CES 2014

Stopping into the Gibson tent at CES was like stepping back in time - back to when speakers looked like speakers and had full, balanced sound. The main CES show floor was full of tiny earbuds and tons of tinny portable wireless speakers, but here in the tent, Cerwin-Vega was showing off their new line of active desktop speakers, and I was glad I stopped by.

Admit it: At some point you’ve wandered around your house looking for the remote control. Or maybe it was your car keys. Or your wallet. Whatever. You’ve spent long, panicked minutes hunting through pants' pockets, couch cushions and looking under furniture trying to find some small device before. Now Stick N Find has an affordable 21st Century way to help you find your stuff!

Bang & Olufsen’s CES press event was held in a comfortable, stylishly decorated room that drove home the company’s message of merging good sound with good design.

Metra Home Theater hates cords and cables more than you do. The company’s new 3.1 Audio Mount Sound Bar combines an active soundbar with a 160-watt class D amp with a wall mount capable of handling 50- to 90-inch TVs. But Metra didn’t stop there. It also incorporates a powered subwoofer into the mount itself, possibly making the 3.1 Audio Mount Sound Bar the world’s easiest-to-install and cleanest-looking AV system ever. The MSRP for the 3.1 Audio Mount Sound Bar will be $899 with the product shipping early this year.

At CEDIA2013, MartinLogan teased us with a sneak peak at a prototype AirPlay/Bluetooth speaker that was absolutely beautiful and sure to sound fantastic thanks, in large part, to its use of MartinLogan’s amazing Folded Motion tweeters. The new Crescendo wireless stereo speaker has burst out of its prototype cocoon and become an official product that includes AirPlay and Bluetooth connectivity. The remote control, normally an item manufacturers tend to overlook, included with the Crescendo is made from extruded aluminum and is extremely well designed with rubberized button caps that are easy to find and use without looking at the remote. Twin Folded Motion tweeters flank the central 5x7-inch woofer. The tweeters are also positioned to fire away from one another to the sides of the room, a design that helps to dramatically widen the stereo soundstage of the Crescendo, and it includes a subwoofer output. The gorgeous sound machine will be available in “early 2014” for $899. Of all the small speaker systems I’ve heard so far at CES2014, the MartinLogan Crescendo is unquestionably at the top of the tall stack.

Let’s face it, square and rectangular speakers are boring. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all, which is why I did a double take as I walked past the Edifier booth and spotted a row of colorful and stylish e25 Luna Eclipse speakers. How refreshing, though I had to admit the Luna reminded me of one of those egg chairs from the’60s, and in a setting right out of 2001: A Space Odyssey to boot.