The Sound Environment Goes to CES!

Last week Doug, Gale, and Charlie attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This is the largest electronics show in the world for suppliers of equipment and for dealers. More than 3,000 exhibitors show everything from self-driving cars to esoteric stereo.

Higher performance audio/video is separated from the rest of the show with 250-300 exhibitors.

We visited about 40 exhibitors who talked about their plans for the coming year. We listened to and looked at new products and potential new products.

New and of immediate interest ranges from the new $1,500 Arcam powered sound bar and associated woofer to the new Cygnus speaker from Rockport Technologies at $62,500 a pair.

CES Report

Unfortunately, as usual at these shows there is a lot of bad sound. We heard two pairs of speakers priced respectively at $60,000 and $120,000 a pair. It was quickly apparent that they were not very good. It took us only a few minutes to make that determination. The $120,000 pair was fronted by a system priced at over $500,000, so no excuse there.

But let's not dwell on the bad and overpriced. There were a lot of good products shown from a few hundred dollars to many tens of thousands that are excellent values. It is not the price that determines value it is the performance that can be extracted from a product or system at a price. To extract the best performance requires careful system design and speaker placement. We do that. 

On the brighter side, REL demonstrated a new sub bass system with two 12" drivers and two passive radiators. Price will be around $4000. The new REL has more slam and bass extension than stacked S-5s and it is $1,000 less. It sounds like this will be a great value.  We have them on order. We expect delivery in March.

We are in consultation with TechDAS about importing the highly acclaimed Air Force Turntables. We expect to be one of a very few U.S. dealers. We will probably be the first U.S. dealer. They are very expensive but still a good value. We plan on a turntable event in April which will give these turntables their first U.S. showing.

TechDAS Air Force One Turntable

Arcam Solo Sound Bar

One thing that impressed us at the show was this no nonsense approach to a category that has many participants. Most are inexpensive or laden with dubious features. Arcam concentrated on articulate speech and good music reproduction.

"Soundbars are the ideal solution for people who want to improve on the mediocre sound quality of modern TVs. Unfortunately, many standard soundbar solutions are engineered to a price and a size that limits the level of improvement possible." "The Solo bar doesn't just heighten the audio experience of watching TV. Arcam's superb engineering means it can also be used as a high quality stereo system all over the house"

The Arcam Sound bar is about 40" wide.  Works well with TVs from 42" diagonal and up. It is about 5" high and 4" deep and integrates well with a wall mounted TV.

New Arcam Blu-ray Player and Integrated Amplifier

We have the new Arcam UDP-411 Blu-ray (Universal disc player) in stock. Price is $1999. We still have a few BDP300 Blu-ray players at a very attractive price. This player was $1499, now available at $1199.

The new A39 integrated amplifier is now available for audition. This integrated offers Arcam's latest amplifier technology. It is a winner at $2699. Also due to arrive soon is the new CDS27 CD player, based on the UDP-411.

Rockport Technologies Introduces Cygnus

When Andrew Payor began to tell us about the coming Cygnus. We thought of it as an Avior on Steroids, more dynamic, more bass extension, and more slam. Well it does all of that but it is more capable in all respects with greater resolution, and a quieter background. We have Cygnus on order. We expect delivery probably in June. The Cygnus will be $62,500 for a pair.

D'Agostino Streamer option introduced for the Momentum integrated amplifier and preamp.  The feature adds $3000 to the price but makes these great products even more valuable. Comes with an excellent app for tablets.

D'Agostino Cinema Standard Amplifiers 

Also seen and coming soon from D'Agostino is the Cinema Standard series amplifiers. 500 watts per channel into 4 ohms, price from $12,000 for two channels to $15,900 for 3 channels.  

New D'Agostino Cinema Standard Three Channel Amplifier

New from MOON: Neo 280D DAC

MOON Neo was showing the new 280D DAC at CES, which we expect to be a real winner at price of $2200. It does DSD and about every other format. It is available with the MiND streaming option for $800 more. That option can be installed by us later if you prefer. We have the new Neo 280D on order and will expect to have it in stock in February or March. MiNd allows you to launch your favorite music services app on your smart device and pair it to the Neo 280D using Bluetooth technology.

"MiND (MOON intelligent Network Device) is much more than a product. It is a way of organizing, listening to, and enjoying your music. MiND technology streams music from your digital music library to your audio system, allowing playback via your amplifier and speakers. Your library can consist of music stored on your computer, on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, or you can simply stream music from a variety of internet sources."

Shipping and Return Policies

We can ship small items to you free of charge. Place your order on the phone. Larger items will be delivered free of charge.

Our policy is always to guide you in setup or come to your residence to do set up for you. We are always available after the sale for advice and support.

We will take back most purchases for credit or refund. Some conditions apply.