Tom Norton

Paradigm had more new speaker models than I saw in any one place at the whole show, topped off by the company's flagship range, the new Signature V.2 series. The Signature designs feature all new drivers with P-Be pure-beryllium dome tweeters (actually fabricated from a thin sheet of beryllium, not vapor-deposited) and CoIA (CObalt-Infused pure-Aluminum) woofer cones. The line tops out with the S8, six-driver, 3-way, at $6500/pair).The models ahould all be available in November and December (2006), except for the new surrounds (early 2007)

Optoma was producing a terrific picture on a big screen (estimated at about 12-feet wide) using an add-on Schneider anamorphic lens on the company's new HD81 1080p single-chip DLP projector. The projector goes for $7000, the lens is a $4000 option (lens available in November)

Epson had this prototype of a new 1080p LCD projector on static display, but not on demonstration. The PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080p uses the company's newest D6 C2 Fine LCD panels. No price or availability date was announced.

Artison's new subwoofer, RCC 600, hides in a wall, with four unique drivers that oppose each other with rigidly attached baskets. This allows the reactance forces generated to cancel one another. According to Artison, one RCC 600 provides a bass/sound quality surpassing that of a typical 12-inch subwoofer.