Mark Fleischmann

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Remember, the Sherwood R-972 receiver with Trinnov room correction? It's now scheduled to arrive in December for $1800, and is probably worth the wait, judging from the demo. Despite deliberately misplaced speakers -- center too low and to the right, others too high -- it generated a warm and rich soundfield that was surprisingly vivid and involving. And it did so in two locations, the first with an orthodox seven-speaker array, and the second using only the right side-surround and right rear-surround. The idea is that you may want to listen in different locations, a good idea for rooms with more than one piece of furniture, right? The setup mic is an unusual four-part object. Of the three parts of the room-EQ process (measurement, analysis, correction) it's the analysis that's special, as Trinnov founder Arnaud Laborie explained while showing the professional version of the product. It's pictured. Notice the two color-coded speaker sets: one showing the front speakers where they ought to be, and the other one showing where they actually are.

Escient has added a whole new product line, supplementing the fabulous five-year-old Fireballs with the new Vision media servers. Models include the VX600, with four swappable one-terabyte drives, enough to hold 600 movies, $7999; VX-200, two times 1TB, $5999; and VX-100, two times 500GB, $3999. Asked if Escient expected the kind of copyright lawsuits that have bedeviled Kaleidescape, the answer was no, the products are unrancorously licensed with the CCA, the DVD DRM authority. Escient is also working with Sony to make its streaming products compatible with the forthcoming 400-disc Blu-ray player. The GUI looks great, with cover view for both DVD and CD, and Rhapsody compatibility is part of the package.

Though better known for its gorgeous and high-performing amps, McIntosh also does speakers, such as the new XR200 floorstander. With seven tweeters, a dozen midrange drivers, and eight 8-inch woofers, each backed with a 12-pound motor, it's not likely to compress with any signal known to humankind. The demo sounded good. Also new from McIntosh are the MDLP2 DLP projector, MPC1500 power controller, and MC303 three-channel amp (pictured with extremely cheerful showgoer in upper left).