Tom Norton

CES 2009
MUON Over Vegas
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

KEF's flagship speaker, the Muon, looks to be over 6 feet tall, is fashioned from 6mm thick, super formed aluminum. Only 100 pairs will be built for worldwide sales, and a pair will run you $140,000. Surround sound? No problem, just buy six. Add five Mark Levinson No.53 amps and you're good to go.

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CES 2009
KEF Reference
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

KEF also demonstrated the smallest entry in its Reference series, the 201.2, in 2-channels. It sounded superb. $5000/pair now, going up to $6000/pair soon. Get 'em while they're hot.

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CES 2009
Dessert of the Show
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

The highlight of a Runco/Planar/Vidikron lunch for the assembled press in the Renaissance Hotel near the Convention Center was this warm, super-rich chocolate cake with fudge sauce, topped with Dolce de Leche ice cream. The many who left after the main course don't know what they missed.

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CES 2009
Olevia Touts 120Hz
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

120Hz operation, to remove motion lag in LCD displays, is exploding all over. Olevia's demo was highly effective, showing that its system smoothed motion at various speeds and with a wide variety of program material, including these white bars which scrolled across the screen.

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CES 2009
THX Robo Select
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

A THX regular, famous for several THX trailers including the famous Moo-cow, was on hand to help draw attention to THX's latest efforts in audio and video certification.

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CES 2009
Parts R Us
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

Do it yourself (DIY) speaker builders gravitate to one of several suppliers to buy the parts they need for their projects. One of the biggest is Parts Express, and they had a small booth on the show floor this year. The elegant cabinet shown here, with the arched side walls now popular on many an upscale commercial design (almost invariably made in China), can be had for $129.77 (each) in polished black, cherry, or maple, ready to be filled with the drivers and crossovers of your choice.

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CES 2009
Blu-ray Guest Stars
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

Clearly the Simpsons are big on the Blu-ray format.

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CES 2009
Thin Again Out Again
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2008

Hitachi joined the parade of manufacturers showing ultra slim flat panel models with this 1.5-inch thick concept design.

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CES 2009
Hitachi Does Black Too
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2008  |  Published: Jan 10, 2008

There is no way a picture can show how a set like this looks, so I don't have one. But a prototype Hitachi flat panel was claiming a peak (I assume) contrast ratio that's beyond hype. In fact, it's hard to accurately measure (peak) contrast levels even one tenth this high.

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CES 2009
VIZIO
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2008  |  Published: Jan 10, 2008

VIZIO introduced more new flat panel displays at CES than any poor scribe should have to deal with. So I'll mention only the largest sets in both the plasma and LCD premier lines. The 1920x1080p VP504F is a 50" plasma ($1699) with Silicon Optix REON video processing. As of now the VP504F is the only set in the new VIZIO line, either LCD or plasma, that uses the REON, though more are possible before the new lines start showing up in stores in May and June. A contrast ratio of 30,000:1 is claimed.

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