New Products

Designed specifically as a companion to the M60 floorstanders we looked at a year ago, Axiom's new VP160 Center Channel is a 43-pound behemoth aimed at solidifying the reproduction of speech and anything else that might be in the center channel

It's pretty clear that TVs are going to keep getting thinner - the hot sets at CES this year were downright wraithlike, measuring mere millimeters in thickness (Bose has been bucking the trend with their Videowave, but that's another kettle of fish entirely). That doesn't leave much room for amps and speakers, so built-in audio can't help but suffer. Sure you can add a full system, but what if you're challenged for space in the first place, or looking to outfit a secondary viewing room? Audio Solutions has a new all-in-one wall mount and sound system that might fit your needs.

Through with music games? Gone as far as you can with Guitar Hero? (There's always someone willing to go further - but that's not for you). Time to dust off that axe that's taking up space in the closet, plug it into your computer, and learn to play for real, once and for all.

Plug it into your computer? Yep, you heard me right.

Having already moved successfully into the iDevice docking and low-cost earphone spaces, Altec Lansing is testing the premium headphone market. But rather than looking to pick up a celebrity endorser, they've instead gone high-end, announcing today a full line of custom-fit in-ear 'phones: the A1, A2, and A3, offering one, two, and three balanced armature drivers respectively, in medical-grade silicone housings.

The 2011 edition of the massive Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (that's "Berlin International Radio Show," or just "IFA" for those of us who don't speak German) comes to a close tomorrow, with an overwhelming number of products from some 1,400 exhibitors on display, from super-automatic espresso machines to soundbars. Our own Corinne Iozzio was there, and managed to get a look at some of the latest (and just plain weirdest) stuff on offer from the world of consumer electronics.

Big news from Taoyuan last night, elaborated on in a call this morning: Major mobile device maker HTC has picked up a majority share of