CES 2007

Thiel's new CS3.7.

Conventional wisdom says that a stereo or surround sound system is only as good as its speakers. That's why speaker designers often become celebrities in the world of high-end audio. One such celeb is Jim Thiel, who's been designing speakers for the company he co-founded for 30 years now. He calls his latest high-end creation the CS3.7 and it stands 45-inches tall, 12.5-inches wide, and 21-inches deep, looking more like a sleek piece of modern sculpture when compared to the bland boxes taking up space in Best Buy.

Mr. Thiel's gone to great lengths to suppress unwanted vibrations in the CS3.7. The top dome is made of a single piece of thick aluminum, as is the black front baffle, which holds the speaker's four drivers. The curved side panels comprise 15 layers of hardwood laminated together with rounded edges at the front to fight diffraction-- after all, we wouldn't want to disturb your audio's natural wave emissions. Looking at the speaker without its grill, you'll probably notice the strange looking, wavy fronts of the drivers. This nifty design lets Thiel keep the drivers flatter, to combat diffraction caused by traditional cone shaped woofers. Also, since the front baffle is angled slightly upward, the distance from the various drivers to your ears is more uniform. This is further enhanced by the coaxial design of the midrange and tweeter; the tweeter is mounted in the center of the midrange driver.

Jim Thiel with the CS3.7

Mr. Thiel's gone to great lengths to suppress unwanted vibrations in the CS3.7. The top dome is made of a single piece of thick aluminum, as is the black front baffle, which holds the speaker's four drivers. The curved side panels comprise 15 layers of hardwood laminated together with rounded edges at the front to fight diffraction-- after all, we wouldn't want to disturb your audio's natural wave emissions. Looking at the speaker without its grill, you'll probably notice the strange looking, wavy fronts of the drivers. This nifty design lets Thiel keep the drivers flatter, to combat diffraction caused by traditional cone shaped woofers. Also, since the front baffle is angled slightly upward, the distance from the various drivers to your ears is more uniform. This is further enhanced by the coaxial design of the midrange and tweeter; the tweeter is mounted in the center of the midrange driver.

The iH10: Radio and iPod speaker for $49

(Credit: SDI Technologies)

SDI Technologies, the maker of the hot-selling iPod clock radio, is showing new affordably priced iPod speaker accessories at CES, including two small home-based units, the iH10 ($49)and iH4 ($49), and the portable iH19 ($69), which comes in multiple colors. The company also has a license to use the Timex name in upcoming iPod clock radios, so this is clearly an accessory company on the move. During my tour of the SDI meeting room (for dealers), I was shown a couple of more novel iPod accesories, including a speaker with a built-in iPod dock that looks like a water bottle and fits into the water-bottle holder on your bike.

The iH19: Beach friendly and portable ($69)

(Credit: SDI Technologies)

Plus, they also had a waterproof iPod-speaker for the shower and a speakerphone with a built-in iPod dock with integrated Bluetooth that allows you stream music from Bluetooth mobile phones. Unfortunately, SDI wouldn't provide pictures of those models--or allow me to take pictures of them--but reps said they would be officially announced within the next few weeks. All the new iHome models are due to come out this spring, though no firm dates were given.

This $49 iH4 clock radio is available with
different-colored lights

(Credit: SDI Technologies)

Eton's Sound 200 will cost $250.

(Credit: David Carnoy)

You may not have heard much about Eton, the sole licensee of Grundig for all of North America, but you may have seen some of its portable radio products in a Sharper Image catalog. The company had a well-priced and decent-performing iPod speaker last year, the Eton Sound 50, and at CES it was showing a couple of new products, including the Apple Hi-Fi-like Sound 200, which will come out in March for $250. Along with an iPod dock on top of the speaker, there's also a USB port for playing back tunes from a USB thumbdrive and an SD card slot for playing tunes directly from a memory card.

The Sound 101 has Sirius Satellite Radio capabilities and an iPod dock.

(Credit: Eton)

In March or April, the company will also start selling the Sound 101, a $200 single-speaker system that comes with an external, detachable iPod dock and Sirius Satellite Radio support (subscription required).

With its growing selection of attractive desktop radios and iPod dock systems, Eton appears bent on taking on Bose and more realistically, smaller but more established players in the desktop radio market such as Tivoli Audio.

Thiel's SCS4 sports a coaxial driver design.

When people think of the high end speaker maker Thiel, affordable isn't the first word that comes to mind (though quality certainly is). But, they're working to change that (the affordable part). For the first time in the company's history, they've introduced a box speaker (i.e. not an in-wall) for under $1,000, the new Coherent Source SCS4 LCR two-way bookshelf speaker. Thiel mounts the two drivers in a coaxial design, which means that its 1-inch metal dome tweeter is mounted in the middle the 6.5-inch woofer. If you didn't know better, you might think that there's only one driver. But the speaker's full dynamic range would quickly prove you wrong. Plus, the coaxial design ensures that all the directional sound from the speaker reaches your ear at the same time, whether you place the speaker upright or lay it on its side.

Designed by the company's namesake, Jim Thiel, the SCS4 measures an accommodating 17.5-inches tall, 8.5-inches wide, and 11.25-inches deep. Given its size and dual-orientation capability, the SCS4 can easily be used for all positions of a surround sound system, to create a consistent multi-channel experience. As always, Mr. Thiel aimed for low distortion with his new bookshelf, this time employing a short coil/long gap, copper stabilized motor system, and a neodymium magnet in the woofer, which is also sports a reinforced metal diaphragm that is shaped to act as a waveguide to minimize diffraction in the tweeter's output. He also includes his phase correct crossover system, which is designed to eliminate phase distortion.

Available in Natural Cherry, Dark Cherry, and Black Ash finishes, the SCS4 is slated to ship in February and should cost about $990 each.

The Neosonik A/V Controller and HDMI dongle

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Speaker wires and A/V cables are the bane of any home theater system. In recent years, most mainstream manufacturers have offered one of two options to cut the number of wires: produce virtual surround systems that offer only one or two speakers (plus a subwoofer); or utilize a wireless rear speaker module that eliminates the need to run speaker cables the length of the room (but still necessitates quite a few cables of its own). But true wireless A/V systems have remained elusive.

The A/V controller offers HDMI 1.3 connectivity

(Credit: CNET)

Enter Neosonik. The start-up hi-fi company is using CES to highlight its home theater technology that enables wireless audio and video. The hub of the system is a supercharged A/V controller with multiple analog and digital inputs (including HDMI 1.3 ports). In addition to performing all the standard functions of a high-end A/V receiver, the controller can wirelessly broadcast 5.1 audio channels to each of the companion speakers in the Neosonik system. Even more impressive, the controller broadcasts wireless HD video to a tiny dongle that plugs into the HDMI port of your HDTV.

We didn't get a chance to see the Neosonik video streaming in action (though CNET has seen the system prove its mettle before), but the system was delivering silky-smooth CD sound to a pair of wireless tower speakers in Neosonik's demo suite. It's impressive, to be sure, but it's worth noting that it's not completely wireless: each component (the A/V controller, the five speakers, the subwoofer, and the HDMI video dongle) needs to be plugged into the wall for power, of course. And the A/V controller will still have all of your A/V components wired into it.

Totally wireless--except for the power cord

(Credit: CNET)

That said, the Neosonik is--from a conceptual standpoint--about as close to ideal as one can expect. While we've seen wireless surround speakers (Avega Systems' as-yet-unreleased system from CES 2006) and wireless video (Philips Wireless HDMI system) before, the Neosonik is the first to combine them into one system.

Neosonik expects to begin shipping several wireless components and systems by mid-2007, with prices ranging from $6,000 to $10,000. But perhaps more enticing is that the company is planning on licensing its technology to other manufacturers under the name "AirPower A/V." The company is hoping that AirPower becomes a universal standard for home consumer electronics across several brands, not unlike Wi-Fi or DVD. For many of us, that's a dream that can't come soon enough.

Transmit your iPod's music from here...

(Credit: Creative Labs)

Creative Labs is delivering a wireless home audio solution for the Apple iPod in the form of two products: the Xdock Wireless and the X-Fi Wireless Receiver.

On the surface, the Xdock Wireless is an iPod dock with some better-than-average features, including composite and S-Video output (for photo and video playback on a TV) and optical digital audio output. The Xdock can output DTS surround sound to compatible A/V receivers (via the optical output) or utilize Creative's proprietary CMSS-3D virtual surround processing to deliver a surroundlike effect from stereo speakers or headphones. Moreover, Creative claims that its X-Fi Crystalizer "makes MP3s sound better than CDs" by "intelligently and selectively restoring the highs and lows from instruments and vocals that are damaged during the compression of MP3s." That sounds impressive indeed, but color us skeptical: we've found similar MP3 enhancers in competing products often do more harm than good. (Thankfully, the Crystalizer can be turned on or off at the touch of a button.)

...to here

(Credit: Creative Labs)

But what sets the Xdock apart from other iPod docks is that it includes a wireless transmitter that can stream the iPod's music to any number of X-Fi Wireless Receivers (sold separately). Attach one or more X-Fis to stereo or boombox systems throughout the house--say, in the bedroom or the kitchen--and you can listen to the playlist on your living room iPod that's plugged into the Xdock. Each X-Fi can even be assigned to one of four zones, so you can selectively send the music to different parts of the house (such as only the upstairs) at the touch of a button. Creative says there's "no limit" to the number of X-Fis that can stream from a given Xdock as long as they're within the 100-foot range of the base station. Even better, because the system uses its own 2.4GHz wireless connection, setup is plug and play--there's no convoluted home networking configuration to worry about. It's also worth noting that the iPod isn't the only source that will stream to an X-Fi Receiver. A separate Xdock Wireless will be available for Creative Zen owners, as will an Xmod Wireless unit, which streams music straight from USB-connected PCs.

Each Xdock and X-Fi unit has a simple remote, and while the distant X-Fi units can't browse the iPod, they do offer rudimentary control options (play/pause, track up/down, and volume). But given Creative's traditionally aggressive pricing, it's hard to lament the absence of extra features that would only bid up the cost: the Xdock will set you back $200, and each X-Fi Wireless Receiver will cost half that when they ship in the spring of 2007. They'll be available in your choice of black or white.

(Credit: Pioneer)

The big surprise at CES 2007 has been the dearth of major announcements about new home-audio products. Receivers with HDMI 1.3 and built-in decoding for next-gen lossless audio formats are nowhere to be seen. But at least one receiver has brought something new to the table: Pioneer's VSX-1017TXV is the first model we've seen that offers built-in compatibility with both XM and Sirius satellite radio services. (In fact, it's one of three receivers in Pioneer's 2007 line that offers the dual-satellite option.)

As evidenced by the model number, the 1017TXV is just an evolutionary upgrade of 2006's well-regarded Pioneer VSX-1016TXV. In addition to the XM and Sirius compatibility (each requires an external tuner dongle and a subscription), the THX Select 2 Certified receiver offers two HDMI inputs, compatibility with Pioneer's optional iPod dock, and Pioneer's best-in-class MCACC autocalibration. Our major beef is that its HDMI functionality still falls short of our ideal (analog video can't be converted to digital HDMI output). That said, considering its $500 list price, the VSX-1017TXV looks to deliver an impressive home theater bang for the buck. And you can always relegate it to bedroom duty as a satellite-radio hub if and when you upgrade to any of those as-yet-unannounced HDMI 1.3 receivers.

Crave first spotted this one a few weeks ago, and now Intellitouch has announced its inexpensive, wireless "whole house" iPod speaker system.

The Eos works with up to four wireless speakers.

(Credit: Intellitouch)

The Eos system consists of an iPod dock/base station with integrated speakers and a subwoofer, and separate Wi-Fi speakers. The base station can transmit audio to as many as four wireless speakers; each speaker has a removable power supply so that you can mount it directly on a power outlet or place it on any surface like a bookshelf system. Intellitouch claims that in contrast to existing wireless speaker systems, its GigaWave technology can transmit CD-quality audio up to 150 feet through walls and ceilings. (We'll find out when we get our hands on one.)

An optional weatherproof wireless outdoor amp connects to standard landscape speakers. The Eos system will be available in March in either white or black; Intellitouch is currently taking preorders. The core system with the base station and one wireless speaker is $299 (the base station is also sold separately for $129). Additional wireless speakers and the outdoor amplifier are $129 each.

We heard about Philips' 1.1 virtual surround system, the HTS8100 SoundBar, before CES 2007, but now that we've got the final specs, we're even more eager to give it a whirl when it comes out around the middle of this year, for $999. What differentiates from the single-speaker competition (a subwoofer is also bundled in) is the inclusion of a built-in DVD player, which will catch the eye of minimalists who want to pair it with a flat-panel TV and call it a home-theater day.

The HTS8100 has a built-in DVD player.

(Credit: Philips)

The HTS8100 is only five inches thick and features Philips' proprietary Ambisound technology, with five amplifiers integrated into the single horizontal "sound bar" to create what the company deems a "full 5.1-surround sound experience through a one-piece, fully integrated, home theater system." Playing up the system's high-end credentials, Philips says the built-in DVD player offers 1080p upconversion via HDMI and Faroudja DCDi circuitry. Sounds good to us.

The step-down HTS6600 is a 2.1 system.

(Credit: Philips)

If that $1,000 price tag scares you a bit, Philips has also introduced a sleek 2.1 virtual surround system that will list at $599 when it, too, hits stores in the second quarter of this year. The HTS6600 features HDMI connectivity but it upconverts video to 1080i, not 1080p. However, we suspect that only hard-core videophiles will be able to tell the difference.