Audio – Page 6 – Devices View

Sonos Tries to Market “The Experience”

July 11, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Sonos has built a flash version of its music controller for online demos. It’s neat, and was probably worth the investment it took to build because the UI (depicted below) is a key part of the Sonos value proposition. However, one of the more interesting pieces of feedback I received from my Sonos review was from people who wanted to know why Sonos was worth a price premium over simply sticking an iPod and a speaker dock in each room. There are good answers to that question, but the experience is different, and that doesn’t come across in an answer …

Audio / Computing / DVD / Industry

What it takes to launch a new media format

July 6, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

JupiterKagan’s Michael Gartenberg has a great post about the three elements needed to successfully launch a new consumer media format. He concludes that neither HD-DVD or Blu-Ray measures up. -avi Full disclosure: I created the diagram that Michael uses to illustrate his point back when I was an analyst at what was then called JupiterResearch and he was my Research Director; it was for a report on next generation audio formats.

Audio / Computing

Sonos System Review

May 1, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - 20 Comments.

I’ll admit it up front – one of the key reasons I run Home Theater View is to get early looks at products like the Sonos system. I have been following Sonos since well before it launched. The concept is simple: Sonos takes the music you’re already storing and managing on your PC and streams it to multiple locations around your house. The controller looks like an iPod, and, like an iPod, nearly anyone can use it. Each Sonos unit becomes part of a separate wireless mesh network – no WiFi needed, and setup consists of pushing a couple of …

Audio

Does High End Audio Matter?

April 17, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Design Technica just published Mark Fleischmann’s passionate take on Why High-End Audio Matters. I’m not quite as dogmatic as he is — I’m listening to "background music" off of a Portable Media Center as I write this, and I’m much more likely to be immersed in home theater than two channel audio — but his basic points are well taken: Component audio sales are down while iPod sales are way up. Most consumers today don’t know what high quality audio sounds like. The audio industry is isolationist, hastening its own demise. High end audio is not necessarily high priced (Mark …

Audio / Computing

Just How Good Are Multimedia Speakers?

March 31, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

I had to temporarily disassemble my primary multimedia PC system last week (it sits in front of a window that was being replaced) and decided it was finally time to provide some thoughts on multimedia surround sound systems. This is long overdue. How long overdue? One of the systems I intended to review, Klipsch’s ProMedia 5.1, was discontinued a few years ago and replaced with the ProMedia Ultra 5.1. The other, a Logitech Z-5500 system the company was kind enough to send over last year, is no longer a new model either. Logitech added the Z-5450 to the line, which …

Audio

(Overly) Complex Solution to a Complex Problem

March 29, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Yesterday’s column on Atlantic Technology’s corner sub got me thinking about a beautiful glossy press package I got recently from Sound Advance, makers of completely invisible planar speakers. The idea is that the speaker is mounted in the wall, but the wall surface becomes the speaker – no unsightly grills (see picture). There are definite performance disadvantages to using the transmission line effect (i.e., your entire wall becomes a speaker), along with a more complicated and expensive installation process. But the end result is sound without an obvious source. Is this really necessary? Nearly every in-wall speaker I’ve ever come …

Audio

Simple Solution to a Complex Problem

March 28, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I love it when someone creates a product that invokes WDITOT (Why Didn’t I Think Of That). Atlantic Technology is not the first to create a triangular subwoofer, and they’re not the first to create an unobtrusive subwoofer, and they’re not the first to create a subwoofer that is equalized for a specific spot in the room. But the new $899 10 CSB may be the first to combine all three, by marketing the sub as a solution that is designed to be stuck off in a corner. Corners provide two advantages: they are out of the way, and they’re …

Audio / DVD / HDTV / Industry

2005 In Review / CES 2006 Review, Pt. 4: Media Formats

January 16, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Part IV of my post-CES scribbles; each of the next few posts includes a quick look back on 2005 trends and a quick discussion of products introduced at CES 2006. This installment: Media Formats In 2005… The warring HD disc camps (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc) could not achieve compromise, but did not actually ship anything to the market, either. With nearly no support from content owners, SACD and DVD-Audio essentially died in 2005. At CES 2006… Toshiba hyped its first HD-DVD player at the modest price of only $499. In contrast, Pioneer announced a single Pioneer Elite Blu-Ray Disc player …

Audio / Computing / Industry

2005 In Review / CES 2006 Review, Pt. 3: Audio

January 13, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Part III of my post-CES rantings; each of the next few posts includes a quick look back on 2005 trends and a quick discussion of products introduced at CES 2006. This installment: Audio In 2005… Apple’s iPod ate up whatever audio interest there was left after the purchase of that HDTV. The audiophile approach (ignore it and it will go away) didn’t work, the competitive approach (building servers or portable products that compete with the iPod head on) dramatically didn’t work – though there were a handful of exceptions, and the conciliatory approach (if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em) …

Audio / Industry

2005 In Review / CES 2006 Review, Pt. 2: Speakers

January 12, 2006 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Part II of my post-CES ravings; each of the next few posts includes a quick look back on 2005 trends and a quick discussion of products introduced at CES 2006. In 2005… To try to appeal to the flat panel TV crowd, speaker manufacturers at all price points built flat speakers, small speakers, and speakers intended to be mounted on the wall (some with just one cabinet to simplify wiring, or wireless rear speakers). Big brands did well with these offerings, but they tended to pull sales from elsewhere, not grow the category. The other approach was to develop a …