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Show Report

CEDIA 2003

Page 3

	So, where are all the . . .
. . . CRT projectors?
Picture too explicit to show.	Well here I (Sandy Bird) am taking a little break. There was specialized home theater furniture all over the place at CEDIA. Brian Florian and I would like to thank all the manufactures of the comfortable chairs who allowed us to stop and have a seat after walking the trade floor. There was furniture for everyone, from bright red leather to some very nice micro fiber chairs, to chairs with more lumbar support than in my car.
Paradigm has added some on-wall speakers to its monitor line. These should work very well next to a plasma screen.
	Paradigm's new Signature series of speakers have really taken them to the next level both sonically and in fit and finish. This entire line has some of the nicest wood finishes in the industry, from Bird's Eye maple to beautiful cherry. The Servo 2500 shown here has Paradigms new 1200 watt amplifier, which adds 6 dB more output then the Servo-15 model in the reference line up.
Paradigm's subwoofer designers have been busy. There are three new models shown here. From left to right we have the 10" Seismic Sub, the 12" Seismic Sub, and the new PW-2100. All of these have Class-D (digital switching) amplifiers. The two Seismic Subs share the same 1200 watt amplifier as the Servo 2500 and while they look small, my back assures you the weigh a ton. They utilize a down-firing driver and two heavily weighted passive radiators mounted opposite one another. The PW-2100 is a downsized version of the PW-2200 with basically the same output thanks to the new 400 watt digital amp.
	I can't figure out what this is. Can somebody tell me?
Philips has really taken universal remotes into the future. If you can't afford an AMX or Crestron system (let alone someone to program it), this might be just what the doctor ordered. It can take control of your entertainment system, show you interactive channel listings, access your home network, and you can even browse the web and check your e-mail with them.
	Pioneer has been busy adding support for Firewire and HDMI (compatible with DVI but has audio along with the video, while DVI only carries video signals).
Rear panels of the Elite line suggest that we might invest in cable company stock.
	We had to include a wall of plasma screens. This happens to be Pioneer, but it is a safe statement to say just about every manufacturer of flat panel displays was showing them at CEDIA, 2003.
Many SSPs were being shown which incorporate an LCD Monitor, including this new piece from Rotel.
	Is this a projector or a surface to air missile launcher? Actually, it is a new Runco 3-Chip DLP projector.
Looks like black chassis for DVD players and receivers is not vogue anymore.
	Sony's new SXRD projector with 1920x1080 resolution has terrific images. At $30,000 though, most of us will settle for HD2+ chip projectors at 3-5 times less money.
Stewart's BRIC (or BRIC on the wall, as the sales guy called it) is their new method of controlling screen masking and aspect ratio. It can control screen height, vertical masking, and horizontal masking all from a single device. It has an IR control, preprogrammed aspect ratio controls as well as space for two user definable modes. On top of that it can be controlled with RS232.
	TAG McLaren's new processor has plans for a DVI switching option as soon as second generation HDMI has been released.
The Theta Casablanca III adds DPL-II.
	Rear panel of the Casablanca III.
You have to look carefully to see Thiel's new ceiling mounted surround speakers are part of the diagonal display.
	With all the new plasma displays on the market, there is a need for speakers to be installed with them. Many companies have come to bat with new models. Here are Thiel's ViewPoints which blend very well into the look of the plasma TV.
When TI invited us to their suite, we expected more DLP talk, but instead they were demonstrating a FireWire based AV network for home systems.
	Velodyne showed their new Digital Drive subwoofers, which have digital control for EQ (removing room peaks).
The Velodyne Model 1812 has an 18" driver along with a 12" driver. The 12" driver takes over for the frequencies where the 18" cone is too massive.
	The rear panel of a Velodyne Digital Drive subwoofer.
Brian and Sandy allowed WBT to wow them with their cable termination systems, which include the ability to set up a cable so that you can easily change from their banana products to spade products without re-cutting the wire.
	One of two THX Select Receivers that Yamaha is introducing. Besides getting in line with the standard, this unit sports a powered Zone2 and RS-232 control, for just $999!
The biggest vibe at the show in terms of AV Receivers was undoubtedly the Yamaha RX-Z9. Brian Florian had a long hard look and found that in following the THX Design Manual, this Ultra2 product finally "gets right" many of the practices Yamaha had been clinging to from its past. Among the many logos on the front of the RX-Z9 is a Faroudja DCDi. Yes, that's right, there is a Faroudja deinterlacer in there!
	With a look at the back of the Yamaha Z9, you can see the unit is actually two chassis. At bottom, there is one for digital audio and video, above, all the analogue I/O. Sitting on top is the included microphone for automatic set up of speaker level, time alignment, and the 10 band parametric EQ on each channel. That takes a lot of DSP and Yamaha has packed eight of their chips into this piece, dramatically eclipsing the processing power of their previous flagship, the Z1.
Zenith is at the forefront with flat panel displays, including both plasma and LCD.

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