Audio Video News

CEDIA has predictably turned out to be a 3D front projector show, but there’s also a surprising amount of cool two-channel audio gear being hawked here. One compelling demo I sat through was of Cambridge Audio’s new Minx speaker system.

The 2.1 Minx setup that I heard consisted of two of the company’s tiny Min10 satellites paired with a compact X200 sub. (The Min 10 measures a mere 3 x 3 inches, while the sub is only 8 x 8 inches.) Each cube-like speaker uses a single Balanced Mode Radiator, a new driver design that combines the back-and-forth motion of regular cone drivers with the “bending wave” properties of flat-panel speaker technologies. The demo was conducted blind, with the speakers hidden behind a black screen. When that screen went up, though, I found myself genuinely surprised by the full sound being delivered by Cambridge Audio’s absurdly small speakers.

Full 5.1-channel Minx systems will sell for $799 and up. Cambridge Audio plans to start shipping the speakers in January 2011. —Al Griffin