LATEST ADDITIONS

CEDIA 2009
Secret Rotel
CEDIA 2009  |  Sep 14, 2009
Well, not really a secret when the product is prominently displayed on the floor, but the new Rotel pre-pro with its large display screen should sell for around $4500 when it appears early in 2010 at around $4500.
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CEDIA 2009
Monitor Audio Silver RX
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
Monitor Audio announced the new SIlver RX series of loudspeakers, incorporating features developed for the company's more upscale Platinum and Gold lines (the Platinums are reviewed in the October 2009 issue of Home Theater). The Silver RX line includes seven models, from the small Silver RS 1 bookshelf ($675/pair) to the large floorstanding RX 8 ($1750/pair).
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CEDIA 2009
Shifty Optoma
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
Optoma decided to forgo its usual huge demo booth this year (there was a lot of that going around) for a more modest setup, but its new HD8600 projector kept up the excitement quotient. It offers full lens shift and three interchangeable lenses, both of them firsts for the company's projectors. It also incorporates TI's latest DarkChip3 DMD, DynamicBlack, Pixelwork's DNX MotionEngine technology, a claime4d output of 1600 ANSI Lumens, and ISFccc calibration features. The projector comes with the standard zoom lens as part of its $7499 price. Prices were not yet settled for the long and short throw zoom lens options.
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CEDIA 2009
Special K2
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
JBL's K2 loudspeakers, shown here in a conventional 2-channel setup on the show floor, is also a key part of JBL's latest Synthesis home theater system. But they can be had alone, if you prefer, for $30,000/pair.
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LCD TV Reviews
Sony KDL-52XBR9 LCD HDTV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Sep 14, 2009
Price: $3,400 At A Glance: Great detail and color • Lower black level than most conventional LCDs • Integrated Internet TV • Menu system not my fave • Some off-axis discoloration

The Right Stuff

I’m old enough to remember when Sony introduced its first XBR models, which were top-of-the-line CRT TVs. Since then, the company has continued to use XBR in the model designation of its flagship flat panels, adding a number to indicate each new generation.

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TV Reviews
Samsung PN50B860 Plasma HDTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
Price: $2,400 At A Glance: Excellent resolution and color • Full adjustability • Blacks could be better • Ultra-thin 1.2-inch profile

Plasma Soldiers On

LCD televisions are everywhere these days. They fill the back walls of Best Buys, are lined up like hedgerows near the entrance of Costco, and fly out the door at Walmart. Even at this moment, they’re undoubtedly being flogged out of the back of a fleet of white vans in parking lots across the land.

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CEDIA 2009
Kaleidescape Mini
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
The new, smaller Kaleidescape Mini System can hold up to 225 DVDs or 2500 CDs with expanded optional storage (75 and 825 respectively with the standard storage that comes with the unit. $7995 with standard storage.
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CEDIA 2009
The Biggest Torus
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
From Bryston in the Great White North comes the Torus RM100 BAL, a power line conditioner designed to not only totally isolate your system from garbage and spikes on the AC power line, but to provide higher instantaneous peak current, acting as a very low impedance current source, to juice-hungry components such as large power amps. This monster, with its humongous toroidal transformer, is MUCH bigger than the picture suggests (27"x 20.5" x 10.5", 220 lbs). $8500.
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CEDIA 2009
The Biggest Torus II
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
Here's the business end of the Torus RM 100BAL discussed above.
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CEDIA 2009
Digital Projection LED
Tom Norton  |  Sep 14, 2009
From Digital Projection we get the M-Vision Cine LED. This single chip DLP projector, if you're following the drift here, uses LED illumination to replace the projection lamp. As with the other digital projectors we saw at the show, from Runco, Projectiondesign, and SIM2, it's not a torch, is rated at a modest 600 lumens. Includes dynamic black for a rated peak contrast ration of 10,000:1 (2,000:1 native), and is best used on screens no wider than 8 feet. The screen it was used with at the show was 5.5' wide Stewart with a gain of 1.3. Or that's what a Digital Projection rep said. It did look a bit larger than that.
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