LATEST ADDITIONS

Linn is celebrating nearly 40 years in business, and the original turntable the company produced – the Sondek LP12 – was designed with the philosophy that any information lost at the turntable – the source – was lost. It didn’t matter how good the amp or the speakers, if the information was lost, it was unrecoverable. To celebrate the company’s 40th Anniversary, they partnered with Highland Park to create a very limited edition Sondek LP12 that is crafted from the solid oak casks used to mature Highland Park whisky. There will only be 40 of the turntables made, and each will include a bottle of 40-year Highland Park, also limited to just 40 bottles.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, no one does video processing as good as Lumagen. Lumagen was showing off their latest 2041 and 2042 video processors that accept up to 1080p in but will scale to 4K for the latest displays. The 2042 offers legacy analog connections and four HDMI inputs and the 2041 offers strictly HDMI inputs. Lumagen also just added support for 729 color point calibration! So much for the 7 points top tier displays offer!! The new processors are also on sale during CEDIA so check out Lumagen.com to get in on 10% discounts on all their latest gear.

While NAD's usual practice is to add features to existing surround receiver models, the T 758 ($1199) is the successor to the T 757. It boasts 120 watts of continuous power per channel, we assume into two channels. Modular construction, a neat feature of NAD receivers, allows for future upgrades, whatever technology comes our way. One thing this receiver does not have is an ethernet jack or any network audio features. For those step up to the even brawnier T 777 ($2999) and T 787 ($3999). Note that these list prices are lower than historical ones because NAD is aggressively courting a smaller but more committed dealer base. As a result, receiver sales have doubled, and just may triple. Clearly a lot of home theater buffs are willing to pay for great surround sound even at the expense of frilly features.

The Canton DM 50 sound pad (yes, we love the name too) is just about wide enough for the pedestal of a large flat panel TV. While the driver complement remained something of a mystery due to the nondetachable grille, it does have two 3.5-inch woofers firing out of the bottom. Dolby Digital and DTS decoding are present. Total power is 200 watts, Class D. Like any respectable bar nowadays, it also has Bluetooth. Price $599.