LG & Mark Levinson launching two home theater systems at CES

We didn't have to wait long to hear more about Mark Levinson's partnership with LG, resulting in two new home theater systems to launch at CES 2008. No longer limited to audiophiles searching eBay auctions for discontinued equipment, the AP3133 and LHT888 promise a high end AV experience at "astonishing" -- albeit TBA -- prices. The AP3133 HTIB puts LG's Super Blu BH200 dual-format player at the heart of a 7.1-channel system with 150 watts x 7 ICEpower output, multi-input HDMI switching, Burr-Brown PCM and Audessey Auto Room Multi EQ adjustment. The LHT888 fulfills our needs for a champagne-glass styled HT system, with each speaker in a tapered, integrated pedestal, to math the 1080p upscaling, DivX / MP3 / JPEG / DVD playing 700W 5.1-channel receiver. Prices (and pics) are due at LG's press conference January 6th.

[jonas @ Jan 1st 2008 12:25AM]

"to math the 1080p upscaling"?

Match?

I guess we'll see when the pictures come out.

[Student Driver @ Jan 1st 2008 1:13AM]

Heh, the pic looked like a VHS VCR.

[bobartig @ Jan 1st 2008 1:42AM]

Is this Mark Levinson himself, or Mark Levinson by Madrigal? Madrigal Audio labs bought Mark Levinson, retaining the rights to the brand name. Not that they don't still make great equipment, but anything called Mark Levinson made in the last ~20 years actually does not involve the man himself. Confusing, eh?

Mark Levinson himself has a small esoteric-among-esoteric stereo equipment company called Red Rose Music.

[Brian @ Jan 1st 2008 7:15AM]

What is ICE power? The ICEPower web site is just PR and ad copy.

[ceberle @ Jan 1st 2008 9:40AM]

Perhaps someone should tell Mark Levinson that the LG player doesn't support multi-channel Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio with its current firmware. Not exactly the right hardware to be "the heart of a 7.1 channel system."

[Richard @ Jan 1st 2008 10:14AM]

The product hasn't been released yet. Wouldn't you assume that it would have new firmware once it's released?

[ceberle @ Jan 1st 2008 3:04PM]

The LG BH200 has been available for a few weeks now. Users are reporting only 2-channel output on Dolby TrueHD tracks. Unless the Mark Levinson version has firmware fixes we don't know about, it'll be stunted from the getgo. In fact LG removed a firmware update from its website only a few days ago. All I can say is caveat emptor.

[SS @ Jan 4th 2008 12:52AM]

The END of DAYS must be near...

[palehorse @ Jan 4th 2008 2:44PM]

The AP3133 wont be cheap, that's for sure. The combo player alone sells for more than $800 retail!

I'd be interested in seeing the specs and price WITHOUT the weak and expensive combo player included...

[besi @ Jan 8th 2008 7:48PM]

i just talked to mark levinson,at ces and he is involved personally with lg.i listened to the systems and the sound was awesome.prices are 599$ and 4000$ coming out in may 08.everyone should check it out when comes out.