Ears On

I was too woozy after CEDIA 2008 to deliver my final show blog. Anyway, I like to take an annual stand on what was the best thing I heard at the show--after all, people at the show are always asking me. The answer, hands down, was Pioneer's EX Series Reference Class Architectural Speakers.

They were not just the best in-walls demoed at the show. They were the best speakers demoed at the show, at least that I heard. Of course, all the demos suffered from the noise level on the floor, and therefore were often cranked beyond my comfort level, but Pioneer surmounted that challenge, achieving high SPL and low fatigue at the same time. And others did not.

The coolest new-technology demo was the Trinnov room correction incorporated into Sherwood receivers. It sounded delicious. In terms of trends, the proliferation of receivers and pre-pros with HDMI 1.3-borne Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, and both flavors of DTS-HD was the hot ticket for me.

And I can't wait to update my Rotel RSX-1065 reference receiver for either the RSX-1550 or the RSX-1560. I know I want five channels, not seven, which would point toward the 1550, but do I want Class AB or Class D? Guess I'll just have to get them both and see.