Sennheiser, makers of some fantastic headphones, now make a $79 in-ear earphone. With soft silicon tips, these won't abrade your ears like the crap Apple gives you with their $300 player.

The show floor was cheek-by-jowl with impressive flat panel displays, but none of them stopped me in my tracks faster than this display from Fujitsu. The new Aviamo series is still tentative for production. Reportedly, it was not scheduled to be shown until CES, but Fujitsu decided to bring the prototypes to CEDIA to see the reaction. There are three models, a smaller 1080p CD (37" I believe), and two 1080p plasmas. All three have the latest iteration of Fujitsu's AVM video processing: AVMIII.

The LCD looked very good, but it was the plasmas that really caught my eye. Of course, no dark scenes were shown in the demo, but that aside, they were absolute knockouts--easily the best-looking flat panels (plasma or LCD) at the show.

At their projected prices, they had to be. I heard more than one set of prices, but the lowest was $10,000 for the 50" and $15,000 for the 65". I'm sure these figures (or any other guesstimates) are not yet set in stone, since production is unlikely until mid 2007, should Fujitsu go ahead with the project. A note to Fujitsu; be sure and provide the Aviamos with full adjustability for important aspects of their performance, including color temperature at both the top and botttom of the brightness range. Hide it in a service menu if you must, but make it easily accessible to qualified calibrators. Previous Fujitsu's have either lacked this full top-bottom ajustability or required a special remote to reach it.

Needless to say, the screen shot in no way resembles the the real image quality I saw from these sets.

Yamaha's new Soavo speaker line currently has five models, the Soavo 1 floor stander and and Soavo 2 bookshelf, plus a center, surround, and subwoofer. the big Suovo 1 is priced at $1800 (each). They're classy-looking and appear to be very well built. A brief 2-channedl audition in a small demo room on the show floor (not the best listening conditions) revealed an extremely tight bass response, but a rather forward midrange and high frequency balance. Still, they are definitely worth a closer audition under better conditions.

Yamaha's new, high-end Soavo speaker line.

Digital projection went all out with this comparison; 5 different DP projectors displaying the same material. The Titan 1080p-250 is at the lower left ($42,995 + $12,995 for the premium lens option of your choice); the dVision 1080p ($29,995) is at the upper left. At the lower right is the Titan HD-250, a 720p design ($29,995 plus $9995 for the lens). I compared the two Titans closely, and while at first glance the 720p design looked outstanding, the 1080p's image was both smoother and, at the same time, more naturally sharp. Yes, those differences were relatively subtle, but nonetheless significant. Needless to say, you really can't see any of this from the screen shot shown here.

Earthquake's premier subwoofer driver is said to have a peak-to-peak excursion capability of 4". Feel the Earth move.

Paradigm had more new speaker models than I saw in any one place at the whole show, topped off by the company's flagship range, the new Signature V.2 series. The Signature designs feature all new drivers with P-Be pure-beryllium dome tweeters (actually fabricated from a thin sheet of beryllium, not vapor-deposited) and CoIA (CObalt-Infused pure-Aluminum) woofer cones. The line tops out with the S8, six-driver, 3-way, at $6500/pair).The models ahould all be available in November and December (2006), except for the new surrounds (early 2007)

In addition to their larger Signature V.2 speakers, Paradigm also showed a bookshelf 2-way, the Model S1 at $1600/pair, and this cute UTE center channel, the Model C1, at $900 each. It's not much wider than a big laptop. I'm intrigued by the possibility of using three C1s across the front, if the speaker's horizontal off-axis response is up to the job. The physical layout, with the vertical orientation of the midrange and tweeter (the smallest center channel design I've seen using this arrangement) is a good first step in that direction. As in the other new Signature speakers, these both sport the new Paradigm pure-beryllium tweeter.

OK, as far as trade show wrap-ups go, this one is pretty early, being written on the last day of CEDIA 2006, before I've had full opportunity to absorb and digest the goings on this week. While I'm reserving my right to add more to this blog, here are the salient things standing out right now.

While we've been touting 2006 as the year of 1080p that still doesn't do justice to the strikingly broad and deep lineups of 1080p displays we saw introduced, especially in the front projection and LCD flat panel categories.

Before tackling the staggering number of 1080p front projectors we saw locked and loaded for the market later this year and early next, what's most salient about the LCD flat panel's 1080p revolution is that plasma is simply being left behind. Although pioneer and Fujitsu will be bringing out 1080p plasmas in a variety of sizes, several manufacturers are selling broad lines of 1080p LCD, including Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

In addition, these initial 1080p plasma sets aren’t going to be price competitive with the 1080p LCDs. Pioneer Elite's 50" 1080p plasma has been dropped in price to $8K. But Sharp is bringing in its 1080p AQUOS LC-52D62U LCD at just $4,799, and Sony announced its 52" KDL-52XBR2 1080p LCD at $6,500. And just below that price point are a number of sub-$5K 46" and 47" models from Sony and Toshiba- and we're talking loaded, premium sets, not the bargain basement jobs (Sharp goes even further here with its 46" LC-46D62U priced at a staggering $3,499).

People looking for 1080p in a flat panel might just find themselves able to live a little bit smaller screen in order to save a heckuva lot of scratch even if the performance isn't comparable.

Similarly, this year's CEDIA saw a staggering number of 1080p sets emerging into the market and disparities in price that are just as jaw dropping. Sony, of course, set the table Wednesday with its official introduction of the VPL-VW50, simply called the Pearl. This is a full three-chip, 1080p SXRD with an auto-iris and a bevy of unique features for just five grand. Not only does DLP not have anything in single-chip 1080p for less than $10K MSRP, the least expensive of the three-chip 1080p DLPs I saw came in at around $40K. La-la land, in other words.

And of course, Sony's Pearl isn't the only LCoS/LCD variant bringing in 1080p at more sane prices. Several manufacturers showed impressive 1080p three-chip LCD projectors at well under $10K, and JVC showed a full 1080p D-ILA projector that will retail for around $7K.

The three-chip 1080p DLPs, on the other hand, were priced at $40K and above from a number of manufacturers. About the only clear advantage one could see on the surface of these announcements were light output specs that indicate that these projectors can light up ultra large screens, starting at 10-12 feet in width. Better start that remodel now if you're looking to squeeze in a screen that big!

So, are we evolving to a market where LCoS brings 1080p to the masses and DLP is the elite custom install product? The DLP manufacturers better hope so. It's difficult to imagine otherwise what the market for these ultra expensive projectors will be when LCoS offers such high quality alternative for a fraction of the price.

On the show floor Saturday I spotted industry veteran rep and all around good guy Phil Callahan, who was nursing a bruised ego due to the pounding Notre Dame was receiving from Michigan on the football field. Being the professional he is Phil sucked it up and introduced me to new-ish client Leon speakers and its main man Jeff Gordon (not that Jeff Gordon).

According to Gordon, Ann Arbor Michigan based Leon (yes, Jeff was enjoying the game more than Phil) was the first speaker company to provide a single slim line speaker capable of performing L/C/R duties.

Leon’s new line features speakers with the depth to match a plasma TV, and has speakers that can function as either L/C/R or just a center speaker. In addition, Leon will manufacture and paint up the speaker to match any flat panel from any manufacturer and has high performance models featuring drivers from Focal and Morel.

Given that I’m one of the worst digital photographers in existence don’t take the picture above as a true testament to Leon’s aesthetic appeal.I'd have gotten close enough to offer an impression of the sound quality, but the Phish video that was playing deterred me.

On Saturday UAV Editor Tom Norton and I crossed the street from the Convention Center, braving vicious, howling winds to get to HD DVD’s version of the Madden cruiser to get some of that old time religion with the HD DVD camp and video industry icon and iconoclast Joe Kane.

Joe spent 45 minutes or so showing us various clips played back from his hard drive at both 720p and 1080p at a variety of bitrates on a Marantz VP-11S1 1080p DLP projector. He bounced back and forth between clips encoded in MPEG-2 and Windows Media Video, the video compression codec from Microsoft that has now evolved into VC-1, which has been used on nearly all HD DVD releases so far and is rumored to be close to making its first appearance on Blu-ray Disc.

Joe’s point that the WMV and VC-1 could handily outperform MPEG-2, even with the latter using much higher data rates, was repeatedly revealed. Joe’s 720p clips were typically around 8Mbps, which is equivalent to high bitrate DVD, while the 1080p clips were often at just 12Mbps. And yet it was always obvious that the WMV clips had less noise and more detail than the MPEG-2 clips, and usually the difference was dramatic.

Joe finished up by playing VC-1 encoded clips from the production HD DVDs of Phantom of the Opera and, of all things, Blazing Saddles. The video quality of both films was simply startling, with proper amounts of film grain and astounding clarity and detail with natural, saturated colors. Joe’s point was that if a movie from the early 70s could look this good with VC-1, then the codec must work!

Joe also let us know that he hasn’t yet had a chance to properly evaluate the MPEG-4/AVC codec due to a current lack of hardware decoders. He assured us that he’d make an evaluation as soon as possible using his own demo material.

One of the more fascinating parts of the program, at least for propeller heads like Tom and me, was at the end when Microsoft’s self-described HD DVD evangelist Kevin Collins gave us some hard numbers on the average video data rates being used in some VC-1 encoded HD DVDs we’re familiar with. He broke down Phantom, 16 Blocks, and Rumor Has It. While it wasn’t a surprise that the reference quality video of Phantom was encoded at an average of over 15Mbps, with peaks as high as 28Mbps, it was surprising to know that 16 Blocks and Rumor, which are DVD/HD DVD combo discs with only a single layer on the HD DVD side of the disc also maintained average data rates of 14.6 and 16Mbps, respectively.

Joe summarized by saying that he hasn’t seen MPEG-2 come close to the performance he saw with WMV and consistently sees with VC-1. This mirrors my own experiences with VC-1 encoded HD DVDs, which are by far the best HD I’ve yet seen, blowing away any form of broadcast MPEG-2 HD I’ve experienced. While my initial impressions of the MPEG-2 compressed Blu-ray Discs is low, I need to get the just released firmware update for the Samsung BD-P1000 or a production player from another company before making the final call.

I finally made it over to Thiel’s live demonstration featuring the CS3.7 floorstanders with the just announced SCS4 bookshelf speakers pulling center channel and surround duties. And wouldn’t you know this was another one of the few places in the entire CEDIA Expo at which one could actually hear some music?

The electronics were from Simaudio, with a Moon Orbiter universal disc player as the source and a Simaudio surround controller and an amplifier that was larger than the first studio apartment I lived in. Thiel was also augmenting the system’s bass with a pair of SS1 SmartSubs, which were controlled by one of Thiel’s advanced SmartSub Integrators.

This system presented a serious attitude adjustment to anyone who believes speakers with first order crossovers can’t play loud and lack dynamic slam. Through a variety of stereo and multichannel music clips this system had punch and power to go along with Thiel’s pinpoint imaging and expansive soundstage. The overall clarity of the system was apparent, even in these less than ideal show floor conditions, with the new SCS4 speakers filling in surround duties seamlessly when called for and the bass was fast, clean and extraordinarily well integrated.

I did hear a little bit less texture and meat on the bone than I’ve heard in previous demonstrations of the CS3.7, and I’ve got to admit that my previous experiences with Synergistic Research wire, which was the speaker wire employed on the CS3.7s, would lead me to look there for a potential culprit.

OK, I know, I’m being a critic, but that’s what we do here! Let me add some more words so you know exactly where I stand here. Speakers are big and heavy and in general are a major pain in the butt to review, which is why I so seldom attack that category myself. I was still able to clearly hear the reasons that the Thiel CS3.7 is high on my wish list of review products and why I’ll push as hard as I can to review a pair just as soon as Thiel can send me a pair. This is the most highly anticipated speaker release I’m aware of.

Due to popular demand in some quarters, here is a picture of your intrepid author and one of your guides through this maze of consumer electronics we call the CEDIA Expo. That space age looking device is not being used to assimilate you. It’s the coincident midrange/tweeter array from Thiel’s CS3.7 loudspeaker. And it looks cool.

I was looking at Directv's new MPEG4 DVR. The pipedream now has innards and according to the map they had posted, Hartford and my zip code are eligible to get the box! What a perfect last visit for me. I'll be ordering this as soon as I can, but I hear there's about a four to six week wait to get them. I had other questions.

Q: Can I record off-the-air hidef to the DVR? A: Yes!

Q: What's that SATA port for on the back? A: You can add an expansion box for SATA drives. The unit's 250 GB drive will hold about 30 hours of hidef MPEG2 or 50 hours of MPEG4 or 200 hours SD. Add the SATA expansion box and you triple that number with a couple of extra (and inexpensive) 250 GB Sata drives.

Q: Okay, how much does all this cost? A: $299 for the DVR. If you have one of the older MPEG2 hidef DVRs, and they call you, it's a free upgrade. If you call them, you impatient hidef junkie, it's $100 bucks. But remember, you have to be in an area that has the service available. And that's a whole lot more complex than "just being able to see the southern sky."

BG's in-wall ribbon speakers are very impressive (and expensive so they should be), but this stunt took real guts. Apparently, the wine goblets were in less danger from their subwoofer than from passing visitors who already took it down once.

Sorry I missed you Igor!

Definitive Technology had some really intelligently designed and great sounding in-ceiling speakers in their room. Most in ceiling speakers we've seen are appropriate for the shoe department Muzak at Macy's, but I wouldn't let them near the home theater. Sandy Gross of Definitive puts a whole can and a half of whump-ass in these babies. I blew up a picture of the speaker and put it in the bottom right of the photo for you to get an idea. The baffles are angled, looking like what the roof looks like in the attic. Two woofers and a tweeter are angled down and towards the back of the room, while on the other other side of the "roof" you'll find two passive radiators. I was tremendously impressed by the timbre and solidness of the midrange and upper frequencies. Sandy also used some in wall subwoofers to round up the bass. I actually thought the bass was a little on the high side, but I guess that shuts up anyone who is worried that a 4" deep subwoofer can't keep up with the action.

We watched some Gladiator and a Steely Dan video and it all sounded great from the back row. Moving up to the front row of this three row theater, I noticed the music was more immediate, but the height of the left and right channels was more noticeable. Oddly, though, it was not objectionable. The center channel, even though at the same height (the ceiling) as the others, felt firmly fixed to the projection screen, so it all worked.

Leave it to Sandy to figure out how to turn a compromise into an asset!

Conducting an audio demonstration on the open show floor is usually only done for the wow factor. As in "Wow, that's loud. Would you mind turning it down or putting air shocks on it so you could drive it out of here?" The Lipinskis (Lukas' dad Andrew was in town too) had five of their 707 speakers setup in as workmanlike a fashion as you might expect given their surroundings. Without missing a beat, Lukas asked me to sit down. Even given the ambient noise, the five channel Manhattan Transfer recording he played for me was impressive. The true timbre of the speakers could still easily be heard through the surrounding ruckus. Lukas said that, noise aside, the open show floor is otherwise preferable to most of the hotel rooms he gets at other shows.

Sure, but forget about getting room service.

Maine is know for occasionally hostile weather, so it should come as no surprise that a company based in Maine should develop an all-weather speaker designed to handle even the most extreme conditions. Terra speakers "All Climate" models use a molded one-piece enclosure, cast aluminum mid/bass driver baskets, titanium dome tweeters, and a spiderless magnetic fluid centering system for their bass drivers. Available in a variety of colors, they have a sound that is both well grounded and liquid. Priced around $330 each, the Terra AV series will make any ground squirrel stop and take notice.

Without fail, every CEDIA show Sharp tempts me with a 1-bit audio system. This year's installment has the catchy designation of BD/MPC10. With a Blue Ray player, 1-bit digital amplifier, speakers that look like high-tech ashtrays, and built-in Odyssey room correction system it looked and sounded very moderne. Price, delivery date, and final specifications are all TBA, naturally

Although exhibits at THE SHOW were primarily an example of how out of touch some high-end audio manufacturers are with reality, Magnepan's Wendell Diller demonstrated that given a deadline with a wad of money at the end a fertile mind can find a way to solve a technical problem. True dipole ribbon speakers don't lend themselves to in-wall placement, but when the owner of a large and well-heeled casino chose Magnepans for their high-roller suites Diller devised a way. He automated his panels so when the video display is turned on the panels swing away from the wall, ready for action. With an adjustable angle and automatic reset if bumped, these Maggies are ready to deliver more sparkle than a trough full of slot machine quarters