CEDIA

Shake 'n' quake in Denver: three mega subwoofers

One-foot cube subwoofers are all the rage, but if you really want to feel the bass, size still matters. These three uber subs at last week's Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo in Denver, Colorado really shook me up.

Eminent Technology's TRW-17 Rotary Woofer ($12,900) will blow you away. Instead of a conventional woofer, it uses proprietary technology to create ultra deep bass, deeper than the largest and most powerful subs. Sure, it looks like an industrial strength fan, but the TRW-17's fluttering blades generate bass frequencies down to 1 Hertz (standard $1,000 … Read more

CEDIA sights, sounds: New audio products that knock your socks off

The Audiophiliac has been prowling the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo in Denver over the past several days, looking for the latest and greatest audio products.

McIntosh's MT-10 turntable ($8,000) caused a stir. The turntable's bearing uses opposing magnets to "float" the platter and keep noise low.

I was blown away by Definitive Technology's new Mythos ST speakers ($3,600/pair). The skinny speakers somehow deliver truly deep bass, and the midrange and treble ranges were also exceptional.

Krell's iPod dock on steroids, the KID (Krell Interface Dock, $1,500) … Read more

CEDIA 2007 roundup

Over the last few days, we've been covering the best new products announced at CEDIA 2007. In case you missed any of our coverage, here's a quick roundup:

CEDIA 2007 coverage New Toshiba LCDs pinch an inch Panasonic lowers 1080p plasma bar Big Blu: Sony's 200-disc Blu-ray changer, plus Blu-ray burner and 500GB HDD New Polk I-Sonic debuts iTunes Tagging for HD Radio Pioneer proffers another $1K Blu-ray Sharp's Blu-ray player loads discs in 10 seconds New Sony Blu-ray players, but still expensive More details on Samsung's HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player LG's new combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player… Read more

New Polk I-Sonic debuts iTunes Tagging for HD Radio

Polk Audio has taken the wraps off the I-Sonic Entertainment System 2, the follow-up to the company's impressive 2006 tabletop AV system. The new ES2 model gets the iPod dock that was missing from the original I-Sonic, but it loses the Swiss-Army-knife luster of that all-in-one model: gone are CD/DVD player and XM satellite radio support (though an auxiliary line-in port lets you connect any external device of your choosing). Video output (for the increasingly burgeoning number of video-capable iPods) remains, as does the dual alarm clock and HD Radio tuner. And it's the interaction between the HD Radio and the iPod where the new I-Sonic debuts a first-of-its-kind feature called iTunes Tagging. … Read more

Big Blu: Sony's 200-disc Blu-ray changer, plus Blu-ray burner and 500GB HDD

Usually when we hear about mega-disc changers we're reminded of Sony's older behemoths, which always seemed like a great idea but were often more trouble than they were worth. Sony's been in the changer business for a long time, but the new HES-V1000 looks completely different than the company's previous offerings and offers some truly cutting-edge features. With its rectangular, tower-like design, the HES-V1000 is a 200-disc changer that can play and record to CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. With only about 300 total Blu-ray discs on the market, that might be overkill, but you can … Read more

Panasonic lowers 1080p plasma bar

Despite the fact that the benefits of 1080p native resolution are difficult to discern at the 50-inch screen size, let alone 42 inches, Panasonic has to keep up with the LCD competition if it wants to maintain spec-sheet parity in the eyes of comparison shoppers. That's probably the main reason why the plasma powerhouse announced two new, lower-priced 1080p models today at CEDIA in Denver: the 42-inch TH-42PZ77 ($1799) and the 50-inch TH-50PZ77 ($2799).

These sets trim $200 off the list prices of the formerly least-expensive 1080p Panasonic plasmas, the excellent 42-inch TH-42PZ700U and the ever-popular TH-50PZ700U, making them the most affordable 1080p plasmas on the market, and strongly price-competitive with similarly sized 1080p LCDs. Here are some more items from the press release:

Panasonic TH-PZ77 series key features

1080p native resolution Two HDMI inputs Antiglare screen coating SD memory card slot September release date… Read more

New Toshiba LCDs pinch an inch

Yesterday at the CEDIA show in Denver, Toshiba added to its strangely named "Regza" line of LCDs with a pair of models designed to maximize the amount of front-panel real estate devoted to the screen. Badged with the even stranger moniker "SNB," for "Super Narrow Bezel," the 40-inch 40RF350U ($1,899) and 46-inch 46RF350U ($2,499) indeed have some narrow-looking bezels. In fact, when we compared the 46-inch member of the Sharp LC-D64U series (the thinnest-bezeled LCDs we've seen yet) to its SNB competitor, the Toshiba's panel was narrower by all of 1.22 inches in width and 1.53 inches in height, although the Sharp was less deep by 1.56 inches. So when the Toshiba press release uses the phrase World's Thinnest LCD TV Bezel, we believe it. Other highlights include:

Toshiba RF350U series key features

1080p native resolution Three HDMI 1.3 inputs VGA-style PC input with up to 1366x768/1280x1024 resolution 10-bit panel with xvYCC color support Dimensions of 46-inch model (panel only, WHD): 42.1 by 25.9 by 5.3 inches Dimensions of 40-inch model (panel only, WHD): 36.7 by 22.8 by 5.1 inches September release date… Read more

Pioneer proffers another $1K Blu-ray

The going rate for high-end, late-2007 Blu-ray players seems to have settled in at $1,000, with at least one exception, and Pioneer's latest, the BDP-95FD, follows that trend. The new player, expected to be available mid-October, replaces the company's BDP-94HD and BDP-HD1 players, offering the same 1080p/24 playback and Home Media Gallery, plus expanded support for high-resolution audio formats. Here's the nitty gritty:

Pioneer BDP-95FD's key features

1080p output at 24 frames per second Internal decoding of Dolby Digital Plus Bitstream output for Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master HDMI 1.3 output, with xvYCC support Home Media Gallery video, audio, and photo streaming Ethernet port $1,000 list price, mid-October release date… Read more

Sharp's Blu-ray player loads discs in 10 seconds

There are a whole bunch of Blu-ray players being announced at CEDIA, but for the most part, there's not too much to differentiate them. Sharp's new Blu-ray player, the BD-HP20U, is its first-ever, but is still mostly the same as other players. Yet the company's press release claims that the BD-HP20U will load Blu-ray discs in 10 seconds. For those of you not used to the sluggish speeds of high-definition media, that's very fast--we're used to most high-definition players taking from 40 seconds to well over a minute to load discs.

Sharp BD-HP20U's key … Read more