Audio News for July 13, 2012

by | Jul 13, 2012 | Audio News

Gallo Has a New Normal-Looking HT Surround System – The new Classico Anthony Gallo Acoustic system ($3988) uses the new CL-3 31-inch-high enclosed wood tower speakers for the front L & R channels, plus a center center, sub, and two surround mini-monitors. Thus it fits most any decor, unlike the more exotic-looking standard open Gallo towers. No internal crossovers are used in the Gallo speakers, each is essentially its own crossover.  The L & R speakers claim a frequency response of 32Hz to 11 KHz = +-3 dB. There is a caveat that the speakers must be no more than 24-inches from the walls behind the speakers. The tower speakers use an enhanced transmission line design and the CL-1 surrounds use a modified transmission line.
Audioquest DragonFly USB DAC – Audioquest has a new compact DAC that connects to the USB of any Mac or PC and turns any computer into a high-fidelity music source. It plays all music files from MP3 to 192K/24-bit, drives stereo headphone directly, has variable output drives for power amps or powered speakers, fixed outputs for preamp or receiver, asynchronous transfer to ensure integrity of digital timing, two clocks to enable native resolution up toe 96K/24-bit. (SRP: $250)
Pure Expands Docking-Speakers – The UK-based Pure, supplier of tabletop Internet radios and docking speaker systems, has launched its second docking speaker at $189. The Contour 100i features an FM tuner and Apple certificiations for docking with iPods and iPhones, and it also plays music from a docked iPad. It has 20 watts of amplification, slim-line remote, two alarms, sleep and snooze timers, an aux input and headphone output. Later this year Pure will launch a third docking speaker with Apple AirPlay—the Contour 200i Air. It will incorporate an FM tuner and Wi -Fi at $249, and adds embedded Internet radio and music streaming from a Mac or PC. The Pure Lounge App accesses over 18,000 global Internet radio stations, podcasts, on-demand programs, and ambient sounds. Pure also offers four tabletop Internet radios.
CEA Announces Five New Standards – The Consumer Electronics Association announced new standards available to guide designers as they develop innovative products for consumers. The CEA also released a tech report addressing TV picture brightness. The new standards include: a Round Tactile Indicator—a raised nib that visually-impaired users can use to identify the buttons on a remote control. A standard called 3D Extensions—which describes how to send closed captions via 3D video, a standard for control of active 3D glasses enabling viewers to continue wearing them as content switches from 2D to 3D mode, and also enables two viewers to see two different images, a standard enabling the charging of devices by simply setting them on a flat charging surface without a connection, and a Home Illumination Study, which determines how bright a TV picture needs to be to provide a satisfactory viewing experience.

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