And now for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. How about an electric fan subwoofer? Sound far-fetched? Well, here it is from Eminent Technology’s Bruce Thigpen. How does it work? The motor spins the fan at 1000 rpm. The blades are flat with no signal and do nothing. Fast rotation causes them to couple to the air far more efficiently than a cone. The angle of the blades themselves is changed according to the signal by a 15” woofer magnet and voice coil causing them to quickly blow one direction then the other as the voice coil, attached with a mechanical linkage, directs. With a DC input, it makes an excellent $12,900 fan. The result is a transducer capable of response flat from 25 Hz down to 1 Hz at earthquake levels (over 110 db) even with a 200-watt amplifier and with decreasing distortion as frequency drops. After hearing this invention with several film soundtracks I think I can safely say that it has truly gone where no speaker has ever gone before, and with plaster cracking force!

It's been confirmed that LG's Multi Blue player won't include a full implementation of HD DVD's HDi interactivity layer. More than one source stated that because of this the player won't receive full endorsement from the HD DVD Group and won't bear an HD DVD logo. It was also related to me that this is not an issue with the Broadcom integrated circuit solution, but rather a conscious choice by LG that HDi is not a critical feature.

The name may be odd, but the sound from these new Sonus Faber speakers was anything but. It was clean and open, with a beautiful top end from
its dynamic ring radiator driver.

The Venetian, the new home of the Specialty Audio and Video exhibits, was primarily a two-channel oasis. Here (and below) are two highlights. I didn't get into many of the rooms; if I peeked in and there didn't seem to be screen there, I had to move on, as time was very short and the two-channel exhibits there are being thoroughly covered by our sister publication, Stereophile. But I did check out a few rooms that prior experience suggested might be prime. The VTL-Avalon room was one of them. The system sounded pristine through VTL's vacuum tube electronics and Avalon Acoustics Eidolon Diamond speakers.

PMC and Parasound did have a full surround-sound setup, and even a video display, though music without pictures was on the playbill during the time I was there.

Later this year, SVS will make its new AS-EQ1 system available. It’s an Audyssey-based bass room equalizer, operates in both the time and frequency domains, and is designed to correct the in-room performance of one or two subwoofers. It is expected to sell for $750.

TAD showed off its new Reference One speaker (about $60,000/pair) with a variety of music, from 2-channel to SACD to open reel tape to multichannel. A planned demonstration of high resolution multichannel sound, without video, on Blu-ray disc didn't come off when mastering problems interferred, but the multichanel material, from Reference Recordings, was played from a standard DVD (in PCM) and sounded terrific.

The big tape deck visible in the photo is an old Technics RS 1500. A company called The Tape Project (www.thetapeproject.com) plans to issue a number of pre-recorded analog tapes in 15ips, half-track, two-channel. They will also sell refurbished Technics decks (estimated price about $8500).