HomeTheaterSpeakers
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Sony's HT-ST7 soundbar melds HiFi with Bluetooth and NFC for $1,299
As of late, Sony's home theater soundbar offerings haven't catered to the higher-end of the market, but that changes today. The company's aluminum-clad HT-ST7 aims to take on speakers that cost much more, while offering NFC-enabled Bluetooth pairing and a plethora of wired connectivity options. The unit features nine drivers powered by seven independent amplifiers, with an included wireless subwoofer that houses dual bass drivers. Sony even opted to have Academy award-winner Paul Ottoson give audio-engineering input, no doubt figuring his golden ears could help the bar better reproduce movie dialogue. AptX and AAC are baked in for wireless music streaming, as is other audio tech including DTS and Dolby Digital for simulated surround sound. Aside from all that, there's a built-in IR repeater, dimmable LCD info-screen, a trio of both HDMI and Toslink inputs, as well as a single analog audio input and an audio return channel. The HT-ST7 will run space-concerned home theater enthusiasts $1,299 starting today, which includes a nifty collapsible remote. Check out the quartz-inspired design in the embedded galleries and find more details in the press release after the break.
Pioneer shares affordable line of speakers, snobs sob
After releasing a bevy of value-packed Elite receivers, iPod Docks, and Blu-ray players in recent months, Pioneer has now announced a new line of entry-level speakers just in time for man cave upgrade season. Consisting of the SP-DS21-LR and smaller SP-BS41-LR bookshelf monitor, the SP-FS51-LR floor standing mini tower, the SP-C21 center channel, and SW-8 sub, the entire line is on sale now at selected retailers for a reasonable $79 to $199 depending on the component. Despite these wallet-friendly price tags though, all of the speakers sport higher-end details like radio frequency bonded, curved cabinets, improved multi-component crossovers, and gold-plated five-way binding posts -- which seems to fall nicely in line with Pioneer's recent recession-appropriate bang for your buck approach. In case that idea alone wasn't enough to make audiophiles roll over in their acoustically-perfect coffins, Pioneer's release also says the speaker packaging will feature QR barcodes that, when scanned, will direct consumers to YouTube videos of lead designer Andrew Jones discussing the new line. Luckily for you, we've embedded the video along with the full PR after the break, so you can skip the unnecessary mobile hassle and get straight to the unintentional laughs.
JVC SP-FT is a drool-inducing, 31mm thin home theater speaker system
We know, life's tough. You want to buy the latest ultraslim HDTV, but find that your home theater speakers will look monstrously bulky sitting alongside it. JVC wouldn't want to cause you such headaches, which is why it's trotted out the above pair of 31mm thin speaker satelittes -- known as the SP-FT1 in black and SP-FT2 in their white garb -- and the AX-FT amplifier squeezed in between them. While you should probably not expect Telos 5000-like output, the amp will deliver 80W of total output over 4 independent channels, and has support for Dolby Digital, DTS and AAC formats. Prices are expected to be around ¥24,000 ($267) for the amp and ¥20,000 ($223) for the speakers when their black iterations hit Japan later this month, with the willowy white option showing up in November. %Gallery-75557% [Via Akihabara News]
