John Sciacca

CEDIA 2016
JL's Fathom In-Wall Sub Plumbs Bass Depths
John Sciacca  |  Sep 18, 2016  |  0 comments
Known for manufacturing incredibly powerful and accurate subwoofers like the Fathom and Gotham, JL Audio introduced the smaller and more installation friendly Fathom IWS in-wall subwoofer system at CEDIA. This slimmed down model will allow theater owners and music lovers to enjoy deep and tight bass in a far more discreet manner.

Part of the magic of getting significant bass performance from this new design is a ported enclosure that mounts inside standard 16-inch on center stud openings. Yes, a ported in-wall subwoofer enclosure. This unique design vents through a slot located at the perimeter of the 8-inch speaker driver and enhances the sub’s efficiency and low-bass output. The enclosure measures 61.626-inches high and fits between standard 2x4 wall construction, and makes the sub’s effective displacement 27.5 cubic inches.

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CEDIA 2016
SpeakerCraft Previews In-Wall Height Speaker
John Sciacca  |  Sep 17, 2016  |  0 comments
Designed to help in-wall speaker users maintain a discreet look while still being able to enjoy next-generation object-based audio soundtracks like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, SpeakerCraft demonstrated its new AIM Series 2 ATX100, the company's first in-wall Dolby Atmos-enabled height module.
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CEDIA 2016
Bluesound Unveils First Hi-Res/MQA Soundbar
John Sciacca  |  Sep 17, 2016  |  0 comments
Bluesound added the latest products to its wireless BluOS ecosystem with the new Pulse Soundbar and Pulse Sub. Both models are meant to add easily to a BluOS audio system, but now bring improved TV audio into the mix.

The two-channel high resolution soundbar will support audio resolution up to 192/24-bit and also support Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) audio streaming, another first in the soundbar category...

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CEDIA 2016
This Is How You Make a $500 B&O Speaker Grille
John Sciacca  |  Sep 17, 2016  |  0 comments
At a time when many people aren’t willing to spend $500 for a speaker, Bang & Olufsen is coming out with the new optional advanced grill to accompany its new line of in-ceiling speakers that are being manufactured by Origin Acoustics. To be fair, pricing hasn’t been set on the new grille, but the company stated that it would cost more than the price of the lowest speaker and would probably retail for around $500 each.

To clear up any confusion for the American market, even though the grill that is included with the speakers is called the “premium grill,” the truly premium option will be the aluminum advanced grill. So, what exactly is involved in making a $500 speaker grill?

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CEDIA 2016
Meridian Goes Multi-Channel Analog
John Sciacca  |  Sep 15, 2016  |  Published: Sep 16, 2016  |  0 comments
Likely no audio company exhibiting at CEDIA is as well known for digital audio as Meridian. The company pioneered and was built-on the idea of maintaining an digital signal path; keeping the signal in the digital domain from source to speaker and at every step in between. And while this is terrific in an all Meridian system, it doesn’t work so well when trying to integrate with other products.

Now Meridian is releasing the new 258 eight-channel power amplifier that will allow people to enjoy Meridian’s terrific sound quality with any speaker of their choice. The new high-performance, cool-running Class D amplifier comes in a svelte 1U rack mountable chassis and is rated to deliver 100-watts per channel into 4 ohms or 70-watts per channel into 8 ohms.

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CEDIA 2016
DISH's Portable Playmaker Ready to Tailgate
John Sciacca  |  Sep 15, 2016  |  Published: Sep 16, 2016  |  0 comments
Auto tracking satellite antennas certainly aren’t anything new, but they have always come at a rather premium price. And, sure, if you want to roll down the highway in you Winnebago and have a dish continuously track satellites soaring overhead in geosynchronous orbit, well, that’s still gonna cost you.

But if you just want to pull up to a camp site, or parking lot for your pre-game tailgate, whip out a simple antenna and not have to futz around with aiming and azimuth and angle so you can enjoy a little TV before the big game, DISH is making that a whole lot simpler and cheaper for you to enjoy!

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CEDIA 2016
Zappiti Serves Up Movies on the Cheap
John Sciacca  |  Sep 15, 2016  |  Published: Sep 16, 2016  |  1 comments
Traditionally movie servers have not been affordable, let alone cheap. However the idea of converting all of your DVDs and Blu-ray discs to digital data that you can easily browse and access instantly and stream around the home is so compelling, that anytime I run across a new company in the movie server category, I have to stop and take a look.

When I saw the onscreen cover art in Zappiti’s booth I was intrigued. The company had four components lined up that certainly looked like they meant business. A large NAS drive with eight bays and an internal DVD/Blu-ray drive, along with three separate movie players. When I heard the prices, I was shocked!

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CEDIA 2016
Hey, Alexa! You Work with Control4 Now!
John Sciacca  |  Sep 14, 2016  |  1 comments
In a classic, “And just one more thing…” moment to begin the finale of its press conference today, Control4 announced that they have launched Amazon Alexa skill for voice-enabled whole-home automation control. Integration with Amazon Alexa –enabled devices including Echo, Dot, Amazon Tap, and Amazon Fire TV will enable a new Control4 Smart Home Skill allowing homeowners simple and intuitive voice control over their home systems.

"On average, our customers have over 40 connected devices in their homes that are orchestrated by Control4 and now, voice interaction with Amazon Alexa offers another convenient way to control all of them,” said Martin Plaehn, Control4 CEO. “This integration combines Control4’s automation power and extensive support for connected devices with the intuitive voice control from Amazon Alexa, reinforcing our shared vision to make life in a connected home ever-more personalized, comfortable, and hassle-free.”

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CEDIA 2016
Free Bakpak Network Support for Everyone!
John Sciacca  |  Sep 14, 2016  |  0 comments
During its press conference today, Control4 announced the immediate availability of Bakpak 4.0 cloud-based network management system. Bakpak enables real-time monitoring of network devices, and allows rapid response to connectivity issues, including proactive device management, allowing dealers to hopefully address and correct an issue before a user even becomes aware of it.

Bakpak had previously been available through Pakedge, a networking company acquired by Control4 last year. The product was offered on a subscription basis, but today Control announced that Bakpak 4.0 is now available completely license and subscription free. Annual subscription fees for items previously considered as “premium”, such as ISP monitoring and speed testing, have also been eliminated and are included as standard.

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CEDIA 2016
Control4 Updates to OS 2.9
John Sciacca  |  Sep 14, 2016  |  0 comments
Control4 Updates to OS2.9 Automation company, Control4, announced an update to its operating system today, moving from 2.8.2 to version 2.9. As with previous OS updates, this not only squashed bugs in the system but also introduced a slew of new features.

Control4 announced that it features integration support for nearly 10,000 devices, and OS 2.9 will enhance that experience with a new feature called “Connects with Control4.” Control4 is heavily invested in helping dealers deliver customized smart home experiences for its customers, and one of the ways they do this is by Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP) that identifies a product and loads the correct driver. Currently 185 companies are shipping over 1,500 devices enabled with Control’s and the new program will feature QR codes on products that can be quickly scanned in to automatically identify and add the correct integration driver. This now includes products from Amazon, Lutron, Nest, Somfy, and Sonos.

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