Theta's Casablanca III pre-pro, one of the longest-running (though often-updated) pre-pros ion the home theater market, will soon be updated once more with full decoding for all the new high resolution audio formats over HDMI. Casablanca owners rejoice.
Epson launched several new projectors at CEDIA. The most exciting was the flagship PowerLite Pro Cinema 7500UB ($5000, December). Demonstrated with both standard 16:9 material and 2.35:1, the latter with the optional anamorphic lens ($6000) on a 101.5" wide, 2.35:1 Stewart Studiotek 130 screen, it looked superb--probably the best projector I saw at the show at its price or less, and competitive with some far more expensive designs. Blacks were excellent, too, particularly since this LCD design was demonstrated without any help from its dynamic iris.
Dali announced its news Lektor loudspeaker line. There are three bookshelf speakers in the line (at $450, $475, and $645 per pair) an LCR suitable for any channel ($420 each), two floor-standers (the 8 at $1800/pair and the 6 at $1200/pair, and an upcoming subwoofer. At this price point, the Dali ribbon tweeter is gone, replaced by a dome tweeter and a cone midrange. Available in late October.
Sim2 demonstrated three of its DLP projectors, but their big launch was the D60, a single-chip 1080p DLP at $6000--a new low price point for the company.
Krell's new high-end surround preamp-processor ($30,000) has all the requisite bells and whistles, including decoding for all the new audio formats and video processing via Genesis chips suppoorted by Krell-designed circuitry. Available now.
New amps from Krell are always hot news for audiophiles, and these two would also be at home in a high-end home theater. The S-275 2-channel amp ($5500) sports 275Wpc into 8 ohms and 550Wpc into 4 ohms. Two of them are shown on top. LIke all Krell amps, this one is also comfortable into almost any load, even very low impedances. Switches allow easy bridging, producing a powerful monoblock.
Shown here is a better look at one of the upcoming Sharp Limited Edition flat panel. LCDs mentioned in our Wednesday press conference report. The should be available soon.
Planar demonstrated its current PD 8150 DLP projector on a huge, acoustically transparent screen (about 10-feet wide), and the image was plenty bright. The demo material was also some of the best and most diversified seen at the show (from Con Air, Pixar Shorts ("One Man Band"), and A Night at the Museum). The manufacturers shown contributed equipment to the system.
A new company, called SE2 Labs, introduced the ITC One Integrated Theater Console. Built into its 100+ lbs chassis is a BD player,a full set of electronics including pre-pro and amps, and just about everything else you'll need tg drive your speakers. Lots of external inputs, of course. You'll need cash, too, as the retail price is $30,000. But SE2 Labs claims that if the internal components were purchased separately, they would cost $42,000. An amp-less version is available for home theater fans who like to make that choice themselves, but the cost is the same (balanced outputs are provided).
In addition to its ability to decode all the new high resolution audio formats, 110W of power into each of its 7 output channels, and a Faroudja DCDI video processing, the Harman Kardon AVR-7550HD is one of the first AV receivers to offer Dolby volume. (under $3000, early 2009)