CEDIA 2011 - Indianapolis, USA

AudioQuest's Shane Buettner holds up a cable that's part of the company's new Bridges & Falls series. The series comprises only analog interconnect cables in the following configurations: RCA to RCA, 30-pin to RCA, and 30-pin to mini-jack. The model names are Evergreen, Golden Gate, Big Sur, Sydney, Victoria, Yosemite, and Angel. Evergreen is the least expensive, with 1m lengths priced at $30, whereas Angel is the most expensive, with 1m lengths priced at $995. [www.audioquest.com]

MartinLogan showed their new Montis hybrid electrostatic speaker, which marries an XStat electrostatic transducer with a 10" powered dynamic woofer that has a DSP-based crossover. The Montis is priced at $9995/pair and was shown at CEDIA with a . . .

. . . zebrawood veneer on the bass cabinet, which was finished extremely well and looked quite stunning. [www.martinlogan.com]

Italy's Sonus Faber has released the striking-looking Cremona Elipsa Special Edition loudspeaker, which retails for $22,000 per pair. Improvements over the standard Cremona Elipsa include a superior tweeter (the same one that's used in the pricier Stradivari Homage speaker), an upgraded crossover, and . . .

. . . Sonus's gorgeous Red Violin wood finish, something that was first introduced in the Stradivari Homage.

Britain's Monitor Audio is getting into the "i" game by releasing the new i-Deck 100 (left) and i-Deck 200 all-in-one music systems that are priced at $499 and $599, respectively. Both models have a wealth of features (class-D-based biamplification, DSP tuning, etc.), but the most important thing to MA fans will be the driver complement: they use the company's C-CAM woofers and gold-dome tweeters. The biggest difference between the two is the size of the drivers -- the 100 has 0.75" tweeters and 3" woofers, whereas the 200 has 1" tweeters and 4" woofers -- as well as the 200's . . .

. . . flashier backside (the 100 is simply a smooth finish).

We have a review coming up of Atlantic Technology's AT-1 floorstanding loudspeaker (left) on GoodSound! soon. At CEDIA 2011 AT showed the new AT-2 bookshelf-type speaker that also uses H-PAS bass technology and is finished to the same high standard. The AT-2 will be priced at $1800/pair when it's released in December.

GoldenEar Technology made quite a splash at last year's CEDIA Expo when they burst onto the scene with their full line of products including the Triton Two tower. This year they were showing off the new Aon 2 and Aon 3 bookshelf-type loudspeakers, which use the company's folded-ribbon tweeter and proprietary midbass drivers (6" in diameter for the 2, 7" in diameter for the 3), as well as passive radiators along the side to extend the bass. The Aon 2 is $399.99/each and the Aon 3 is $499.99/each.

Velodyne's new EQ-Max subwoofer series consists of four models: 8 ($479), 10 ($579), 12 ($679), and 15 ($899). It's probably not hard to figure out that the model names correspond to the size of the drivers. EQ-Max is Velodyne's lowest-priced sub line, but the products contain some high-end features found in their more expensive models, such as . . .

. . . automatic room correction, remote-control operation, and Night Mode listening.

Velodyne's new $169 WiConnect system comprises a transmitter and receiver and allows any subwoofer (not just Velodyne's) to operate wirelessly. Velodyne says that that one transmitter can communicate with up to four subs and that the range is about 50 feet.

Velodyne also showed the new Digital Servo-10 (DS-10) subwoofer, which sells for $1199. The DS-10 is the company's lowest-priced servo-controlled subwoofer. It includes features from the pricier Digital Drive+ series, but it comes in a more cost-effective package. The DS-10 uses a 10" woofer that has a 19.3-pound magnet structure and is powered by a 1250W (RMS) amplifier. According to Velodyne, "The Digital Servo-10 truly raises the standards by which subwoofers will be measured." A bold claim -- we're hoping to get one in for review.

We haven't been all that taken with Monster's products for a long, long time, but the new ClarityHD Model One powered speakers grabbed our attention. The Model One is priced at $699/pair in high-gloss finishes ($599/pair in matte finishes), and has . . .

. . . a variety of input types, including a wireless option, as well as a tweeter level control (+/-2dB). What's more, the . . .

. . . top even has an iPod dock and a carrying handle! Monster wasn't shy about playing the Model Ones, and from our brief exposure to them we thought they sounded pretty good. Given the marketing muscle Monster has, we don't doubt that these new speakers will be a hit.