LATEST ADDITIONS

PSB Begins Revamping Stratus Line
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 15, 2006
Paul Barton has been putting his legendary ear (actually, both of them) to work in an overhaul of the Stratus line. He's bringing over the liquid-cooled aluminum dome tweeters and fiberglass woofers from the even higher-end Platinum line and promises furniture-grade cabinetry like the gleaming gloss-black beauties shown here. They are the GT1 tower ($1999/pair), GB1 bookshelf ($1099/pair), and GC1 center ($849/each). Strong bass and a sweet midrange are givens. These may become the midpriced high-end speakers to beat.
Continue Reading »
Yamaha Uncorks Soavo Speakers
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 15, 2006
Didn't get to hear them, unfortunately, but don't the Yamaha Soavos look great? They include a full surround set, shown, plus the floorstanding Soavo-1 and monitor-sized Soavo-2, not shown. Pricing TBD. Yamaha also showed the RX-V2700 receiver ($1799) with 140 watts times seven, iPod dock (of course, $100), XM satellite radio (the antenna goes for about 20 bucks), and network jack for Internet radio or connection of a multi-zone Yamaha MusicCast system. Is there an all-Yamaha system in your future?
Continue Reading »
Definitive Technology Is Looking Up
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 15, 2006
Joining Definitive's in-ceiling lineup is the RCS II, a step up from the company's smaller existing in-ceiling models. Sealed into a medite enclosure are a one-inch aluminum dome tweeter, two 5.25-inch woofers, and two 6.5-inch passive radiators. The enclosure is tilted at a 45-degree angle. Price: $569 each.
Continue Reading »
Denon: HDMI 1.3 Coming in 2007
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 15, 2006
A hot issue among surround buffs is HDMI and what it does or doesn't do. If you want your system to handle next-gen surround formats like DTS-HD Master Audio, you need HDMI version 1.3 connectivity in your receiver. According to Denon's Steve Baker, his company's receivers will support HDMI 1.3 "as soon as the chipsets become available." That is likely to happen in 2007 though it's hard to be any more specific than that. In the meantime, you'll have to be content with the fact that Denon's ASD-1R docking station ($129) comes in both iPod-white and iPod-black.
Continue Reading »
Projectors Everywhere
Tom Norton  |  Sep 15, 2006

I spent much of my first full day at CEDIA Expo scoping out the new 1080p video projectors. I still have more to see, but it's already evident that this is the big story of the show, unless you're into various forms of home automation, which is <I>always</I> a big CEDIA story.

Continue Reading »
In Planar Sight
Tom Norton  |  Sep 15, 2006

Planar Who? This company is new on the market, but has big plans. In addition to some potentially revolutionary flat panel displays, it introduced a full line of DLP projectors. This includes two 1080p designs, the PD8110 shown here ($8999, Feb 07) and the PD8150 (which adds a dynamic iris at a price to be determined, with spring 07 availability.
There are also two, less expensive 720p models.

Continue Reading »
Cinetron
Tom Norton  |  Sep 15, 2006

The second big surprise after the Planar was the HD-900 LCoS projector from Cinetron. It's a full 1920x1080, features processing from Silicon Optix's HQV Realta chip, and quiet operation. It looked superb on a Stewart Firehawk screen. While it comes equipped with an auto iris, that feature was not used in the demo. At $6000, it's one of a number of projectors that could shake up the front projector market.

Continue Reading »
Mitsubishi Ups the Pixels
Tom Norton  |  Sep 15, 2006

Mitsubishi formally announced a new 1920x1080 LCD projector at CEDIA,the HC5000U, equipped with an auto iris, lens shift, and a price of $4495. The video processor is the new REON chip from Silicon Optix, lamp life is claimed to be 5000 hours, and fan noise is specified at 19dBA (a very low figure) in low lamp mode.

Continue Reading »
BenQ Joins the 1080p Crowd
Tom Norton  |  Sep 15, 2006

BenQ joins the 1080p crowd with this new projector that looks strangely similar to the company's 720p 8720. I haven't seen it in action yet; it was spotted here lurking about in the TI booth.

Continue Reading »
Marantz Broadens its Sights
Tom Norton  |  Sep 15, 2006

Marantz introduced its third new DLP projector this year, at a new (for them) lower price point. Details in the next blog entry, below.

Continue Reading »

Pages

X