LATEST ADDITIONS

Trinnov is the name of the new auto setup and calibration system just added to the year-old Sherwood R-972 receiver ($1799). The SMPTE cinema standard is built into it. You can even transfer the SMPTE settings from receiver to USB to PC, log onto the SMPTE website, and analyze the settings. Sherwood also showed a surround-savvy stereo receiver, the RX-4203 ($199) with Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Headphone, and an input that accepts a Bluetooth receiver, just in case you get the impulse to play music from your cell phone.

No really, he won't.

Dolby was showing us something we'd heard about at Cedia, but which they weren't quite ready to show last fall. This time, using video from three different programs, they did a before and after demo of how Dolby Volume equalizes disparities between sources. It worked well enough in the demo and one thing I did note was that it <i>wasn't</i> heavy handed. For example, the program that was clearly lower in volume in the "before" condition, was still softer than either of the other programs.

Following up the release of their ultra-sleek Zeppelin iPod system, Bowers & Wilkins is continuing their push into the lifestyle audio arena with the new wireless Liberty audio system. At the heart of the system is the CP1 console, which has a built-in DVD player and touchscreen control panel. The speaker line features powered tower, bookshelf, and center-channel models, as well as a distinctively curvy subwoofer, that you can mix and match. The main console communicates with the speakers wirelessly over a closed, proprietary 2.4-gigahertz network, and the system's designer claims a low latency of 12 microseconds to ensure that the integrity of the soundfield remains intact. The Liberty system sports eight channels of amplification and provides the freedom to configure those channels however you please, whether it’s a 7.1-channel HT setup, a 5.1-channel setup with second-zone stereo, or even four stereo zones. The Liberty is scheduled for release in the summer of 2008, for an estimated price of $15,00 to $18,000.