CEDIA 2014

Paradigm introduced two new speaker lines, one for the home theatrically inclined, one for two-channel. The Millennia LP XL on-wall speaker ($699/each) handled the front channels with the LP 2 ($499/each) handling the surrounds. The whole system, but especially the dual Monitor SUB 10s, benefitted from Paradigm's homegrown ARC room correction in the MRX 710 receiver. The climactic scene of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit sounded as if it were playing through a much larger speaker system. Then we got an earful of the new Prestige line, which includes three towers and a monitor. The tower playing was the Prestige 85 F tower ($3999/pair and up depending on finish). This 2.5-way model's PPA tweeter uses a phase aligned lens that improves not only phase but output. While the k.d. lang and Boz Scaggs tracks sounded pretty upfront in the upper midrange, they also had a delicious lower midrange richness, underpinned by tight but extended bass. Both series are worth a demo if you have the chance. Incidentally, Paradigm continues to manufacture in North America, in Mississauga, Ontario.

At a pre-show press conference, Dolby rallied the AV/home entertainment industry around the new Dolby Atmos surround-sound platform, calling it the most significant advancement in home theater in 20 years.

LG launched a wide range of new TVs at a press event on the first full day of the show but the eye-catcher was a 105-inch curved, Ultra HD, LCD/LED set with a 21:9 aspect ratio. The company also showed a flat 98-inch 16:9 Ultra HD LCD/LED model. At $100,000 (OK, it’s actually $99,999.99) for the 105-incher and $40,000 for the 98-incher, they’re not exactly impulse purchases.

But both use IPS panels for better off-axis performance, have full array backlit local dimming, and incorporate 7.1-channel audio systems designed in cooperation with Harman Kardon.

People like the idea of having a full motion, articulating arm flat panel TV wall mount but they generally avoid buying them for two big reasons: 1) They stick off the wall too far and look ugly when the TV is pushed back “flat” against the wall and 2) They are too stiff and hard to move. OmniMount’s new OE120IW recessed in-wall mount system solves both of these issues.

Steinway Lyngdorf, the Danish company that teamed with Steinway & Sons in 2005 to design, develop, and manufacture fine audio gear, offered a sneak peek of the P200 “three-dimensional surround sound processor” it plans to start selling in early 2015 for $18,000. (No, that’s not a typo.)

Custom integrators that sell Control4 systems got a boost today when Control4 announced the immediate release of Composer Express, “a powerful mobile configuration tool that enables Control4 Dealers to dramatically simplify and accelerate the set-up process for home automation systems.” According to Control4, even basic-level installation technicians should be able to use Composer Express on a tablet or smartphone in order to “configure most one-room home theaters in very short order, or set up hundreds of devices in the most complex whole-home installations in a few hours…”