spend on advertising, have the resources and inclination to bring out new models every year, and have hordes of accountants and marketing types to keep watch on things likemarket placement, pricing, competitor activity, and so on. But what about the healthy (and growing) competition in the separates arena, especially at the lower (all things being relative) price points? It may not draw the receiver war's headlines, involve a fraction of the corporate expenditure and model turnover, or feature dueling laser shows from multilevel booths at industry trade shows. But, make no mistake, the competition here is no less intense, no less important to the industry as a whole, and no less beneficial to its particular crop of potential buyers.

Palm-size jukeboxes that hold hundreds of hours of MP3 music on an embedded hard drive are no longer a novelty. Now Archos has taken the category to the next level by adding a 1 1/2-inch color LCD, the ability to store and play photo slideshows or highly compressed but full-motion video, and direct A/V output to a TV.

Sunfire Forget about separate power amps for your back surround speakers-Sunfire's Ultimate Receiver is rated to deliver 200 watts each to seven channels, which should satisfy even the most demanding Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES soundtrack.

DVD has done more than change the way people watch movies at home. It's also changed their rental habits. The format is so superior to VHS tape, and so affordable, that many movie fans are choosing to buy rather than rent.