CEDIA 2009

You've never heard of Procella speakers? Neither had I until I got a press release about their US debut at CEDIA. This truly global company started in England, moved to Australia, and is now based in Sweden. The lineup includes three L/C/R/S speakers and three dual-driver, dual-amp, sealed-box subwoofers ranging in price from $1500 to $9000 each. The flagship P815 pictured here combines the P8, which features an 8-inch woofer and 1-inch compression driver at the apex of a custom elliptical waveguide, with the P15 sub, which sports twin 15-inch drivers and 350W amps.

Front projectors are great for generating large images in dark rooms, but they can be pretty noisy and hot. Digital Projection will be introducing a solution for this problem with its CineSkin enclosure, which is designed for the company's Titan projectors. In addition to providing sound isolation and cooling, the CineSkin also integrates DP's TheaterScope anamorphic-lens/sled system for a much cleaner look than such contraptions normally present.

Among the many LED-illuminated front projectors expected at CEDIA is the Kroma from Projectiondesign. A preliminary spec sheet for this single-chip DLP design claims a peak light output of about 600 lumens, a contrast ratio of up to 7500:1, and a lifespan of over 50,000 hours. Also, there's no need for a color wheel since the red, green, and blue LEDs are activated sequentially, and much faster than any color wheel's filters can move in and out of position, which means fewer—if any—so-called "rainbow artifacts." Pricing and availability were not disclosed prior to the show.

When I profiled the <A href="http:// blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/revel_in_luxury/">Revel Ultima2</A> speaker line in my Ultimate Gear blog, there was no matching subwoofer. No longer&#151;CEDIA will witness the introduction of the Ultima Rythm2 powered sub. With 2400W RMS (5400W peak) to power its 18-inch, dual-voice-coil driver, this thing should shake the foundation with vanishing low distortion ad no dynamic compression. I don't know the price yet, but if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Lexicon has entered the growing field of truly universal Blu-ray players with the BD-30, which can read SACD and DVD-Audio in addition to Blu-ray, DVD, and CD as well as all recordable disc formats. It conforms to Profile 2.0, which means it can access BD-Live content online, and it provides a USB port that lets users access A/V material on a USB storage device. Video processing is performed by Anchor Bay's well-regarded VRS chipset, and the player can decode all current audio formats to PCM via HDMI, though the press release seems to imply that it has no multichannel analog output, which is odd considering the $3500 price tag.

If 65 inches isn't big enough for you but 103 inches is too big&#151;or too expensive&#151;how about an 85-inch plasma? At CEDIA, the Panasonic Professional division is introducing the TH-85PF12U, which is equivalent in screen size to four 42-inchers, though the total resolution is still 1920x1080. It incorporates the company's new NeoPDP plasma panel that is said to exhibit a native contrast of 40,000:1. How much, you ask? Only $30,000, I reply.

Here's an interesting item&#151;a 3-channel, class-D integrated amp from a French company called Micromega and US distributor Audio Plus Services. The AP180 provides full HDMI audio decoding and 180Wpc for three speakers in a home-theater setup, all for $2500. To complete a 5-channel system, Audio Plus Services recommends pairing the AP180 with the PW400 ($2800), which provides 400Wpc of class-D power for the front right and left speakers while the AP180 powers the center and surrounds.