OTHER TECH

You're now offering wireless products. Is this the future of home entertainment? It's an important category and one that resonates with many people. Two years ago, we engaged our engineering teams both in Europe and here in Indianapolis to evaluate every wireless technology we could find. The result is the platform we've created - KlipschCast. Our goal was to create a simple-to-install-and-use product that delivers our sound throughout the house. Many people settle for lesser single-room solutions because they don't want to cut holes in the walls. KlipschCast is going to be a great product for those people, because it provides what we think is the best wireless sound performance available. It also provides a platform for other products we plan to bring out.

We launched the first two products this spring: the CS-700 DVD entertainment system and the RoomGroove music center. They work together. The CS-700 is a 2.1-channel virtual surround system with a wireless subwoofer. Because the DVD receiver is wireless, it gives you flexibility to put it wherever you want in a room. And it can transmit wirelessly not only to the subwoofer but also to RoomGrooves throughout the house. The RoomGroove, which is a single speaker with a retractable iPod dock, can actually transmit its signal. So if you had three more RoomGooves, you could play your iPod in the kitchen and listen to the same music in the den, bedroom, and living room.

Has the popularity of flat-panel TVs made audio an afterthought? [laughs] Well, we believe it should come first. You can have the best video system on the planet, but if your audio isn't up to par, you're not going to have the experience you could. The quantity of sales for $199 home-theater-in-a-box systems suggests there are a lot of people willing to take a shortcut on the audio. But we're trying to develop products that deliver the same convenience as some of those systems - and even with added conveniences like wireless transmission - but with the Klipsch sound.