LATEST ADDITIONS

While every manufacturer is making speakers in any color you want, as long as it’s black, id America is breaking the mold with their colorful new portable Bluetooth speaker, the TouchTone. This is a compact speaker that won’t break the bank - it’s available now for $80. It comes in a variety of colors, with an even greater palette available soon.

The Thiel TM3 monitor is the brainchild of new designer Mark Mason, who is rising to the task of filling the enormous shoes of the late founder Jim Thiel. Among other things, he prizes a good mix of on- and off-axis response and wants his speakers to be easier to drive. The 6.5-inch fiberglass woofer and one-inch aluminum tweeter nestle in an enclosure made of twelve 1/16th-inch layers, mostly of plywood, with one metal layer. The product is made in Lexington, Kentucky and will sell for $2999/pair when it ships in summer 2014. There will also be two new centers priced at $3999 and $1999 as well as two new subs priced at $2499 for a 15-inch and $1999 for a 12-inch. Oh, and three new towers as well, which will be covered separately.

Toshiba never really went anywhere, but they’ve kept a low profile for the past couple of years. No longer. The company’s Ultra HD 4K models, scheduled to roll out this summer, are a step back into the game.

It takes a lot to design a killer-looking speaker, but perhaps that money is better spent on sound quality. Ever practical, the designers at China’s Microlab put all their budget into making the FC10 ($77) good quality speakers that look nice in person, but they most certainly veer away from the sleek and swoopy design that Apple designers have deemed essential. They have a clean and simple look, lacking the curved aesthetic that most products embrace these days. The FC10 are wedge-shaped speakers designed to solidly surround any laptop - Apple or otherwise; the pair weighs 4.41 lbs.