LATEST ADDITIONS

PMC In and On
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2007

PMC also showed these new in- and on-wall speakers. The Wafer 1 sells for $1199 each (on-wall version) and the Wafer 2 for $1799 (on-wall). The demo was a bit atypical of how the environment of the speakers in an actual installation, but they still sounded quite good. The speakers are actually loaded into transmission lines, despite their small size.

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VTL and Avalon
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2007

The Venetian, the new home of the Specialty Audio and Video exhibits, was primarily a two-channel oasis. Here (and below) are two highlights. I didn't get into many of the rooms; if I peeked in and there didn't seem to be screen there, I had to move on, as time was very short and the two-channel exhibits there are being thoroughly covered by our sister publication, <I>Stereophile</I>. But I did check out a few rooms that prior experience suggested might be prime. The VTL-Avalon room was one of them. The system sounded pristine through VTL's vacuum tube electronics and Avalon Acoustics Eidolon Diamond speakers.

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VTL Racks It Up
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2007

Here's the gear that drove the system above. The CD player is from DCS.

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Sonus Faber Elipsa
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2007

The name may be odd, but the sound from these new Sonus Faber speakers was anything but. It was clean and open, with a beautiful top end from
its dynamic ring radiator driver.

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TACT Gets Dynamic
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2007

TACT, one of the first companies to offer sophisticated room correction, now adds Dynamic Room Correction. It adjusts the equalization to provide optimum response as you change the setting of the volume control. Older audiophiles might think of it as a sophisticated loudness control. The system will be built into the company's two-channel RCS 2.2 XP processor first, but will ultimately find its way into a redesigned surround pre-pro (now on hold pending the arrival of HDMI 1.3). TACT has also improved its user interface, making it faster to arrive at an optimum target curve.

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Gamer geared LCD’s from Sharp
John Higgins  |  Jan 11, 2007
Sharp showed two new LCD sets – 32 (LC-32GP1U, $1,700) and 37-inch (LC-37GP1U, $2,000) – specifically designed towards gamers. Called the Game Players Series, they employ Sharp’s Vyper Drive that reduces visual lag time from console to screen to “imperceptible levels.” A Game Mode button enables the new expanded side terminals (including HDMI and component) for quick change between regular television duties and games. As with all the new Sharp LCD’s, these have a 120 hertz refresh that clears up a lot of the motion blur issues inherent to LCD’s. Oh yeah, it’s also 1080p.
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Play games while lying down? Sweet.
John Higgins  |  Jan 10, 2007  |  First Published: Jan 11, 2007
Sometime in the next six months, InFocus will release its Play Big In1 – a $500 entry priced projector. The projector can connect to one of two base units. The first has a built in DVD player and two speakers. The second is their gaming dock that has two speakers as well, plus all the connections you’d need to connect a game system like Nintendo’s Wii. There’s also a mirrored attachment that lets you project the image on the ceiling (they got the idea from kids saying they wanted to play their games while lying down in bed). Manufacturer specs list 500 lumens and 1,500:1 contrast ratio. How is this only $500? It only handles 480p.
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A Go-Anywhere Camera
John Higgins  |  Jan 10, 2007  |  First Published: Jan 11, 2007
Ever want to show someone the barrel of the wave you just caught? GoPro’s Digital Hero 3 allows you to do just that. The 4.5 ounce, waterproof camera straps to your wrist and takes 3-megapixel photos as well as up to 54 minutes of 30 frame per second video. You just need to get used to having a camera strapped to your wrist. It’s available beginning of February for $140.
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Blue Outlook On LG Multi Blue
Shane Buettner  |  Jan 10, 2007  |  First Published: Jan 11, 2007

It's been confirmed that LG's Multi Blue player won't include a full implementation of HD DVD's HDi interactivity layer. More than one source stated that because of this the player won't receive full endorsement from the HD DVD Group and won't bear an HD DVD logo. It was also related to me that this is not an issue with the Broadcom integrated circuit solution, but rather a conscious choice by LG that HDi is not a critical feature.

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The Ultimate Subwoofer??? Part 2
Randy Tomlinson  |  Jan 10, 2007  |  First Published: Jan 11, 2007

This is a view of the box the fan subwoofer requires. It could actually be mounted in a hole in the wall between two rooms if it weren’t for the fan noise. The box you see is a fiberglass-lined labyrinth inside, mostly needed to eliminate the whirring sound. The actual infinite baffle enclosure behind the fan is the second room itself, not the box. The box fits up against the wall and its opening into the listening room looks like a large air-conditioning grille. The fan subwoofer moves so much air that ET kept the windows open in the enclosure room to prevent any kind of restriction. How low will it really go? ET had a precision real-time analyzer showing absolutely no rolloff down to near DC! 10-20 Hz effects in film soundtracks were spectacular!

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