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Eggleston Fontaine
II - By far
one of my favorite rooms at the Alexis Park was the small Eggleston home
theater setup. Consisting of five gorgeous Fontaine II's ($6000/pr) in
Bugatti blue and the new dual 12" Andra sub ($8000, available April), the
sound was excellent with an impressively even soundstage from top to bottom.
This system just begged you to spend more time with it, but alas my duties
to see more pulled me away. |
Arcam AVR300 -
Arcam was
showing their new AVR300 receiver ($1999), which looks very competitive at
its price point. It is completely up to date on its surround processing
and is said to borrow considerably from Arcam's highly touted AV8 preamp. |
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Audio Analogue Cinecitta -
The Cinecitta amp and
processor, both $7000, looked very nice, but unfortunately were only on
static display. |
Epos M5 and M8 -
Music Hall
had some new Epos speakers on display, with the M5 ($650/pr) and M8 center
($600) truly catching my attention. The M5 was a very musical speaker for
the price, with a nice midrange. There wasn't much bass, but at $650 for
the pair, the M5 looks like a good buy. |
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Integra DTR-10.5 -
Integra had
their very cool new card based super receiver on display. It features
optional cards for iLink and DVI switching. Prices start at $3500 and go
up from there depending on which cards you select. A fully loaded model
should top out at around $4700. |
Joseph Audio
Cinergy -
Joseph Audio introduced a subwoofer this year. The Cinergy ($3299) uses a
12" aluminum cone and a 1000W amp and features an auto calibration
feature. |
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Joseph Audio Home
Theater -
Using the new Casablanca III, RM 25 mk2 towers ($3500) and the Cinergy sub
Joseph Audio put together a great sounding home theater. |
Martin Logan Fresco
- The
Fresco ($1000/ea) uses two planar drivers to produce great sound in a slim
package. |
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McIntosh Surround
System -
McIntosh had an all out demo room featuring their XRT 30 speaker system
triamped with their 1200W MC1201 monoblocs. The dynamics of the system
were limitless and even though I know they are superfluous, I love the big
blue power meters. |
MSB Super Audio DVD
- MSB had
their universal Super Audio DVD Player ($8000) at the show. The unit
sports an internal preamp and MSB's proprietary DAC's. |
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Panasonic XR-70 -
Available
this summer, the Panasonic XR-70 ($399) can accept a high-res DVD-A signal
from the matching DVD-S97 DVD player. The receiver has all of the latest
surround modes and six channels of digital amplification. |
PSB Image -
PSB was showing
their updated Image line of speakers that will be introduced in April.
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Spendor S3e -
I really
liked the sound of the little Spendor S3e ($1400/pr). It is exactly what
you would expect of a high quality monitor, great imaging and focus, and
lots of detail. |
Tag McLaren AV192R
- While Tag
wasn't really demoing the audio of the AV192R in their room (the DTS demo
room more than made up for this), they were showcasing their VSM 2048
scaler, which looked excellent. I saw the scaler again later on a V-Inc
plasma and it was equally impressive there. |
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TAD Model 1 -
TAD had
awesome sound from their $45,000 Model 1s. The Model 1 has a matching
center ($10,000) and monitor speaker ($14,000/pr). |
Vandersteen Quatro
- Based on
the 3A signature, the Quatro ($6500/pr) adds powered subwoofers to
strengthen the bottom end. |
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Verity Tamino -
The Verity
Tamino theater consists of the X2 mains and surrounds ($5000/pr), center
($3000), and the Rocco subwoofer ($9000). The system looked and sounded
very good. |
Von Schweikert
VR-4Jr -
The VR-4Jr ($3995) is a new speaker for Von Schweikert. The bass it
produced from such a small enclosure was nothing short of amazing. |
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Triangle Galaxy -
The Galaxy
5.1 system ($1599) sounded great for a system based on such compact
speakers. The aluminum cabinets are much more substantial than their size
would suggest. |
Avantgarde demoed its Duo Classic speakers
($17,970/pair) in its showroom. These speakers produced wonderful sound
effortlessly.
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For those of you who haven't known yet, Cary has
ventured into the home theater world. The picture shows Cary's top of the
line Cinema 8 surround processor/controller (7.1 capability) and the
Cinema 3 amplifier (3 x 200W into 8 ohm). Cary also introduced its new
Cinema 6 surround processor (not in the picture), which should be
available shortly at an attractive price of $2500.
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Dell introduced its new 33" LCD TV/monitor, which
boasts 400:1 contrast ratio and WXGA resolution. This TV/monitor can sit
on an adjustable stand or be hung on the wall. The system includes a pair
of slim detachable speakers and a remote control. MSRP is $2999.
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Florence Audio Technology demoed its Pololena
speakers ($7000-$9000/pair depending on finish), which were claimed to
have useful frequency response down to 20 Hz.
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The new Signature S2 speakers were on display in the
Paradigm showroom.
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