LATEST ADDITIONS

On hand at the Meridian party was the latest and smallest member of the company's well-regarded DSP speaker line, the DSP3200. This self-powered, bi-amped gem accepts a digital signal and sports a 6.5-inch woofer and 3-inch full-range driver that's the same as the one used in the McLaren supercar audio system. By Meridian standards, it's a bargain at $6500/pair.

Sharp has finally introduced a 3D LCD TV in its Quattron line, which adds a yellow color filter to the conventional red, green, and blue filters. The LE925 will be available in two sizes—52 and 60 inches—for $4200 and $5300, respectively. Several technologies, including the separate yellow color, are said to almost double the brightness of 3D content compared with 3-color LCDs. The demo did look relatively bright, but Sharp's use of Despicable Me as demo material was unfortunate, since the 3D in that particular movie is very unimpressive. A different disc of custom content looked much better.

Famous for in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, SpeakerCraft decided to go back to its founders' roots with the new Roots standalone speakers, which include three 2-way satellites and two subwoofers (one of which is shown in red here). A similar design aesthetic was applied to the FloBox, which combines the Vital 250 integrated amp with a speaker system that includes a 5.25-inch woofer, two 3-inch midrange drivers, and two 0.75-inch tweeters.

The new Sharp ZV2-1700 is the first new 3D projector we've officially heard about at the show, but we know it won't be the last. It's a 1-chip DLP. Like the Quattron 3D sets it comes with 2 pair of active 3D shutter glasses. These are triggered not only by a IR link, but by DLP-Link as well. The latter places invisible white frames into the image periodically to trigger the glasses, which works better than the usual IR link for larger, more widely seated audiences——more likely with a projector than with a flat panel display.