LATEST ADDITIONS

CEDIA 2011
GoldenEar's Been Around for Aons
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
OK, maybe the company is new, but the GoldenEar team have loads of experience. The latest beneficiaries are a couple of monitor models. The Aon 3 ($499/each) has a seven-inch woofer and, on either side, two eight-inch passive radiators. The smaller Aon 3 ($399/each) is smaller, with six-inch woofer and 6.5-inch passive radiators. Both have the famous GoldenEar pleated diaphragm tweeter. In the demo, a male vocal had warmth and in-the-flesh realism. An orchestra was big-sounding but not rolled off at the top. In choral music, it felt as if surrounds were operating, even though we were hearing just two speakers. Five of these and a sub would make a killer home theater system.
CEDIA 2011
Carver Is Back
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
Carver's assets have been bought from their previous owner by the Carver Holding Group and many of the company's world-beating products will be reintroduced in early 2012. That will include amps of seven, five, and two channels, not to mention mono-blocks. What caught our eye was a new product, the CSB-601 2.1-channel soundbar. In development is a surround pre-pro. Welcome back.
CEDIA 2011
James Is Like a Flower
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
James Loudspeaker caught our eye with more than one fascinating product. The SPL-618 three-channel soundbar ($6000) features an unusual tweeter array, as you can see. It reminded us of the petals of a flower. Each quartet of tweeters is angled inward -- not with the intention of creating a sweet spot, but to provide good dispersion via summing. The 2.5-inch-deep bar can be made in various widths.
CEDIA 2011
James Makes Most of Small Aperture
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
James Loudspeaker's 63SA-7 in-wall or in-ceiling speaker builds a pipe-shaped speaker three inches in diameter into a much larger back box. What if something goes wrong after the box is sealed into the wall? Just pull out the cylinder, detach its RK-45 connector, and pop in a new one. CTO Michael Park has earned the gratitude of CIs and their clients.
CEDIA 2011
Leon Is Just Amazing
mark  |  Sep 08, 2011
We didn't hear much of what Noah Kaplan said during the Leon Speakers press event -- too many people, not enough decibels. But his Living Space Theater soundbar, two-thirds of which is pictured, could be heard over the noise of the show floor, summoning vocal clarity and pretty good bass considering its depth of less than two inches. The amazing Trithon REYN made a welcome reappearance. Kaplan will make CEDIA history at an event tomorrow evening in which he will paint a mural accompanied by musician Adam Roberts.

CEDIA 2011
Polk Bar Liberated by Box
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
The Polk SurroundBar 500 ($999) was first announced a year and a half ago but took some fine tuning. It moves the messy details of connectivity to an outboard rack-size box, left, allowing the enclosure to be just 0.9 inches deep. It can operate in three-, five-, and seven-channel modes. The woofers at the sides have dual voice coils to make such complex motion possible. The picture may not do justice to the dimpled surface of the drivers, which we assume is for air-flow control. Oh, and have we mentioned that Polk has overhauled its excellent LSi Series for the first time since 2002? There are two towers, a monitor, two centers, and a surround. One or more of them will prove quite reviewable.
CEDIA 2011
Polk In-Ceiling Packs Hidden Punch
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
Each of these three in-ceiling models has a concealed woofer mounted at a diagonal. It fires through apertures at the front, where there are also tweeter and midrange drivers. Prices range from $400-1000/pair with ascending woofer sizes from 6 to 8.6 inches. Two buttons tailor the speaker to the space. They include a notch filter and a circuit that adjusts for room reflections.
CEDIA 2011
MK Sound Does First True Tower
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
The relaunched MK Sound has introduced something it never had before: a true tower loudspeaker. Previous ones were actually just stand-mounts on tower-shaped pedestals. The THX-certified F-950 ($2200/pair) has two 5.25-inch woofers with dual magnets for extra oomph plus a soft dome tweeter in a box to protect it from its own back wave. Also shown were three new THX-certified subs (8, 10, 12 inches) using MK's famous push/pull technology.
CEDIA 2011
Klipsch in a Can Is Surprisingly Tasty
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
Klipsch now makes headphones, as shown by Brooke Hilsmeyer. The killer is the MODE noise-canceling model which sounded great and worth $350. There is also a smaller non-NC Reference 1 and an S4A earbud, designed especially for use with Android devices.
CEDIA 2011
Ten Reasons to Like Integra
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011
The Integra DTR-80.3 nine-channel receiver ($3000) and DHC-80.3 pre-pro ($2600) and their Onkyo equivalents are the only receiver/pre-pro that upscale to 4K by 2K. That they can be ISF-calibrated for each source component is just as unusual and even more impressive. Pictured: Ten reasons why custom installers like to do business with Integra.

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