You hear a lot about how good speakers look on a wall. What you don't hear is that wall mounting can affect a speaker's performance. Good thing the PSB VisionSound VS300 speakers (center and front, $749 apiece) have special circuitry to compensate for any ill effects (a switch defeats it for off-wall mounting).
PADDED UP You've got a souped-up multiroom system - don't settle for a low-tech keypad. Elan's Olè suspends a touch-sensitive button membrane above a backlit slide graphic to give the illusion of a touchpad without the crazy expense of one.
Onkyo has spruced up the middle of its receiver line with two new models, the $1,399 TX-NR929 and the $1,099 TX-NR828. Both are THX Select2 Plus-certified, with 135 watts of power per channel. Both include wireless streaming through WiFi of files up to 24-bit/192-kilohertz resolution from computers, NAS drives, and other networked devices. And both include Bluetooth so your daughter can stream the latest Justin Bieber tune from her iPhone.
Last week we got a chance to check out the new stuff Klipsch has up its sleeve for Fall 2012, and while we'll have lots more to tell you about soon, the first product to get an official announcement is a refreshed version of the company's well-regarded affordable in-ear 'phone, the Klipsch Image S4. The lineup remains the same as before, with updates to the basic Image S4 ($79.99), as well as the Android-friendly S4A and the iOS-remote sporting S4i (both $99.99)
WINDOWS 1080P If you loved Legos as a kid, a Media Center PC will fulfill your need to build stuff in a grown-up, home theater kind of way. Niveus's Rainier, an "entry-level" model in the Summit series, gives you unprecedented tools: an HD DVD drive and an HDMI output capable of feeding your display 1080p video.
Marantz With its silver finish and flat, brushed-aluminum faceplates, the Marantz Duetto stereo music system has an elegantly futuristic look. Both the SR110 two-channel receiver (top) and the CD110 CD player measure 8 1/4 x 3 x 12 2/8 inches and have drop-down covers over their front-panel controls.
PADDED ROOMS Inspired by control panels on kitchen gadgets, the keypads in NuVo's Grand Concerto whole-house system have no pushbuttons. Instead, the panel responds when something - a fingertip, usually - disrupts the electrical field underneath a button icon, so nothing can get stuck.
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.
PanasonicIt's a tough call: do you want a hard-drive video recorder so you can save TV shows without disc clutter, or a DVD recorder so you can keep your recordings forever? Panasonic's DMR-E80H gives you both options in a single package.
TRICKS FOR THE TRADE Denon threw that conspicuous "CI" into this receiver's product number to let you know it has some special tricks for custom installers. Trick 1: Source renaming, so your front panel doesn't just have to say "DVD" - call your player "Philips 721" or even "Ralph" if you want.
