Tom Norton

PMC also showed these new in- and on-wall speakers. The Wafer 1 sells for $1199 each (on-wall version) and the Wafer 2 for $1799 (on-wall). The demo was a bit atypical of how the environment of the speakers in an actual installation, but they still sounded quite good. The speakers are actually loaded into transmission lines, despite their small size.

Here's the gear that drove the system above. The CD player is from DCS.

TACT, one of the first companies to offer sophisticated room correction, now adds Dynamic Room Correction. It adjusts the equalization to provide optimum response as you change the setting of the volume control. Older audiophiles might think of it as a sophisticated loudness control. The system will be built into the company's two-channel RCS 2.2 XP processor first, but will ultimately find its way into a redesigned surround pre-pro (now on hold pending the arrival of HDMI 1.3). TACT has also improved its user interface, making it faster to arrive at an optimum target curve.

There weren't a lot of video projector demonstrations on the show floor at the convention center (booth prices are reportedly up significantly this year, and projector demos appear to gravitate increasingly to the custom install CEDIA EXPO in September). But one of the best demos was put on by Optoma. The projector was the HD81 LV (about $10,000, available late spring). A special version of the current HD81 1920x1080 projector, the new model is similar to the old, but uses a more powerful lamp, a different color wheel, and a different iris. It may also be equipped with an optional anamorphic lens ($12,999 for the HD81 LV projector with lens, $4000 for the lens if bought separately). The lens may also be used with the basic HD81. The HD image from <I>Phantom of the Opera</I>, from Blu-ray, with the anamorphic lens in the system, was stunning.