Mark Fleischmann

We hope Bowers & Wilkins will forgive us for using the once ubiquitous acronym B&W – we are old fashioned that way. Any changes in the company's world-beating 800 line, lately known as the Diamond Series, qualifies as major news. The original 13 models have been reduced to 7 ranging in price from $2500 to $24,000. Lineup is what you see here plus two centers not pictured. New stuff includes new crossovers, magnets, gloss black finish, and every model has the cool Diamond tweeter.

Will the phrase "phoning it in" lose its negative connotation with the mainstreaming of videophones? It sure seemed like it as Panasonic president Fumio Otsubo chatted with other Panasonic folks at today's press event at the Venetian. The chat set the stage for a major announcement: All Viera Cast TVs will henceforth coming with Skype capability (LG made a similar announcement earlier in the day). One-third of Skype calls are video calls and moving them from the PC to the TV must qualify as a historic moment.

LG has announced a prototype LCD panel just 2.6mm thick. That's slightly more than one-tenth of an inch.

Price: $1,000 At A Glance: Moderate power and up-front sound • New GUI, Bluetooth, USB input • Proprietary auto setup, room correction, height, low-volume modes

The Brand That Rolls Its Own

At first glance, the Yamaha RX-V1065 A/V receiver seems to be missing several of the latest and greatest features. By that I mean it doesn’t have the licensed goodies and their accompanying logos, the little things that manufacturers use to encourage the feeling that things are getting better all the time. However, when you look closer at the specs—or better yet, page through the manual—some of those features are in fact present, in Yamaha-approved form, under other names.