The Gadgets: Creative’s new SoundBlaster Wireless for iTunes dongle, that shares music to little receivers around the house, and also to the GigaWorks T20W wireless-receiver speakers. More »
The Gadgets: Panasonic’s SL-850 quadraphonic turntable, featuring the unusual 4.0 discrete-channel format for stereo-besting sound. (As the brochure says, “In the real world, sound comes from literally every direction.”) Plus, GE’s 4-Channel Receiver, with a built-in 8-track cassette player. More »
Sony Insider has happened upon some leaked images of the CMT-Z100iR mini-sound system, which, if real, suggest this respectable-looking system has an iPod dock, CD player and USB port to complement the 20w speakers.
This upcoming bookshelf or nightstand CD player from Kenwood looks simple enough, but inside the company is promising surround sound quality output from just two speakers.
The gadget: The ZVOX 550, the only speaker system we’ve ever seen designed to hold a 50″ flat panel TV while packing a 60W amp, 5.25″ sub, and five 2″ speakers in one frame.
Japanese firm Hario just came up with this rather beautiful new speaker system, dubbed Harion. So far, so groovy. It’s made of heat-resistant glass (the first to be like it, according to Hario) and the woofer, two tweeters and two mid-range speakers proved so complex to create that it took a small army of companies—23 in total—to work out how to make them. And its hand-made. So far, even groovier. Here’s the un-groovy bit: all that beauty, presumably wonderful sound quality, and custom-made design means they cost $US168,000. Why do you need heat-proof speakers anyway? Go get some glass Sony Sountinas: they’re about 17 times cheaper. [Crunchgear via Gearlog]
Sound & Vision has painstakingly gone through every speaker in the whole wide world and named the best in every class. Some of you will be interested in all of the results, and you should most certainly check out the excellent article. Me? I want to know the cheapest (and coincidentally the smallest) surround sound speakers they liked. Their answer? The Energy RC Micro System ($US999).
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This is Teac’s LP-R500. Ugh. Sorry, I’ll try pulling myself together: it’s a modern version of what my grandad used to call a “radiogramme,” cramming in an FM radio, a CD player, cassette player and record deck into one sleek ancient, massive, clunky box along with an amp and speakers. Admittedly it does let you record your vinyl and tapes to CD. But… ugh. Yours for an ugly $US700. [Akihabaranews via Dvice]
