Mark Fleischmann

Polk's Omni Collection of DTS Play-Fi devices brings wireless connectivity to surprisingly good-sounding compact audio products, a soundbar, an amp, and a preamp.

Wednesday's CEDIA 2015 Keynote Address at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center paused just long enough to celebrate CEDIA's 25 years of success and unveil a new logo before futurist Michael Rogers took the stage. The author and consultant is MSNBC's Practical Futurist, Futurist in Residence of the New York Times, and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. "There's a certain liberty when there's a futurist in the room," he said. He then dazzled us with a cavalcade of internet-related technologies and filled the tall order of relating them to the audience of custom installers.

PRICE $2,399

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Nuanced, open, uncolored sonics
Stream Magic module
Auto setup imposes no room correction
Minus
Bluetooth requires adapter
A $2,400 AVR with no Dolby Atmos or DTS:X
Auto setup imposes no room correction

THE VERDICT
This receiver makes idiosyncratic audiophile choices—omitting Atmos, Bluetooth, and other features—but the revamped look and feel are great, and the sound is reliably musical.

At first glance, the cosmetic difference between Cambridge Audio’s new CXR receivers and the company’s previous Azur line is almost shocking. The older receivers were stellar performers, but their look was strictly utilitarian, even a bit dowdy. They were the consumer electronics equivalent of Queen Elizabeth II. Whatever her traditional virtues may be, she hasn’t won many beauty contests lately. What a difference a new look makes! The CXR receivers have a cleaner, sleeker front panel, with fewer controls and a generously oversized display. They’re less QEII, more Kate Middleton—who, coincidentally, is also known as the Duchess of Cambridge.

Hate your cable company? Sick of unrelenting robocalls that seem to pop up at home and on your cell at the most inopportune moments?

A federal judge fined Time Warner Cable $229,500 for robocalling a Texas woman 153 times in an attempt to dun another customer.