LATEST ADDITIONS

It's only the second week in January and I've already found one of my top picks for 2009 – the Wisdom Audio Sage Series L150i Architectural Loudspeakers. The Wisdom L150i is a line source in-wall speaker system that stands at 76-inches tall and is large enough to be the wall. Each channel consists of 12 six-inch woofers and planar magnetic line source drivers. The woofers and planar drivers are housed in separate aluminum back box enclosures and Wisdom recommends that the drywall be replaced with plywood or MDF for greater rigidity. The system requires a Wisdom electronic crossover and must be bi-amplified.

Do you remember the Motorola "Works in a Drawer" TV sets from the 1960s that promoted ease of servicing? NAD Electronics has brought it back with a slightly different twist. NAD is showing its new M15 HD AV Surround Sound processor and three AV receivers featuring Modular Design Construction (MDC) technology that provides a future-proof upgrade path. Let's face it, there are few things more frustrating than buying a new AV component that becomes obsolete or outdated in less than a year. The M15 chassis houses six removable modules that can be swapped with upgraded modules as new audio and video features become available. The six modules will include digital video, digital audio, HD analog video, SD analog video, analog inputs and analog outputs. The M15 has all currently available modules already installed. Additional features include 4 HDMI ins/ 1 out, and a Sigma Designs VXP video processor and Audyssey MultEQ Pro, Dynamic EQ & Volume. The M15 will be available in Feburary with a suggested retail price of $3999. The three AV receivers in the MDC series are the T785 (200 x 7, $3999) the T775 (160 x 7, $2999) and the T765 (120 x 7, $2499).