Mark Fleischmann

The latest subwoofer to hit the Bowers & Wilkins CM Series is the ASW 12 CM. Similar in design to the ASW10, it has a 12-inch Kevlar-paper-cone driver with a large three-inch voice coil to pound that driver into submission, and probably you as well. The 500-watt Class D amplifier should provide plenty of power, pummeling the driver only when needed, and resting energy-efficiently the rest of the time. The finish is gloss black, the ship date is September, and the price is $2000.

Peter Tribeman's voice dropped to a whisper as he gave me the word a few weeks ago about a bass-related technology that will figure prominently in Atlantic Technology's exhibit at CEDIA. Atlantic will license the H-PAS (Hybrid Pressure Acceleration System) technology from inventor Philip Clements of Solus/Clements. As chronicled in this press release, it will combine bass reflex, inverse horn, transmission line, and a resonance/harmonic filter, all with no active electronics or special drivers. CEDIA-goers will hear (we are told) two 4.5-inch drivers in a 1.4 cubic foot enclosure produce bass output of 105dB down to 29Hz, +3dB, with bass harmonic distortion under three percent. Said Tribeman: "Until now, I would have considered it virtually impossible to achieve such high levels of bass performance and quality in such small enclosures.... This new system is the first ever to break the famous Iron Law of loudspeaker design, which states: 'deep bass extension, compact enclosure, or good efficiency...pick any two at the expense of the third.' For the very first time, due to Phil Clements' breakthrough design, we can have them all." The first product to ship will be the H-PAS-1 floorstanding speaker in the fourth quarter. Another 6.5-inch tower and bookshelf model will follow next year. Pricing TBA. We can't wait for the pre-show demo.

D&M Holdings will not be exhibiting at CEDIA this year. That means no Denon, no McIntosh, no Escient--and no Marantz. However, Marantz issued some new product announcements two weeks ago. The highlights include four new Blu-ray players. Two of them are full-fledged universal players with SACD and DVD-A, including the flagship UD9004, with Silicon Optic Realta video processing for $6000. Three new a/v receivers include the affordable NR-1501, a slimline product that delivers a pretty full feature set for $600. Step up to the SR5004 ($850) or SR6004 ($1250) for the height-enhanced Dolby Pro Logic IIz listening mode and an iPod-compatible USB jack. Some two-channel products were also introduced. See our news item on Denon's product announcements of a few months back.

Three new receivers from Onkyo will be the first to deliver nine amplifier channels. They also support dual subwoofer outputs, making them 9.2-channel models. Why this, why now? The advent of Audyssey's DSX and Dolby's Pro Logic IIz post-processing modes have prompted the increase in channels. Both of these modes add height while DSX also offers the option of width. With nine amp channels, you can run any two of the following: height, width, and back-surround. The receivers are the TX-NR5007 ($2699), TX-NR3007 ($2099), and TX-NR1007 ($1599). These THX Ultra2 Plus also boast THX Volume Plus, a low-volume listening mode that evens out differences among source inputs and tames the insane dynamics of some movie soundtracks. Also included in the two top models is Dolby Volume, which does the same. An ethernet connection allows streaming with Pandora, Rhapsody, and vTuner, not to mention Sirius. Video processing is HQV Reon-VX. ISF Certified Calibration Controls (ISFCCC) allows a qualified installer to tweak everything to perfection. See press release.