Of the two towers and one stand-mount labeled "new" at the Focal booth, the center of attention was the 30th anniversary tower, the 826W, at left, price n/a. New beryllium-tweeter models included two more towers and another stand-mount ranging from $4495/pair to $12,495/pair.
Mordaunt-Short's Performance 2 grabbed our eye immediately with its high-gloss black lacquer finish. The very chunky two-way monitor goes for $4500/pair. More accessible, perhaps, is the new Aviano line, a little of which is lurking in the background of the pic. It includes two towers, two monitors, center, and two subs ranging from $495/pair for the Aviano 1 two-way monitor to $1495/pair for the Aviano 8 three-way tower.
American Recorder's HD Fidelity speakers can be purchased with a setup kit that includes an SPL meter and something else that piqued our interest. See the thing jutting out of the speaker on the right? That's the laser alignment tool, your new best friend for correct speaker placement. Great Sound Begins with a Great Setup, says the company.
Samsung's HT-BD8200 soundbar has an integrated Blu-ray player, wireless sub, 300 total watts of power, 2.1-channel virtual surround technology, wi-fi readiness, Netflix savvy, and Pandora compatibility for $800. Also shown were a Blu-less bar, plus a couple of HTiBs, one based on a slim tower, one based on small satellites.
Yamaha used a proprietary wireless connection for the yAired music system. Unlike, say, Bluetooth, it has no compression, no latency, and no delay. Look for the MLR-140 in mid October.
If you got your hands on a new PS3 Slim, then why not expand your game library with this buy one game get one half off deal. Plus more HD and gadget deals* after the jump.
Harman Kardon HKTS-15 5.1 Channel Speaker System for $383.95 (normally...
Now that I've seen the new VX-33 projector after writing about it before the show, I can confirm that it is indeed bright enough to fill a giant screen and compete with some ambient light. The demo was a football game on a 14-foot-wide Stewart GrayHawk with the room lights on, and the picture was plenty punchy.
Another new "entry-level" DLP projector line introduced by Runco at CEDIA is the VX-3000, which replaces the RS-900. Three models will be available—VX-3000i ($9000, internal processor), VX-3000d ($12,000, DHD 3 external processor), and VX-3000d Ultra ($20,000, DHD 3, five lens options, can use CineWide with AutoScope anamorphic system). The color wheel in these projectors has been designed specifically for reproducing D65 white, and calibration reduces the light output much less than most projectors.
Among the many new products introduced by Runco at CEDIA is a new entry-level line of DLP projectors, dubbed LightStyle. Three models comprise the line—the LS-3 ($5000) and LS-5 ($7000) are single-chip, 1080p, while the LS-7 ($15,500) is a 3-chip 720p. The sleek design looks more like a Planar projector, which is not surprising since Planar bought Runco in 2007.
One of the big buzzes at this year's show is LED illumination in front projectors, and Runco is in the thick of it with the Q-750, marketed under the QuantumColor moniker. This projector uses Luminus PhlatLight LEDs and recalibrates the color every time it's turned on, which guarantees no color shift over the life of the projector. Speaking of color, it can reproduce a gamut 135 percent larger than NTSC, and it comes with several preset gamuts, including Rec.709, SMPTE C, DCI (the digital-cinema standard), sRGB, Adobe RGB, and the native gamut of the LEDs.