OK, I admit I called this the "Stereophile show" in an earlier Blog. George Lucas didn't release another bad prequel to Star Wars, these people were all "on line" for the HDTV 101 seminar hosted by Home Theater's Geoff Morrison, and featuring UAV's Tom Norton and myself. Yeah, home theater enthusiasts, you came out for us! Thanks!

Krell employees, three of them, and practically in unison, insisted that the iPod's dock attachment offers balanced outputs. That's why they, Krell, king of balanced amplification, are offering the new Krell iPod Dock later this year. If you can't tell from the picture, there are separate bass, treble and volume controls on the front. I glimpsed out back and the KID offers both balanced (XLR) and single ended (RCA) outputs. Oh, yeah, it's expensive at $1,200, but if you're in love with your iPod as much as I am (and if you're transferring music from your CDs down at AAC's max 320 kbps rate you should be), this KID may be your ticket to better music.

This morning's Ask the Editors panel was another fun and engaging event full of excellent questions and (hopefully) informative answers. At one point the subject of separate systems optimzed for two-channel audio vs video and surround sound came up, offering me a chance to get my own message out there on this subject, and to admit to you all that I am in fact a card carrying analog druid. I do not have two systems and I sacrifice nothing in performance for either.

Lipinski Sound had an audio/video system consisting of five of its L-707 monitor speakers ($2495 each), five L-301 Lipinski amplifiers ($2995 each, set up in 2-channel, 300Wpc mode for bi-amping each L-707 speaker, but also bridgeable), and four L-240 Powered Stands ($595 each), each of them (apart from the center) designed to house one of the L-301 amps. This placed the amplification just a little over a foot from its associated speaker. The total cost of the power amp/speaker combination: $35,035. Building the amps into the speaker stands is a great idea that more manufacturers might want to consider.

With home theater demos thin on the ground, I'll devote the next batch of blogs to some of the more interesting two channel demos I heard at the show.

No trip to an audio / video show is complete without a $10 massage. Thanks Philip Craig of Louis Harrison Chair Massage. It's just what the needle doctor ordered.