CEDIA 2013

We hit the soundbar beat pretty hard at this show and our coverage wouldn't be complete without mention of two Bose products. The CineMate 1 SR ($1350) is said to be the bestselling bar in North America over the past nine months. It uses seven of the same tiny drivers that make the famous Bose "jewel cubes" sound pretty good (we know this, having reviewed them in another form). There are also two radiators providing side effects. And the bar's pretty control savvy, with multi-room control and Control 4, Crestron, RTI, and Savant compatibility. The same bar features in the Lifestyle 135 system ($2100) which adds a console with iOS dock and room correction.

Bluetooth is fast becoming a fixture inside the house and now OSD Audio is taking the convenience of wireless streaming outside with two Bluetooth-enabled outdoor speakers: the BTR-800 rock speaker ($350/pr) and BTP-650 patio speaker ($290/pr). Both models are weather-resistant two-way designs with a reception range of 150 feet (unobstructed) and 75 feet (obstructed), according to the company.

The BTR-800 combines an 8-inch woofer and 1-inch soft-dome tweeter in a faux rock enclosure offered in three landscape-friendly colors: canyon brown, granite grey, and slate grey (shown). Available in white or black, the BTP-650 has a 6.5-inch woofer and includes speaker cable, a power cord, and mounting hardware.

Luxul brings custom installers the high performance routers and access points for streaming to home theaters.

Ever lusted over those Fathom and Gotham subs JL Audio has to offer but couldn’t quite come up with the scratch? JL Audio hears you and has delivered two new subs under the E-Line banister. Both feature the same digital amplifier delivering either 1500 watts to their 12” E-112 model or 1200 watts to the 10” E-110 model. Sure some of the primo features from the upper line including room correction and balanced connections are gone, but you still get some tight clean bass and gorgeous cabinetry. The E-112 will set you back $1900 in satin black and $2100 in gloss black and the E-110 is $400 less in the same clothes.

Sonance announced Soundbar, a non-powered center channel with adjustable widths meant to exactly match your TV. Soundbar are available in two sizes, one to match TV in the 50” to 65” diagonal range, the other for TV’s in the 70” to 80” diagonal range. However both are true three-way designs, offering six 4.5” Kevlar + Nomex lower frequency drivers and three 4.5” coaxial (midrange / tweeter) drivers. The units ship with all required mounting hardware. Pricing has not been finalized but expect at or under $2,000.

The KEF V300, part of a KEF’s new V series, is a nice desktop system for anybody with a tall monitor. The three piece system is comprised of two tall, narrow and relatively thin (about 3”) free-standing speaker panels. Driving them is a control unit that features two 50 watt Class D amplifiers. Each speaker has two 3-1/4” low frequency drivers and between them a 3-1/4” Uni-Q driver that fills in the midrange and high frequencies. The control amplifier has a single HDMI input and an optical digital input. Hooked to your TV’s HDMI audio return channel, you would control the volume by your TV’s remote. This ensemble looked very attractive, and being KEF, I would expect a clean seductive sound, albeit one unable to alter the laws of physics in the bass. For that, KEF has left you with a subwoofer output (RCA) on the rear of the control amplifier.