Home Entertainment Expo in Newport Beach.

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This last week end I was able to attend the Home Entertainment Expo at Newport Beach CA so I thought I would do a quick write up of what I saw. I spent about two hours looking and enjoying the demonstrations on a very hot afternoon. This type of activity was the first for me so I did not know what to expect.
The one major impression that I had is that I need to get and FPTV. I can not afford it but I wanted it. The demonstrations that had FPTV were using the Vidikron or the Zenith possibly others but they were all amazing. These FPTV units are huge and are not for the timid Hter.
The demonstrations I saw included Lexicon sponsored by Geneses Audio, Zenith sponsored by Video and Audio Today, CAL audio sponsored by Pacific Audio and Sonus Faber/Theta sponsored by Audio Video Express. All of these store are local to Southern California.
The Lexicon demo had the MC-1 with the latest EX software and Revel Gem speakers (seven of them) with the two Revel subs. Lexicon amps (Bryston) drove the speakers. The display was the Panasonic plasma display. They play a DTS CD to show off the music capability and for the video the TEX THX promo, which was re-mastered in DD-EX. I had to stand in the back left part of the room so I did not have the ideal listening position. This system sounded good for music and movies, but one of the Gem speakers near me had a rattle at a certain frequency. This was not the beat of condition to evaluate a setup. The Lexicon rep mentioned that Lexicon was having a deal where you could get as much as $2000 towards a new MC-1 if you traded in you current pre/pro.
Zenith was demoing two displays, their new RPTV and a FPTV. Sorry I have no idea what the model numbers were. They mentioned that the RPTV was reviewed in the latest Stereophile mag. The other equipment consisted of Dunlavy SC-1/AV speakers on all five channels. The electronics were ATI five channel amp and the new Parasound AVC-2500 pre/pro. Again I was standing in the back of the room. This system sounded good the Dunlavy's created a very nice sound stage and the Zenith FPTV was excellent.
On to the Pacific Audio Demonstration, here CAL audio was using their new Pre/pro its MSRP is $6000. CAL also has a new amp that is 500watts by five channels. They were not using it because it needs a dedicated 20 amp circuit. The staff person mentioned the speaker maker, but I can not remember the name. They are a new speaker company so I apologies for not remembering. I also do not remember the amps used. The high light of this demo was the new Da-Lite screen. It will adjust its size to the format being display, very cool.
And last was the demo by Audio and Video Express. When I was in the demo room they were playing 2-channel music. The system consisted of Theta Casa Nova, DaVid and dreadnought. The speakers were the Concertos. The rep told me that the new processing broad for the Casablanca would be out in another two months. So I am thinking early next year, hopefully.
Well I think that is all I saw. There were other demos which I did not attend such as the Sunfire and Legacy Audio demos, but they were just too crowded.
Thanks for reading,
Mark

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Topic - Home Entertainment Expo in Newport Beach. - Markj 09:45:44 11/02/99 (4)

Re: Home Entertainment Expo in Newport Beach. - macode 05:56:06 11/07/99 (0)

Re: Home Entertainment Expo in Newport Beach. - MKG 19:54:07 11/03/99 (2)

Re: Home Entertainment Expo in Newport Beach. - Markj 09:08:30 11/04/99 (0)

Good reporting job, thanx guys! NT - Scott 08:00:53 11/04/99 (0)

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