Darryl Wilkinson

Soundolier is finally shipping their wireless torchiere omnidirectional speaker and will soon be shipping a matching wireless subwoofer, too. Of course, wireless is a relative term. You still have to plug the torchiere into an AC outlet (ditto for the subwoofer). It's not meant as a replacement for a full-blown wired-speaker system, but it will bring sound to some rooms where sound wouldn't have gone before.

Nuvo's new Essentia NV-E6G system is a six-zone, six-source system that's packaged with six Control Pads (each with a 1" OLED display). It's expandable up to 12 zones, and is plug-and-play compatible with Nuvo's M3 Music Server, T2 Dual Tuners, and NuVoDocks for iPod. At $2,299 - less than $400 per room - that's a pretty smokin' deal for six rooms of music.

Epson and Atlantic Technology are teaming up to bring out the world's largest HTiB. There are two versions. Each one includes a drop-down screen with built-in Atlantic Technology speakers (LCR), a DVD-based media center (with HDMI inputs and upscaling capability), and rear speakers (also from Atlantic Technology) that can either hang on each side of the projector or be mounted on the wall. For $4,999, you get a 720p Epson LCD projector with the system. For $6,999, you get an Epson 1080p model. Both systems come with racetracks to help hide the wires for installations even I could do.

After handing out a pair of boxer shorts with the slogan, "We've got your bottom end covered.", honcho John Miller showed off the newest, smallest Velodyne subwoofer. Called the MicroVee, it uses one 6.5" active driver, two 6.5" passive drivers, each with 5" piston diameters. The active driver has a 2" dual-layer voice coil and a 64 ounce magnet structure. Velodyne rates the Energy Recovery System amplifier at 2,000 watts of Dynamic Power. The cabinet is made of ribbed (no snide comments, please) extruded aluminum, which makes the sub cool - both in terms of heat dissipation and looks. The sub is only 9" x 9" x 9.6" (HWD), and Miller says it kicks butt. (What else was he going to say?) Oh, yeah, the MSRP is $999, but you could very likely see it on sale for $799 when it arrives in October.