LATEST ADDITIONS

Sennheiser, makers of some fantastic headphones, now make a $79 in-ear earphone. With soft silicon tips, these won't abrade your ears like the crap Apple gives you with their $300 player.

Yamaha's new Soavo speaker line currently has five models, the Soavo 1 floor stander and and Soavo 2 bookshelf, plus a center, surround, and subwoofer. the big Suovo 1 is priced at $1800 (each). They're classy-looking and appear to be very well built. A brief 2-channedl audition in a small demo room on the show floor (not the best listening conditions) revealed an extremely tight bass response, but a rather forward midrange and high frequency balance. Still, they are definitely worth a closer audition under better conditions.

Digital projection went all out with this comparison; 5 different DP projectors displaying the same material. The Titan 1080p-250 is at the lower left ($42,995 + $12,995 for the premium lens option of your choice); the dVision 1080p ($29,995) is at the upper left. At the lower right is the Titan HD-250, a 720p design ($29,995 plus $9995 for the lens). I compared the two Titans closely, and while at first glance the 720p design looked outstanding, the 1080p's image was both smoother and, at the same time, more naturally sharp. Yes, those differences were relatively subtle, but nonetheless significant. Needless to say, you really can't see any of this from the screen shot shown here.

Paradigm had more new speaker models than I saw in any one place at the whole show, topped off by the company's flagship range, the new Signature V.2 series. The Signature designs feature all new drivers with P-Be pure-beryllium dome tweeters (actually fabricated from a thin sheet of beryllium, not vapor-deposited) and CoIA (CObalt-Infused pure-Aluminum) woofer cones. The line tops out with the S8, six-driver, 3-way, at $6500/pair).The models ahould all be available in November and December (2006), except for the new surrounds (early 2007)