Tom Norton

This prototype of a new A/V pre-pro from the folks at Emotiva (AV123.com) was spotted lurking in the Dolby booth. Why there? It's one of the new products to incorporate Dolby Volume.

All this, 5 speakers in the package, and a high gloss finish, too. It's a joke, right?

There are two new members of Pioneer's premier speaker family. The S-4EX-W, the smaller bookshelf model in the photo, and the smaller center channel,the S-8EX-W. (The two floor standers and the subwoofer are not shown here.) The Pioneer rep on hand seemed a bit fuzzy on the prices, but $4,000/pair for the bookshelves and $2100 for the center was his story. All of the speakers, and corresponding in-walls, employ a unique magnesium cone woofer with an integral, coaxially mounted beryllium-dome tweeter. Shipping now.

As with all manufacturers, Sharp announced a pile of new sets. But the BD series, available in five sizes (32-, 37-, 42-, 46-, and 52 inches) is the first we've heard of to feather built-in Blu-ray players. The three larges sizes offer 120Hz operation, 10-bit panels, and a Pure mode that selects the optimum settings for a program—including the correct aspect ratio for BDs and DVDs (if this works well, it will be a first, and a welcome one, but no claim was made that it will do this on broadcast sources). The set's cosmetics also feature a touch of blue (red was taken). The two largest models, will be available in February at $2599 (52") and $2299 (46").