AirplaySpeakers
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Libratone Live and Lounge AirPlay speakers now available in the US
Libratone managed to pique our interest with its brightly-colored, cashmere-ensconced Live and Lounge AirPlay speakers this summer, and it's now finally announced that they're both available in the US. They come in at an expectedly hefty $699 for the smaller Live model and $1,299 for the larger Lounge soundbar (add an extra $100 to each for that aforementioned cashmere option -- yes, really), and they'll both be available at Apple stores and other select design retailers. Despite that sizable price difference, both units have the same 150W of total output power (coming from five dedicated amplifiers), although the Lounge promises some expanded range that's better suited for a living room -- it's also much bigger than it appears in the not-to-scale image above (40 inches wide, to be specific, while the Live is just under eight). The official press release is after the break.
iHome iW2 and iW3 AirPlay wireless speakers hands-on sneak peek
iHome's big announcement here at CES is the AirPlay-enabled iW1 wireless speakers, but the company also gave us a quick sneak peek at the iW2 and iW3, two new smaller systems that are due to be released... sometime. Both systems are essentially identical internally, with two low-range drivers and two tweeters, but the iW2 is laid out horizontally, while the iW3 is a tower. Since they're designed to be cheaper fixed satellite speakers for around your house, they don't have internal batteries or the iW1's grab-and-go charger, but they do pick up Ethernet ports, and you can still use the new iHome Connect setup application. No word on price, but the iW1 is $300 and these are meant to be cheaper -- we'd guess $200 or so. %Gallery-113272%
Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin Air speaker hands-on
Fine purveyor of high end audio products Bowers & Wilkins is on hand here at Digital Experience showing off its latest product, the Zeppelin Air. An addition to its existing Zeppelin line, the Air adds in AirPlay functionality for effortless streaming from iTunes or an iOS device. Stainless steel accents complement the oblong shaped boombox, and it can connect to your home network using either WiFi or Ethernet. We couldn't objectively judge sound quality in the acoustics of this massive Caesar's Palace conference room, but we'd expect nothing less than the best considering the price tag -- a steep $600. Feel free to feast your eyes on some speaker porn in the gallery below, that doesn't cost a thing. %Gallery-112854%
JBL's AirPlay-enabled On Air Wireless speaker dock hits the FCC
JBL was one of the first companies besides iHome and Denon / Marantz to announce support for Apple's AirPlay technology, so it's no surprise that the company's On Air Wireless speaker dock just hit the FCC, complete with its manual -- we've been hearing that AirPlay will be all over the place at CES 2011. The On Air Wireless seems like a fancier riff on JBL's On Air line of speaker docks and alarm clocks -- it features that familiar swoopy-loop design but adds in a large color LCD display that displays album artwork while streaming music. Looking at the manual, the display also makes WiFi setup and configuration a little easier, which is nice. All in all, it looks promising, but we'll see what price and availability looks like when we get to CES.
iHome's iW1 AirPlay dock gets detailed
We're all expecting iOS 4.2 to hit sometime this week and bring AirPlay streaming with it, and it looks like iHome is getting prepared -- the company just updated its AirPlay speaker dock page with more info. The iW1, as it's been named, is much slicker than its minimalist looks would suggest: the portable speaker system features a built-in lithium-ion battery with an inductive charging base so you can just grab and go, Bongiovi Acoustics audio, capacitive touch controls and support for iHome's iOS configuration apps, and a USB port for charging and local audio playback. Oh, and it can stream music from iOS devices and iTunes using AirPlay, of course. Sadly, there's still no price or ship date, but if this thing is priced anywhere close to earth we'd say the Sonos S5 has got itself some serious competition.
