New Products

2015 is shaping up to be the Year of the Ultra HD as the balance begins to shift from everyday HDTVs to 4K/Ultra HDTVs with their higher-than-HD 3840x2160 pixel count. The latest projections from the Consumer Electronics Association show UHD shipments growing exponentially over the next few years, jumping from 1.3 million sets in 2014 to 4 million this year and tripling again to 13 million in 2017. Before long, UHD will become as commonplace as HD.

Sony this week announced pricing and availability of two new budget AV receivers and four soundbars, including the high-end HT-ST9 that will list for $1,500 when it hits stores in July.

The most stylish DAC/amplifier you'll ever see, an AV cabinet made of reclaimed teak from a sunken naval vessel, another Atmos-enabled speaker, and more.

Canada’s Classé built its first amplifier way back in 1980 and has been perfecting the art ever since, adding preamp/processors and other components along the way. In 2001, the company became a part of the vaunted B&W Group—a meeting of minds that made perfect sense given their shared dedication to uncompromised audio fidelity and design elegance. The Classé story continues with the introduction of the Sigma Series, which includes the $5,000 7.1-channel Sigma SSP surround preamp/processor and the companion AMP5 power amp, also $5,000. (As it turns out, naming products is not one of the company’s strong suits, but I digress.)

LG 65EC9700 65-Inch Ultra HD OLED TV

LG made headlines this past summer with the announcement that its 55-inch OLED TV would sell for $3,500. Not cheap, but a whopping 75 percent less than what its predecessor sold for. Then along came the 65EC9700, a TV capable of delivering lush OLED images in 4K resolution that sells for $10,000. LG made headlines again—this time for making television’s holy grail a reality. We spoke with Tim Alessi, director of new product development, for the story behind this inspiring 65-inch hybrid.

Just what the world needs—another Bluetooth speaker. Must be a couple thousand of them on the market by now, and from what we can tell, a good many of ’em pretty much, well, suck. But a few things about the Core caught our eye. For starters, it costs $599—pret-ty darn steep in a market dominated by sub-$100 “wireless wonders”—and it’s designed by Mass Fidelity, a Canadian startup that impressed us with its Relay Bluetooth receiver (Sound & Vision, February/March 2014).

A kick-ass, ultra-wide soundbar, add-on ambient lighting for TVs, a new Slingbox, and more.