Fall 2004 Newsletter

Fall is once again upon us. We are greeted with A Star Wars DVD Box Set, NFL in HD and many new products to keep us entertained. We have been busy adding new brands to our family. Rogelio and David went to the CEDIA trade show in Indianapolis and have come back even more educated from manufactures information and training. So, if you are interested in hearing what is new and exciting feel free to call them up. Otherwise, we hope to see you in the store soon to show you all the fun new products.

New Arrivals

Simaudio Ltd., a Canadian audio and audio-video equipment manufacturer, has been in business over two decades designing and building high quality electronics for home entertainment use.

The focus of Simaudio is to provide ultimate enjoyment to the customer from the use of high-end home entertainment music and surround systems. To that end, Simaudio is committed to building the finest, best sounding, longest lasting and most aesthetically attractive equipment one can own for a given price. The dream of achieving this state of existence is depicted by the name chosen by Simaudio to represent its finest line of products ever created: The MOON Series.

NEC's Showcase Series™ includes seven unique home entertainment displays to complement your digital lifestyle. These projector and plasma displays provide impressive and consistently flawless color balance and superior image quality. NEC researched, developed and patented core imaging technologies to improve upon perfection and make these displays adaptable for most home viewing environments! NEC is a global 100 company founded in 1899 with over $40 billion in revenue and 130,000 employees. NEC is also the world’s #3 patent holder with over 70,000 patents worldwide.

Roku designs and markets advanced digital media players for the home that significantly enhance the home entertainment experience. The company's ultra-sleek digital media product line begins with the Roku HD1000, a high-definition digital media player that showcases stunning digital photos, LiveArt™, music, video and dynamic media applications on any TV, including HDTV. Roku's SoundBridge network music player allows users to listen to their digital music collection in any room of the house, and sets a new standard for beauty and ease of use with its licensed integration to iTunes.

32" LCD Widescreen HDTV, LC32GD6U

Sophisticated design and first class performance for the ultimate in home entertainment. With a 16:9 aspect ratio, HDTV-compatible resolution of 1366 x 768 and breathtaking color purity, it is a next-generation TV to carry you into the high-definition future. The LC32GD6U features an elegant new design with detachable high-aperture aluminum speakers to ensure the sound is as outstanding as the picture. The LC32GD6U also includes a built-in HDTV tuner with full cable card ''Plug and Play'' capability.

$6,000.00

$300.00

LT-1, Retro AM/FM Radio CD Player
Wake up to your favorite music with this digital clock radio that features the latest electronic technology with a retro design and explosive stereo sound. You won't believe your ears when you hear the full range of sound coming from this compact radio. It has two full-range front-firing speakers plus a Built-in Down-Firing Subwoofer for exceptional bass.
The top-loading CD player plays CD/CD-R/CD-RW discs and has 20 selection programmable memory plus repeat, intro check and shuffle play. Also features a digital alarm clock that wakes you to CD or radio, five-minute snooze, 10-90 minute sleep timer, headphone jack and more. Remote control and convenient remote control holster included.

50" HDTV Plasma, 50XR4

Make every seat the best seat in the house. Connect into your digital home with NEC’s home entertainment plasma displays that deliver brilliant images while adapting to your active lifestyle…today and tomorrow. Building upon the legacy of superior image quality and performance in the commercial market by bringing it into your home. Long lasting up to 60,000 hour half life* (that’s 20 years, 8 hours a day!). Best in class image quality and accurate image reproduction. Specialized circuitry assists in filtering video noise in VHS, cable and satellite sources.

$10,000.00

$1,800.00

VSX-56TXi, THX Select A/V Receiver with i-LINK Advanced Digital Audio Interface
Absolute power, absolute purity: the 110 watts x 7 VSX-56TXi provides dual interfaces for i-LINK (IEEE1394), the new industry standard for the transfer of multi-channel digital audio signals (such as DVD-Audio, SACD, and DTS) between a DVD player and a receiver. Its i-LINK Mercury chip set—co-developed by Pioneer and Texas Instruments—delivers PQLS-based signal transmission that is absolutely stable and jitter-free, and accomplishes it with one digital wire vs. 6 analog connections. Advanced MCACC provides studio-quality setup and calibration of your system to match the room it’s in, and even offers PC connectivity to visually monitor and control the process. For less interference from vibration and resonance, the VSX-56TXi’s heavy-duty construction includes a cast-iron insulator and a double-layered chassis. The giant main capacitors feature a 27,000uf capacity that provides instant and continuous reference-level power, and high-grade banana speaker terminals ensure clean output. Bottom line? The purest, most powerful audio possible. Comes with the Elite two-year warranty

In-Wall MusicCAST Client, MCX-C15

Access music content from MusicCAST MCX-1000 Distributed Audio Server, In-wall controller in compact design – Fits low-voltage dual-gang box. 4 Assignable Favorite direct buttons on controller and remote - will allow user to preset to Artist, Album, Genre, Playlists or inputs. Yamaha AV Link for extended IR Commands and IR repeater, Hi-Fidelity MCX-AC15 Digital amplifier included. MP3 playback of content from Server, Retrieve music by Artist, Album, Genre, Play-list or all songs. Easy to use On-Screen display

$800.00

$12,000.00

DPX-1100, HD DLP Projector

The DPX-1100 makes use of a wide range of new technologies to deliver extraordinary video performance. Contrast is an incredible 4,000:1, brightness is 800 ANSI lumens, picture sharpness is outstanding and color reproduction is stunningly natural. The projector is equipped with the latest DMD device, HD2+, which has narrow mirror gaps and no center pivot mark, improving contrast over the previous version.

Video processing is 10-bit from A/D conversion through to DMD output. The correlated color temperature can be adjusted in 500K increments between 5,000K and 10,000K, for achieving accurate color fidelity. A graph on the color temperature menu facilitates this operation. In order to maintain perfect color balance when the settings are changed, automatic color balance calculation/adjustment is provided.

Yamaha debuts the use of a sevensegment color wheel, with an ND filter equipped green segment having been added to the previous wheel. The seven-segment structure reduces dither, while color reproduction is excellent, with greens being more true to life than ever (achieving the HD monitor “green” standard). Green resolution is 10-bit, which also improves the representation of black tones.

Progressive Scan DVD Player, DPS-5.5

The DPS-5.5 plays many popular disc formats: CD-R/RW, DVD±R/RW, and even your favorite MP3 & WMA CDs. The latter can contain up to 10 hours or more of music on a single disc, depending on the format. For added flexibility, JPG photo image CDs are also supported for slide shows displayed through your television.
With high-resolution digital-to-analog converters, which incorporate our exclusive Vector Linear Shaping Circuitry, you are guaranteed the superb audio quality your home theater deserves. To ensure the audio from your music and movies reaches your receiver in its purest form a Direct Digital Path is used to carry this signal straight from the disc to the digital audio outputs on the rear panel.
The DPS-5.5 has the power to produce stunning video images with increased dimensionality, maximizing the enjoyment of your DVD collection. It features progressive scan with 2-3 pull-down processing which provides smoother video from film-based sources, a high-speed video DAC, and high quality BNC outputs for connection to plasma and projection displays.

$520.00

$3,000.00

CT04, Countertop Media System,

The iCEBOX CounterTop brings all your favorite entertainment options together in one charming, easy-to-use device specifically designed for the kitchen, featuring: Television • Internet • DVD/CD • FM Radio • Home Video Monitoring • Touch Screen • Remote & Keyboard

Its sleek tasteful profile and choice of colors complements any contemporary kitchen. With a wipe-clean touch screen, washable/wireless keyboard and remote, and quick-change mode buttons, nothing compares with the iCEBOX for kitchen usability.

MOON A/V Processor, Stargate

The Stargate provides "state-of-the-art" multi-channel processing with a strong emphasis on flexibility. Included are such features as independant 2nd zone I/O, a rack-mount ready chassis, a 7.1 analog "Pass-Through" input, integrated video switching, an AM/FM tuner with memory presets, flash memory circuitry for future upgrades and a whole lot more. Regardless of your choice of software, be it music or film, stereo or multi-channel, the Stargate Preamplifier/Processor/DAC/Tuner will redefine your concept and understanding of home entertainment.

MOON A/V Stargate Processor

$6,500.00

$6,300.00 (5CH)

Aurora, Moon A/V Power Amplifier

Available in configurations of 5 and 7 channels, this state-of-the-art multi-channel power amplifier represents a less expensive alternative to the Titan and is the perfect mate for a high-performance surround processor such as our MOON Stargate. Using technologies found in our other MOON series power amplifiers, the Aurora is capable of producing a high-current output signal to a maximum continuous power rating of 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms.

Network Music Player, SoundBridge

Finally, a network music player that looks as good as it sounds! Roku SoundBridge lets you play your Mac or PC digital music files anywhere in the house – connecting your stereo or powered speakers to your computer’s digital music library. MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV music formats are supported — and it's network ready with wired Ethernet or a CompactFlash Wi-Fi adapter. A large, bright display and Apple Rendezvous™ and iTunes® support make this player a winning part of your home entertainment system.

$800.00

$500.00

HD1000, High-Definition Media Player

For the first time, you can enjoy viewing your favorite digital photos in high-definition on your HDTV. Simply snap in your digital camera’s memory card or use the easy network connection between the Roku HD1000 and your home PC. And if you like a more sophisticated atmosphere, choose from a wide selection of motion and still artwork to turn your Flat-Screen or HDTV into beautiful wall art. Roku offers custom Art Packs on CompactFlash cards so you can create an inspiring home gallery in your living room.

The Roku HD1000 even plays digital music files over your home network, so you can finally enjoy that growing MP3 library on your home stereo system. Any way you use it, Roku is simple and easy. Just connect to your home network for sharing digital media from your PC, or pop in a variety of memory cards and watch your HDTV come to life with high-definition digital photos, art and music. The HD1000 also works with standard definition ("regular") TVs, and gives the best possible quality that can be resolved by those TVS. Use the HD1000 on your standard TV now, and its ready to upgrade to HDTV whenever you are.

Entertainment and Electronics news

DirecTV to Have 1000 HD Channels By 2007

Top satellite TV provider DirecTV announced on Sept. 9 that they will launch four new satellites - two in 2005 and two more in 2007 - to provide more HDTV channels for their subscribers. This comes as sales of DTV sets (capable of HD but not necessarily hooked up to HDTV) have boomed to 850,000 per month, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

Boeing will launch the four new birds and the focus of the programming on for the HD channels will be local. Years ago, DirecTV saw a boom in their subscribers when they were able to deliver traditional NTSC programming to their subscribers. This move gave them the chance to compete directly and favorably with cable. With HDTV, the competition is digital cable, or in many cases, the often sketchy terrestrial (over-the-air) local HDTV signal. More

Rogers Cable Goes All Digital
Toronto, ON, August 18, 2004: Rogers Cable has announced that it has begun offering Rogers Digital Cable customers an all-digital channel lineup. All analogue channels will now be digitized to offer digital quality picture and sound to customers who have a Rogers Digital Cable terminal.
With the all-digital lineup, Rogers Digital Cable customers will be able to view all of Rogers Cable's programming in 100 per cent digital, while at the same time retaining the ability to watch the analogue channels on any cable outlet in the house without the need for extra digital boxes. The all digital lineup is already available in Brampton, Bolton, Scarborough, and Pickering, ON, and will be rolled out throughout Ontario this fall.

Pioneer's latest products receive EISA awards

Pioneer's fifth generation plasma model, the PDP-435HDE, and its high-end DVD player, the DV-668AV, have been selected as the 'European Plasma Television of the Year 2004-2005' and 'European DVD Player of the Year 2004-2005' by the European Imaging and Sound Association

Annually, EISA recognizes outstanding products in the categories of Photo, Video, Audio, Home Theatre and Mobile Electronics judged by nearly 50 leading European publications.

SA-CD cements market-leading new format position

Market intelligence released by the Super Audio CD Project Team illustrates the strong position that Super Audio CD occupies relative to alternative formats, such as DVD-Audio. The Project Team states that there are now over 2,300 album titles available from more than 250 record labels, including international top-selling artists and local recording artists. The economies of scale achieved through mass manufacturing processes mean that the average disc price for SA-CDs has now reached the level of a top priced CD. More

ESPN Adds ESPN2-HD

ESPN announced it added a second HDTV channel, ESPN2 HD, and a college-sports network to its growing portfolio of sports channels. ESPN2 HD will launch in January as a simulcast of ESPN2, and is slated to include more than 100 live HD telecasts in its first year.

The X-Files star David Duchovny has confirmed that co-star Gillian Anderson is up for doing a second movie.
The pair - Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in the cult series - were last seen on screen together for the final episode of the TV series in May 2002. Now Duchonvy thinks "the time is right" to bring the characters back.
"We're all on the same page," the actor told TeleText. "Gillian Anderson wants to do it, I want to do it, Chris Carter, who would write and produce the film, wants to do it and I believe Fox the studio wants to do it.
"When you have the four major players in the enterprise wanting to do it, it will happen. It's just a matter of when. I hope it happens within the next year."