Retro acoustic panels

Most acoustic sound treatment panels are generally costly and a pain to install. To complicate matters, they're equally hopeless in WAF or wife acceptance factor. This can be a real sticky problem for any serious hi-fi buff and home theater wannabe who understands and swears by the sonic benefits of such exotic materials. Well, you could camouflage them in fabrics I've done here or check out the Acustica sound-engineered wall system from Altera Design Stuido.

Made from layers of Corian--the same expensive materials used for hard kitchen tops--it features aesthetically pleasing patterns that give the wall a groovy retro design and soothing soft glows from a battery of embedded bulbs. We're not particularly convinced about these distracting lightings, especially for a projector-based setup. Nonetheless, its uneven surfaces do mirror structures of diffusers designed to disperse unwanted sound reflections that enhance audio imaging and steering.

Via Born Rich | Photo credit: Yanko Design

Belkin prices its wireless HDMI kit

More details have been announced for Belkin's highly anticipated FlyWire wireless HDMI kits. Two flavors are available: The US$999.99 FlyWire for house-wide installation and a US$699.99 R1 edition for an in-room wireless solution. The former has added provision for auxiliary infrared code relay for general equipment control and guaranteed coverage through walls and cabinets.

The convenience of wireless A/V streaming aside, the FlyWire operates on the less-congested 5GHz bandwidth and has zero latency as a result of its compression-free video processing. It comprises a six-input (three HDMI, two component-video and one composite) transmitter and receiver pair with supported video resolutions all the way from standard-definition 480i to full-HD 1080p.

The FlyWire and FlyWire R1 will be available in Asia from late October 2008 and Q1 2009, respectively.

Click for larger images:



Via CNET Crave | Photo credit: Belkin

The Japanese are ganging up in the OLED race

How can anyone beat the Koreans in their quest for worldwide consumer electronics (CE) domination? The answer, according to the Japanese Government, is an all-star dream team compromising major Japan CE companies such as Sony, Toshiba, Matsushita (a.k.a. Panasonic), Sharp, Hitachi, etc.

The team's goal is to consolidate and minimize development cost in technologies for producing larger OLED screens, as well as giving these firms a better competitive edge to fend off warring mammoths the likes of Samsung and LG. The collaboration will last till 2012, with government funding in the range of US$32 million.

Via OLEF-Info.com | Photo credit: Sony

Universal wireless kit for your loudspeakers

It can be a real pain when it comes to routing speaker cables, especially those surround boomboxes mounted on the far corners of your entertainment room. You could either draw up an elaborate plan of trunking and false ceiling, or check out Crystal Audio's latest wireless audio transmission systems: The TR-100 and TR-60.

For the £399 (US$787) TR-100, you'll get two sets of independent transmitter and receiver to power a stereo setup. Each has a provision for 100W audio amplification and a peak effective range of 25m, according to AV Review. Those who prefer lesser clutter could opt for the £249 (US$491) TR-60 instead. This shares "juice" for two loudspeakers from a single receiver at the expense of power headroom.

Before signing off, we would like to highlight just one important pointer. Just like any existing wireless audio kit in the market, they are hardly genuine "cable-free" solutions as far as we're concerned. Not until we've miniature nuclear reactors or super fuel cell batteries that can support their integrated amplifiers.

Via AV Review | Photo credit: AV Review

Epson's "true" home-cinema-in-a-box

Almost! If you're not into Blu-ray and its latest HD audio and video content that is. The Epson Ensemble HD Home Cinema System is the closest packaged solution which covers just about every nut and bolt for setting up a big-screen home entertainment solution. It comprises a full-HD or 720p projector, motorized 100-inch screen, 5.1-channel surround sound system, DVD media player, universal remote controller, and all relevant accessories such as cables and brackets.

To simplify installation and minimize clutter, clever designs are employed to better integrate its various components, too. We've a projection screen which comes with an inbuilt SoundBar for the front audio channels. Then there's the rounded projector ceiling bracket. This not only houses the beamer but also a pair of surround speakers for better enveloping effects. The latter, together with the remaining audio subsystem, is developed by American-based Atlantic Technology.

Our main reservation is Epson's somewhat inflated asking price. At US$6,999 and US$4,999 for full-HD and 720p, respectively, you could easily assemble a mix-and-match equivalent with enough loose change for a handful of movie discs. At the moment, these will be sold primarily in the US. We're awaiting confirmation on local Asia availability at press time.

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Via AOL | Photo credit: Epson

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