Home Theater Install

Bright Home Theater recently sent two of our best to Denver to learn what Cedia had to show. The industry show held annually showcases the latest and greatest in home theater products. Here are a few of the companies that Caleb Southern and David Dupuy got a chance to look at.

You can learn more about the event at CEDIA Expo 2008

Definitive Technology

Definitive Technology offers a full assortment of award-winning high performance free-standing and built-in flush-mount home loudspeakers including powered subwoofers and outdoor/commercial speakers.

definitivetech.com

PEACHTREE AUDIO

Peachtree Audio, which is distributed by Signal Path, introduced a tasty little 50Wpc digital integrated amp, the Decco ($799). That little window in the front has a 6922 tube behind it, feeding, presumably, a class-D power amp. The Decco has two analog inputs and three digital inputs: USB, Toslink, and S/PDIF coaxial. It decodes MP3, FLAC, AIF, and WAV and even has a slot in the rear to accommodate a Sonos ZP80 WiFi media player. It is also compatible (but lacks slots for) Apple TV and other music servers. There's a preamp output, in case you want to go for more power.

www.signalpathint.com

Middle Atlantic Products INC.

Middle Atlantic has 25 feet of its Duct Cool Series long ventilation system snaking around its booth at CEDIA Expo 2008.

The system is designed to expand installers venting options.

"We realized that there was an application for projectors too," says Middle Atlantic's Rebecca Trautner.

So the company is demonstrating a version of the same product designed for heat-generating front projectors. Trautner says it's an energy saver.

"There's a thermostat that senses the temperature [inside the projector's enclosure] and activates the fan only when needed."

Signal-Safe Power Cords

The company is also showing its new varied length Signal-Safe Power Cords. This new residential line features outputs specific to cable and satellite boxes.

They come in the following sizes (in inches): 6, 12, 18, 24, 36 and 48.

Multi-Mount Rackmount Power Strips

Also new is the Multi-Mount Rackmount Power strips.

Trautner says it offers installers great flexibility because it can mount both horizontally or vertically. There are also 10 outlets on both sides of the strip.

Enhancing Middle Atlantic's Slim 5 Series is a new line of shells with various room-friendly tones. It comes in dark cherry, light walnut, maple, pepperstone and honey maple.

There's also a new "runner" for the Slim 5 Series, Trautner demonstrates. It allows installers or clients to easily pull heavy racks out of cabinets without risk of scraping any surfaces.

www.middleatlantic.com

Totem Acoustics

Totem Tribe III's on display now available in new color, White.

In-ceiling Tribe speakers will change perception of how discrete speakers can sound.

Totem Acoustic’s mission is to develop loudspeakers capable of reproducing a truly musical and moving performance. The goal is to provide designs that are both affordable and real “soul movers” for the music lover.

Totem’s name was chosen as an ongoing symbolic representation of this mission and vision.
From the outset, excellence and great soulful sound throughout every model and application has been our goal.

One has only to listen in order to be convinced of the resulting success. Totem speakers reflect our commitment to both long-term value and continuity. There is no planned obsolescence in this affordable product which would be a market leader at any price.

Aesthetically, Totem speakers are in perfect balance. That’s why they are timeless…

www.totemacoustic.com

RUNCO

Runco's booth at CEDIA this year wasn't nearly as outlandish as SpeakerCraft's, but it definitely had an outdoor vibe to it. Curiously, all of the outfit's newly announced kit wasn't out for viewing, but the flagship 70-inch Crystal Series CX-70DHD (and its external DHD video controller / processor) was hard to miss.

www.runco.com

Stewart Screens

Stewart Filmscreen unwrapped several screen initiatives at CEDIA Expo that the company’s director of sales, Joaquin Rivera, says will “give our dealers more tools in their bag to be successful.”

They include the Cabaret retractable screen, available for use in multipurpose rooms where the screen case is designed to be “seen and not hidden,” says Don Stewart, vice president. It is outfitted with a removable balance in various “automotive finishes” that can be backlit with LED mood lighting. It also features built-in levelers for easier installation, and cable management. An optional mount also allows the screen to be installed above a flat-panel TV.

Also new is the Oasis, a screen the company has specifically earmarked for outdoor installations. It, like the Cabaret, is being made available in Firehawk G3, StudioTech 130 and Greyhawk RS configurations from Stewart. “We expect this screen to expand that incompletely developed outdoor market,” says Rivera.