Show Reports

Show Report: CEDIA - 2007

Classé has caught up with the reset of the processors in terms of HDMI. The SSP-800 which will ship in the somewhat near future will support HDMI 1.3 with 4 inputs and 2 outputs. It will support OSD on all video signals including 1080p and will support 36-bit color. While it will not support scaling of the video signals it will switch them and pull off the audio which is the part we consider to be the most important. And it keeps the cool screen in the front.


Modular solution for front wall installation. $25,000 for a complete system.


Integra DHS 8.8 HD DVD player, HQV Reon video processing, HDMI 1.3a, MSRP $1099.


The Canton Chrono line is the new high-value/high-performance speaker range. Uses the company's ADT-25 aluminum dome tweeter. Between $4500-$5000 for a 5.1 system.

Popular for surround sound applications.


The Canton DSS-303 is a new iPod dock, based on Canton's exsisting midrange speakers. The MSRP is $499.


Ambienti Series in-wall and in-ceiling loudspeakers, using Vectran liquid crystal polymer drivers. 2 way speakers with 6.5" to 8" woofers.

Mirage Prestige 8" and 10" subwoofers, at $499 and $699. These subs use BASH amplifiers (200W or 300W of continuous power).


Energy ESW-8 and ESW-10 subwoofers are Energy's entry level bass reflex subwoofers, with 200W and 400W amps, respectively. Priced at $219 and $329.*

Energy Take Classic mini satellite system, $699 MSRP. Speakers are less than 7" high and weigh less than 3 pounds.


The new Klipsch Palladium ($15,000/pair) 3.5 way system uses all custom made components, including a horn loaded tweeter, inverted dome midrange and three 9" woofers. Sensitivity should be around 98 dB W-1 m-1.


Inwalls designed to fit within a standard 2x4 framing depth. LCR models are available with multiple grill options, and can be installed in any orientation.


This CM series in-ceiling uses the same driver as used in the Stagefront models, but designed for ceiling mounting. The driver locks into the mounting ring for easy
installation. The midrange and tweeter independently pivot.


Classic 2100 2 channel preamp with analog bass management is designed for seamless integration into a surround sound system for high quality 2 channel sound. The bass management allows proper use of the sub with the SSP off. MSRP $600.


The new Monitor Audio Platinum series is based on these beautiful 3 way towers, at $9000 a pair. Even on a loud tradeshow floor, these sounded quite good.


Naim Supernait integrated amp with built in DAC. $4950.


The Secrets gang had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House with McIntosh staff one evening.


Even Krell is into the iPod dock products now.


AudioControl celebrates 30 years with this ice sculpture.



Meridian's new iPod dock, called the iRis, lets you not only play music, but processes video files so that they look almost DVD quality.  A two hour movie takes up about 2 GB of disk space, so with the new iPod that has 160 GB, you could store all your music and dozens of movies and TV programs.

This is a close-up of the tweeter in Canton's new speaker line. Notice that it is surrounded by aluminum rather than wood or felt. Very unusual.


THX was in full force showing off the latest THX Ultra 2plus receivers. Here are some examples from Yamaha and Pioneer Elite.


Pioneer Elite was showing off their latest Blu-ray player offerings. These support all the lastest high res audio formats and 1080p24.


HD DVD was showing their library of available content.


Toshiba showed off their new 3rd generation HD DVD players. Some player come bundled with 2 HD DVDs in the box (300 and Bourne Identity) plus the additional 5 free in the mail. A3-$299, A30-$399, and A35-$499.

Marantz showed off their Blu-ray prototype player due out Q1-08.


Integra debuted their new HD DVD player with DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream support.


Samsung is all about the new HD formats. They displayed two new Blu-ray players along with their new combo player with full support of both the Blu-ray and HD DVD format.


Denon is delving into the video processor market with their new HD video processor with Silicon Optix's Realta HQV processing.




Boston Acoustics was showing off their new line of "Make it your own" Speakers. The best way I could describe these are the Swatch of speakers. While the look quite stylish on their own the grills can be replace by several different colors. While I personally like the black box version of the speaker cabinet I think I could easily see my wife matching these speakers to the curtains in the living room.


Sharp had several interesting things on display. It does appear their designers spend a lot of time thinking out how to make LCD panels easier to place in our home. This small 19" (LC-19D44U) panel available in either black or white is designed to be placed in the kitchen. The magnetic remote has 3 IR transmitters so it works when mounted on the wall as well as when it is attached to the base. The best part of the remote is it includes a clock and a countdown timer so you don't burn the cookies while watching the latest episode of Days of Our Lives. It also supports a number of inputs and tuners so you don't have to have a cable box installed in the kitchen to use it. That said it will depend a lot on your cable provider.


Sharp BD-HP20U.

We saw several Blu-ray players on the floor, such as this one from Sharp,  and they support 1080p24 and decoding for Dolby TrueHD.


A rep at Samsung shows off the new full featured combo HD DVD/Blu-ray player to a potential prospect. This is a very interesting player as it doesn't have the limitation of the earlier combo players and basically supports all features of both formats. It will also list for around $999 making it one of the more promising players we saw at the show.


Samsung LED based LCD TV (LN-T4681F).


This is a very interesting technology. Samsung has basically placed a number of banks of LED lights behind the LCD panel allowing them to vary the light output at various points of the screen. This claims to give them a 500,000:1 contrast ratio. While I am sure there is some form of compromise it looked amazing with pitch black areas and brilliant colors in the same frame. Even if it only achieves 10% of the claimed dynamic contrast ratio I would be happy. Of course the display is 1080p as well.

Samsung all in one system with Blu-ray player HT-BD2.

This is a nice all in one system that has a Blu-ray player, 1080p out and over 1000 watts of power. It support all the latest in audio formats including TrueHD and DTS-HD while still allowing you to play you old DVDs.