CEDIA 2023

Good speakers are the cornerstone of any music or home theater system and they were plentiful at last week’s CEDIA Expo 2023 in Denver. But instead of traditional freestanding speakers, the focus was on speakers designed for mounting in or on the wall, indoors and outdoors, with a few notable exceptions. Check out our booth visits with JL Audio, DALI, PSB, and the king of lifestyle speakers, Bang & Olufsen.

JL Audio Highlights New Custom Subwoofers and Outdoor Speakers
In its first public appearance since the announcement that the company is being acquired by GPS titan Garmin, JL Audio highlighted the new CTS Series of custom subwoofers and Pavilion line of outdoor speakers derived from its high-end marine speakers, built for use in boats, yachts, and other harsh outdoor environments. Designed to be integrated into millwork, walls, and other structures in a dedicated home theater, the CTS subs are fully enclosed and require external power and processing. The Pavilion speakers have been re-voiced for outdoor residential applications and are designed to project dynamic sound over a broad area.

DALI Aims for Sonic Precision, the Danish Way
Denmark’s DALI, an acronym for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries, holds itself to a high standard, which is why brand manager Jason Zidle likens DALI to a Swiss watch company, German carmaker, or a bottle of fine French wine. “The fit, the finish, the performance is second to none,” Zidle told us. “When you have a word like audiophile embedded in your name, you’re held to pretty high standards.”

Click below and join us on a tour of the DALI booth to see a range of products celebrating the brand’s 40th anniversary, including the new Sub S-100 subwoofer for mounting in or on the wall. The S-100 uses a single driver featuring a unique “constant surface surround” that actually changes the surface size of the driver as it moves through its excursion. The driver is mounted in a low-profile sealed enclosure that’s small enough to slide under a couch for those who don’t want to mess with a wall installation.

DALI also showed the new IO-12 wireless headphones, featuring over-sized 50mm (2 inch) drivers instead of standard 40mm (1.6 inch) drivers, and the $60,000/pair Epikore 11 tower speaker, featuring a ribbon/soft-dome tweeter combo and five of DALI’s unique wood-fiber drivers.

PSB Speakers Struts its Specialty Stuff
For speaker brands that attend CEDIA, the focus is largely on audio systems and speakers designed for mounting in or on the wall or ceiling. In the case of PSB, 50 years of experience in designing excellent home speakers was brought to bear in a series of sturdy speakers designed to sound good and make installation as quick and painless as possible.

PSB’s rep walked us through the line, pointing out highlights such as a speaker with angled drivers designed for mounting in a ceiling and the Performance Wall Mount (PWM) series of sleek, on-wall speakers that draws on technology used in PSB’s flagship Synchrony speakers. Key technologies also trickle down to the latest iteration of PSB’s affordable Imagine series of freestanding speakers slated for release in October and featuring a stand-mount/bookshelf model and two small towers.

Bang & Olufsen: Stylish Indoors and Outdoors
Aaron McCarty, head of custom installation for Bang & Olufsen’s North American operation, walked S&V editor Mark Henninger through the new Beosound Bollard high-end outdoor speaker system and the company’s compact and high-style Beolab 8, a freestanding speaker that can be used on its own or paired with a second speaker.

The Wi-Fi-based streaming speaker distills the essence of the high-end Beolab series into an advance three-way speaker that automatically adapts to the acoustics of the room and uses ultra-wide band (UWB) tracking technology enabled via an app to direct the acoustic sweet spot to the listener (actually, the location of the listener’s phone). The app controlling the Beolab 8 also includes a “beam width” control with narrow and wide settings, the latter to create a more diffuse sound throughout the room. The Beolab 8 will sell for $5,500-$7,500, depending on finish and the type of stand/mount.

See CEDIA 2023 Expo Is Off and Running for more detail on the Beolab 8 and other AV products introduced at this year’s expo.

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