Brent Butterworth

After launching last year with a couple of innovative under-TV sound systems, upstart company AudioXperts made a much bigger splash at the 2013 CEDIA Expo with a full line of audio products, which we saw in a press event this morning.

Westone, best-known for custom-molded in-ear monitors worn by touring musicians, is revamping its consumer products line -- starting with the new W-Series in-ear headphones announced today at the CEDIA Expo. All of the designs feature balanced armature drivers, and will list for prices ranging from $199 to $499.

Cambridge Audio has been dinking around with Balanced Mode Radiator (BMR) drivers for a couple of years in its pint-sized Minx speakers, but now it's bringing BMR into the spotlight with a new line of full-size speakers built for conventional home theater and stereo applications.

Televisions, receivers, and speakers are important to the home theater experience, but the subwoofer is the only component that regularly gets pushed to its limits — or beyond. The laws of physics dictate that producing clean, powerful, deep bass requires drivers that displace lots of air, and amps powerful enough to push them.