Bob Ankosko

Sales of Blu-ray players are holding their own and may even see a bump as Dolby Atmos discs begin to make their way into the market next month. With that in mind, Pioneer’s introduction of the new Elite BDP-88FD Blu-ray player—conceived as the ultimate reference player—couldn’t be better timed.

Deezer, a French music streaming service with 16 million active users and 5 million paying subscribers, is coming to the U.S. with the “world’s largest” music catalog of more than 35 million tracks—all captured in the lossless FLAC format.

I knew from the press photo that Artison’s RCC Nano 1 sub was small but I didn’t realize just how small until I saw in person at CEDIA Expo. The little guy is less than 9 inches square yet packs one helluva punch and boasts a “vibration-free” reactance cancelling configuration developed by CEO and chief designer Cary Christie.

In a world populated by all-in-one powered soundbars, Monitor Audio showed two SB Series passive soundbars slated to ship in December: The compact SB-2 for TVs with screens between 50 and 60 inches and the SB-3, which will be custom built for screen sizes above 60 inches.

Both models feature separate driver arrays for the left, center, and right channels. The SB-2 employs a 4-inch woofer, 1-inch horn-loaded tweeter, and passive radiator in each section, while the SB-3 uses the same complement for the left and right channels but doubles up on the woofers and passive radiators for the center section.

The ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium drivers are borrowed from Monitor’s flagship Radius line. Cabinets are made of internally braced high-density MDF covered in black acoustically transparent fabric and have brushed aluminum end caps for a touch of style. Wall mounting is possible with an optional low-profile bracket that provides easy cable access.