CLUTTER CUTTER Everybody loves HDTV, but enough with all the cables already! Pioneer feels your pain, providing no fewer than four HDMI inputs on its new flagship receiver, the VSX-84TXSi. The Cadillac of connectors delivers both HD video and audio, so you can hook up everything from your high-def cable box to your HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc player and still not get tangled up.
BLUE WONDER You couldn't swing a cellphone at CES in January without hitting a car stereo with Bluetooth capability. Being able to connect a mobile phone to a head unit wirelessly isn't just a convenience that commuters crave; in many states, hands-free phone operation behind the wheel is the law, not a choice.
$2,289 for a set of headphones? Sure, we've seen big, clunky audiophile headphones selling for prices in that range, but never a mainstream product priced so high.
Last night we got a chance to check out Samsung's new audio product line - a full refresh of the company's approach to docks and HTiBs, with a whole bunch of interesting twists.
Can't get enough satellite radio? The Elan XM-R3 XM radio tuner ($1,550) was made just for you. The rack-mountable unit has a trio of XM tuners onboard so you can stream separate XM channels to three different rooms in your house simultaneously.
MORE SCREEN, LESS SET Got space issues with your TV? Before you go running to a flat-panel, have a look at this DLP from Samsung that's just barely over 10 inches deep. That's thin enough to put on your bedroom dresser, and the ultrathin bezel will ensure you see nothing but the 1,280 x 720-pixel (720p) screen.
We came across the new iHome iP76 ($199) at the CEA Line Shows earlier this month, the glowing, pulsing, three-foot-tall tower speaker seemed like the kind of thing you might see nestled beside some fancy tobacco smoking gear.
Sherwood With built-in bass management for its multichannel analog inputs, the Sherwood Newcastle R-963 may be the first digital surround receiver that's truly ready for the DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD formats.
Samsung's HL-S5679W HDTV ($4,199), coming in August, is the first rear-projection set to use LED (light-emitting diode) light sources instead of a conventional lamp. Among the reasons you should care: a 20,000-hour lamp life (more than double typical lamps), a shorter turn-on time (7 seconds), and being able to rattle off one more abbreviation when blabbing about your rig.
CONTACT The Harmony 1000 controller is so sexy, the instant you see it, you'll wanna touch it. That's encouraged, of course, since its 3.5-inch screen is a touchpanel, sporting the simple activity-based menus that are Harmony's claim to fame.
Over the past few weeks, we've been looking into some promising new room correction solutions, using both frequency-domain and time-domain approaches. If you've been wondering why nobody's been applying such thinking to headphones, think again - in-ear monitor innovator JH Audio has been on the case.