Artison introduced the new Art line of line-array speakers. Shown here is the Art 40M, which utilizes 80 0.75" full-range drivers and is said to respond down to 80Hz. 40 of the drivers face the front, the other 40 are angled toward the center; the left-right speaker pair is designed to perform the duties of the center channel, as well. $6000/pair
Panasonic announced a new A/V receiver, the SA-BX500 ($799) with three HDMI inputs, a bi-amp/bi-wire capability for its 7.1-channels of 130 watts per channel of amplification, and so-called 7.1-channel Virtual Surround mode in a 5.1-channel system.
Atlantic Technology surprised me in its demo with the high quality sound coming from its IWTS-30, THX certified in-wall speakers. Three of them were used across the front, along with four surrounds and two subwoofers. The IWTS-30 ($1375 each) is a three-way system, and the midrange-tweeter array can rotate 90-degrees when horizontal placement is desired or necessary. The same module also tilts to angle the sound slightly to the left and right, when necessary.
B&K delivers their new Ref 70 surround sound processor equipped with 6 HDMI inputs and 1 output. The processor does not boast inboard audio processing of the new HD Audio formats but the rep claims an update will be made available for free to owners in the near future.
B&W has extended its CM Series with the floorstanding CM9 ($1500/each), floorstanding CM7 ($1000/each), and CM5 monitor ($750/each), so may I change the subject now? I somehow became fascinated with the chunky CT7.3LCRS (pictured, $1500/each) and its smaller siblings, the CT7.4LCRS ($1000/each) and CT7.5LCRS ($600/each). The big one has two eight-inch fiber woofers, a six-inch Kevlar midrange, and a one-inch soft dome tweeter. These three speakers can muster up to 94, 93, and 92 decibels respectively and are designed for use with front-projection systems or maybe (yuck) cabinetry. The new CMs are coming in November and the CT7s have been shipping for the past couple of months.
These will set you back $3,000 a pair, but these three way speakers, with dual 6.5" Kelvar woofers, 5" midrange, Nautilus tube-loaded tweeter looks to be meant for serious theater duty. Available in gloss black, rosenut or wenge.
Triad’s new InWall Silver/4 Omni Sconce brings together two things that like watts – a speaker and an LED light. Although you can’t color the sound, the speaker does come with color gel options of amber, orange, green, red, blue, and yellow.
Auralex is trying to make acoustical control attractive to more than just hard-core home theater owners. At CEDIA they showed off some of their new SonicPrint custom-printed ProPanels – fabric-covered acoustic absorptive panels – that can be outfitted with fabric covers printed with any kind of design or image you want. They have thousands of licensed artwork available, or you can send in your own image(s) for immortalization on your home theater wall. Auralex has some movie poster artwork available already, and their negotiating to have even more. Hanging an acoustic panel that looks like a movie poster on the wall will sure sound better than hanging a real movie poster covered with glass in a frame on the wall.
BG's THX-certified BGX-4850 is an in-wall sub that fits into a 7 by 26.5 inch space with standard 2x4 construction. Backed with an external 2200-watt amp, it uses a series of four-inch cones paired off and facing one another, a strategy known as mass balancing. It was demoed amid the sonic chaos of the show floor and did produce good bass.
You’ll find more rock-like speakers here at CEDIA than anywhere else in the world. A new one from an old company caught my eye as I was moving through the crowds to get to my next appointment. StereoStone’s Fountain Speaker has a real working water fountain, submersible low-voltage lighting, and an 8” woofer with left and right tweeters. The whole thing ships completely assembled in a single box – without the water, I assume – and sells for $599.95.
This flash photo was taken off-axis SI's Black Diamond screen, one of several entries in the market to make video projection practicable with some room lighting. It actually did a good job in avoiding wash out by at least a modest amount of ambient light
Toshiba is still giving the Blu-ray camp the proverbial finger and instead has focused their efforts on making your existing DVDs everything they thought they could never be. Their new XED DVD players squeeze every ounce of picture data from your DVD library and apparently increase the fine detail and colors to HD quality.
CEDIA 2008
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