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The Best Show Reporting
Coverage of CES 2000 from Las Vegas, NV --
Jan. 6-9, 2000
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| SoundStage!
LIVE Product Coverage - January 6 |
Dutch company Augan displayed their Digital
Recording Workstation. This professional recording tool combines the flexibility and
expandability of a PC-based system with a remote-control engineering workstation (pictured
above). Augan's workstation can output 24-bit/192kHz audio, and was used to engineer
Turtle Records' popular audiophile recordings.
Avalon Acoustics' Opus (foreground) is dwarfed by their Sentinel loudspeaker system, both
in size and in price; the Opus retails for $13,995 a pair, while the Sentinel system,
which includes two speakers, external crossovers, and subwoofer amplifiers with built-in
room-compensation circuits, carries an estimated price of $85,000 per pair.
Wilson's WATCH center-channel speaker ($5200, $1390 for the stand) was part of a complete
Wilson home-theater system on display at T.H.E. Show.
No, this is not upside down. Wilson's WATCH surround speaker ($6300 per pair) hangs from a
pin on the back of the speaker.
Wisdom Audio's Tom Bohlender stands with his flagship loudspeaker system, the Adrenaline
Rush. Priced at $85,000 (two towers, two subwoofers), the Adrenaline Rush requires
bi-amplification, but can accommodate up to ten channels of amplification. The speakers'
attractive automotive-style finish is applied by the same company that paints Steinway
pianos. The sound? BIG.
Theta Digital unveiled their new Carmen DVD/CD
transport, which features 480p progressive-scan video output as well as standard digital
video and 24-bit/96-kHz audio outputs. The Carmen will be available in mid-January, with
an estimated retail price of $3000. Theta's higher-end DVD/CD transport, the DaViD, is now
also available with a 480p progressive-scan video output, which is generated entirely in
the digital domain; this output adds $2000 to the price of the DaViD (normally $4500).
Theta also displayed a "beta-test version" of their upcoming Casablanca II Home
Theater Controller. While not ready for prime time yet, the Casablanca II will offer 8.4
channel outputs, with a "true," non-matrixed center-rear channel. The Casablanca
II will also offer three selectable crossover networks (Butterworth, Linkwitz-Riley, and
Phase-Perfect), each of which can be used independently on different channels to best
match the selected loudspeakers.
Classé lets us see what $7000 buys us in today's surround-sound preamp-processor market
with this photo of their new SSP-75.
Also featured at the Classé display were the
company's new CAM-350 monoblock amplifiers, which feature 350W outputs for $3500 apiece.
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