Alpine had their new F#1 Status equipment on display. The DVD 9990 is a
DVD-A player. It's accompanied by a new smaller but still powerful
processor. All F#1 equipment now also uses a revamped all digital version
of their Ai-Net bus. Alpine's DVA-900 and H-700 are getting a revamp and
are now
branded the 901 and 701. They are a leading force in the ultimate high end
car audio segment. Alpine also had a creative touch screen display that
"touches back". A rather unique and innovative feature. |
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Phoenix Gold displayed their MPH-10K amplifier. At
10,000 watts and 152 output devices it's not for the weak of heart. With a
cost of $1/watt, it's not for the weak of pocket book either. |
Sony showed their Blu-Ray DVD player and it was actually playing a disc.
They had the output connected to an HD DLP set, and it looked fantastic. Now
if we could only end the war and get the decision made. This HD model is a proof
of concept, and the Sony rep claimed they are ready for manufacture. At an
initial price point over $1000, the device will really be only for early
adopters. Keep in mind that SD DVD players (not progressive) were
similarly priced when first introduced, and are now available for less
than $100. |
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Definitive Technology's Mythos home theater speaker
system is shown on the left. These slim looking speakers surely would complement your
flat panel display nicely. |
Sherbourn displayed the 7/2100 amplifier with its new faceplate, which has
a nicer curvature than its predecessor. |
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Swans' impressive looking T600HT speaker system
(T600F $1200/pair, T600C $500 each, D3.0R $300/pair, and Sub200 $400 each)
was on display. |
Morel had the colorful Octave-Octwin 5.2 ($4400/pair) and 5.2M
($2400/pair) speakers. |
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Bravo Media Center
Multi-zone streaming media centers were on display
from several vendors. This unit from Bravo supports up to 16 zones is
supplied default with a 160GB of space and is controlled via several
interfaces including a RS-232, a web browser and PDAs.
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Denon AVR-3805
Denon released an update to their 3800 series of
receivers with the AVR-3805. The most impressive addition to the 3805 is
the 3rd generation Denon-link technology to allow digital
transmission of DVD-A signals. Denon feels optimistic this will soon
allow for SACD digital transmissions as well.
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Dish Network 811 HDTV Receiver
HDTV is gaining tremendous market share. Dish
Network has a promotion that allows new subscribers to buy this 34” HDTV and
811 HDTV receiver for $999.
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Marantz SR-8400 and DV-8400
Marantz refreshes its receiver line with the new
SR-8400. It has an almost identical feature set to the SR-9300 in a less
expensive and slightly smaller package.
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XBOX 5.1 System
XBOX is creating an entire media experience with its
new digitally amplified 5.1 system. The cool looking speakers are
technology licensed from Mirage.
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BenQ's new PE-8710, which uses the TI HD2+ DLP chip. |
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Marantz VP12S3 three-chip DLP projector. Great picture,
but it is $38,000. |
Cindy, our marketing
guru, conducts a phone conversation from the "floor" of the Hilton hotel
lobby. All the chairs were occupied by some of the 140,000 attendees.
Busiest CES we have ever seen. |
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Voom
is entering the High Definition satellite broadcast market by offering 39
HD channels on its satellite dish. |
The Voom Set top box. Voom is working with a company called Ucentric
Systems to take HD recording and home media networking to new levels.
PVR and distributed video functionality should be in place by summer. |
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Microsoft was showing off their HD Format based WMV-9 |
Definitive Technology introduced an extension of their 7000 series powered
bipolar towers with the BP7002 ($1099/ea), BP7004 ($799/ea), and BP7006
($599/ea). The BP7002 sounded excellent in stereo in their display room.
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Primare is now
marketing a $4000 integrated surround amplifier called the SPA20. The unit
is relatively slim and has the typically clean Primare design. |
Theta Digital is introducing
the Casablanca III, the latest in their line of well regarded processors
and the product of more than two years of development. This unit
brings the Casablanca up to date with all of the latest surround
processing formats, including DPL-IIx. |
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Theta is also
implementing a proprietary SACD and DVD-Audio interface on an RJ-45 cable
that works with their Compli DVD player, which should be available in
March, 2004. |