CES 2009

New readers won’t recognize the shell-shaped speaker on the right. It’s B&W’s Nautilus, a design that dates back years. It always was more of a tech statement piece than a readily available product, but you can still get it on special order. I think I heard $40,000/pair or so.

Samsung’s new model 450 plasma is said to be the first flat panel display that’s 3D-ready. The 3D image was very good, though I’m still not sure I’d want to watch many movies this way. But I suspect 3D has a big future in video games.

Samsung prototype of a 3840x2160, or 4K LCD, was so crowded I had to grab an image around the crowd as best I could. No plans to offer it as a product, however, at least not in the near future.

The big video story at this year’s show is super slim flat panels designs. None of them will be available immediately, but they should start trickling in later in the year. Panasonic showed three samples of its design, including one that angled out to show just how skinny it is.

Specs and features

The new Sherwood R-972 AV receiver ($1800) has the usual features expected in today’s flagships, including HDMI 1.3 and decoding for both Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio. But it also has a unique audio processor. Many of today’s newest receivers use the Audyssey equalization system. Sherwood is going with Trinnov room compensation. Far too complex to explain in a short blog, this processor is based on a $13,000 pro unit with a design goal to “recreate the 3-dimensional soundfield of the original performance.” The Trinnov processing was outboard at the show, (the second box in the photo), but will be built into the receiver itself in production units.