CES 2013

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CES 2013
LG Has Your 21:9 Monitor
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2013  |  0 comments
This 21:9, 29-inch may not be just the ticket for that big screen home theater, although it can display 2.35:1 films without black bars. But its primary application will be for a computer monitor, where it can display multiple images at once, including a 4-screen split for multitasking.
CES 2013
LG Moves You
Tom Norton  |  Jan 08, 2013  |  0 comments
This is just one of the images that the LG video wall morphed into. The moving 3D images ranged from the surreal to the fantastic. It was the standout booth entrance at the show. LG provided the passive polarized lens of the 3D glasses over the camera lens.
CES 2013
LG Moves You
Tom Norton  |  Jan 08, 2013  |  0 comments
The major HDTV manufacturers fell all over themselves, as usual, trying to produce the most spectacular, eye-catching booth theme. But the grand prize goes to LG, which built on the 3D video wall first shown last year with some of the most eye-catching imagery seen at the show. The wall appeared to be made up of 140 sets, if my count is right (I counted them on site; a few sets re cropped off here) and each set appeared to be 55-inches. That's about 90 feet wide.

The images had to be viewed through passive 3D glasses provided to the attendees (the glasses were also needed inside the booth, where many displays were 3D). How, you may wonder, did I capture these images in 2D to show here without the double image effect? Simple: I held one lens of the 3D glasses in front of the camera lens, so only one eye-image came through to the camera's imager.

CES 2013
LG Surround Sound Package
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2013  |  0 comments
LG's BH9430PW all in one home theater system may be a bit (OK, more than a bit) less ambitious than some of the components we discuss in this report and review in the pages of Home Theater, but for many folks it's all they think they can afford (which is not always the case). It's said to be a 9.1-channel system, but I saw only 5.1 channels in the demo. The small speaker cones use Kevlar, a material long used in some very high-end speakers. B&W, for example, began using Kevlar for some of its drivers in the mid 1970s. I didn't get to hear the LG system; the demo began with a far too loud (for me and the system) crash, boom, bang action scene and I was out of there like a shot.
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CES 2013
LG Throws a Mean Curve Too
Tom Norton  |  Jan 08, 2013  |  0 comments
I guess it's a toss-up as to who thought of a curved OLED first, but LG's 3D-capable EA9800 (no word on price or availability) looks appropriately cinematic as well. OLEDs are uniquely suited to curved designs, as they're so thin they can be twisted or rolled into forms impossible up to now with other display technologies.

LG's OLED employ 4-color pixels--sort of. The fourth color is white, along with the usual red, green,and blue.

CES 2013
Meridian Gets into Walls
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 09, 2013  |  0 comments
Meridian's first on-wall speakers include the DSP 520 ($5000/each) and DSP 648 ($7000/each). Unlike most in-walls, but like other Meridian speakers, they are self-powered and loaded with DSP magic. They're also built with separate enclosures for the drivers, the electronics, and the back box. Our exclusive closeup shows buttons your installer can use to dedicate the speaker to left, center, or right channel use. Mount Meridian's Media Controller 200 to the back and you can control the system from your iPad.
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CES 2013
MK Bows New THX Subs
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 10, 2013  |  1 comments

MK celebrates its 40th anniversary with three new THX-certified subs, all with dual drivers in a push-pull configuration that has the front-firing driver operating in phase and the bottom driver operating out of phase, as shown in the brochure we photographed on our hotel room bed. Each driver is in a separate chamber with electronics in a third one. Driver sizes are reflected in the models numbers: X12 ($3200), X10 ($2600), and X8 ($1900). Rated power is 400 watts RMS and 700 watts peak for the X12, 350-650 for the X10, and 300-600 for the X8. Shipping between February and April depending on model. Fans of the venerable MK 150 might want to given a listen to its new tweeter.

CES 2013
Monitor Takes to the Air
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 09, 2013  |  0 comments
There are loads of compact audio systems with AirPlay and Bluetooth wireless compatibility at CES, but how many of them include Monitor Audio's one-inch gold dome tweeter and four-inch aluminum woofer in a biamped configuration for a mere $500? The Airstream 5300 has wider dispersion than an earlier model, with tweeters pushed to the far sides of the baffle, and it has a threaded insert for wall mounting, a nicety you won't find in many competitors.
CES 2013
Monster Fuses Fashion and Tech with New Headphones
Bob Ankosko  |  Jan 07, 2013  |  0 comments
When it comes to headphones, for Monster it’s all about fashion with lots of color and style, a parade of headphone-wearing models, celebrity endorsements and marketing—lots of marketing. A host of celebrities—including recording artist and former Prince collaborator Sheila E, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, America’s Got Talent host Nick Cannon and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees—were on hand at Monster’s pre-CES 2013 press event to help Monster introduce a slew of new headphones.

Highlights include the gaming-focused EA Sports MVP Carbon by Monster headphone ($270), featuring proprietary surround processing and available in black or white beginning in February/March; the in-ear ClarityMobile line with three models aimed at business travelers—a $50 model with an in-line microphone and two $70 models—slated to hit stores in April; an angular on-ear addition to the Diesel VEKTR line offered in military green and chrome ($280); three washable iSport in-ear models for the work-out crowd, ranging from $80 to $160; seven on-ear and in-ear DNA models, featuring a triangular ear cups and dual inputs that allow five ‘phones to be connected at once, ranging in price from $130 to $230; new on-ear and in-ear Bluetooth-powered wireless models with noise cancellation for the Nokia Purity line; and the youth-focused N-Pulse headphones, a new addition to the NCredible line developed with Nick Cannon and available in black or white for $200.

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CES 2013
More on Theta Supernova
Tom Norton  |  Jan 10, 2013  |  0 comments
Here's a front shot of the Theta Supernova preamp-processor covered in an earlier blog. It should sell for around $10K, just a bit more than half the cost of a fully configured Theta Casablanca. The only open question appears to be if the Supernova will offer the same advanced room correction that will grace the Casablanca. My vote is yes, it should.
CES 2013
Morel Makes It Hip to Be Round
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 08, 2013  |  0 comments
Morel's high-performing SoundSpot satellites have a new iteration in the SP3. It has a larger orb with a new 4.5-inch woofer that enables it to perform better at the low end, lowering the formerly 120-150Hz sub crossover to 90dB, so the sub won't have to do so much work (and call so much attention to itself). The Lotus grille pattern makes it acoustically transparent.
CES 2013
Music Hall Cleans Records and Much More
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 09, 2013  |  0 comments
The WCS-2 record cleaning machine ($750) was only one of the many worthy and provocative things happening in the Music Hall room at the Venetian. We say provocative because WCS stands for wet clean suck—don't blame us, we're just reporting—and partly because Roy Hall treated us to a monologue about how "I've always told my customers to go **** themselves and I've been successful beyond my wildest dreams." Also shown were prototypes of the forthcoming Ikura turntable which combines a plastic dual plinth with a carbon fiber tonearm and will sell in two versions, one with MDF platter for "$1000-ish," and a step-up model with acrylic platter and different cartridge. But the most provocative thing was the sheer quality of the sound that emerged from a system combining the Music Hall-branded Marimba speakers ($350/pair) and stands ($250/pair), a70.2 integrated amp ($1499 with phono stage), and USB-1 turntable (a mere $250 including Ortofon cartridge). A highly natural vocal treatment combined with a mighty synth bass to produce what was quite simply one of the best audio demos at the show from a system cost that's less than what some audiophiles would spend on cables.
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CES 2013
NAD Shows Cans While PSB Ships Desktoppers
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 09, 2013  |  0 comments
Paul Barton of NAD's sister brand PSB designed NAD's entry into the headphone category. The HP50 ($279) uses much the same driver and other technologies as PSB's acclaimed headphones, and is also an over-the-ear model, but comes in a slightly different form factor. PSB's PS1 active desktop speaker system, which we've blogged at a previous show, is now shipping for $300.
CES 2013
NETGEAR Releases NeoTV PRIME with Google TV
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jan 07, 2013  |  0 comments
At the CES 2013 NETGEAR press conference, the company announced NeoTV PRIME, a Google TV streaming player that is available now for $129.99. Like other Google TVs, a growing number of apps can be added from the Google Play store. And like other Google TVs, it has global search to find the titles you want whether they are on live TV, streaming Internet services, web pages, or your own media on your home network.

What NETGEAR brings to the PRIME is a full access Chrome web browser. With Flash and HTML 5 plug-ins, it will (theoretically) play videos from any website (though certain websites have blocked Google TV access).

The included two-sided remote has a QWERTY keyboard, appears to be identical to the Vizio's Co-Star Google TV keyboard. The other side has a touchpad mouse control, directional navigation buttons and direct play buttons to immediately access Amazon on Demand, HBO Go, Crackle, Netflix, and YouTube. The YouTube smartphone app will have a "play to Google TV" button to send a video directly to the Google TV YouTube app. There is also a button for MyMedia that brings up the network attached storage (NAS) drives and other DLNA sources including ReadyShare available on NETGEAR routers.

CES 2013
New Headphones From Focal
Brent Butterworth  |  Sep 26, 2013  |  0 comments

Following up on the warm reception that its original Spirit One headphone received, Focal showed two new models today at the CEDIA Expo. Both have slightly larger earcups than the Spirit One, so they should be a little more comfortable.

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