Electronic House Expo - March 13-15

Electronic House Expo (EHX), the industry event for custom electronics kicks-off this week in Orlando, Florida. EHX, with over 350 exhibitors focuses on custom electronics integration including multiroom audio distribution, video and other home electronics products. Here are a few of the new products being announced a EHX this week:

• Fuze Media Systems is introducing the 'Mini-Edition' Whole-Home Media System targeted for smaller residences, such as apartments, condominiums and vacation homes. The Fuze Media Mini-Edition will support whole house distribution of music, TV, video and photos and comes standard with the necessary hardware and software to support 4 audio zones and 2 video zones (expandable to three video zones). The system's server comes with 4GB of memory, 750GB of media storage and a 2.2GHz processor. The system will be available in Q2 of 2008 and pricing was not immediately available. I will update when a price is available. More about whole house distribution systems.
• Atlantic Technology has introduced the IWTS-4LCR, an in-wall loudspeaker that inherits much of the technology and installation simplicity of the company's high-end in-wall designs, but at a significantly lower cost. The speaker represents the lowest price point yet to incorporate the company's highly regarded Low Resonance Tweeter (LRT™). LRT technology delivers much wider midrange dispersion than conventional in-wall speakers for greater placement flexibility, but without the acoustic and mechanical drawbacks of more conventional "pivoting tweeter" designs. The Atlantic Technology IWTS-4LCR will be available in April at a suggested retail price of $250.00 each. (Note: I recently reviewed Atlantic Technology's IWCB-626 in-wall speaker, a higher-end model with similar technology and excellent performance.)
• Infinity Systems today announced that it is now shipping its Infinity Classia™ Series loudspeakers, four high-performance models that combine elegant styling with exceptional sonic accuracy and versatile installation options. The loudspeakers feature slim, elegantly proportioned enclosures with curved and contoured design elements, and incorporate advanced technologies including patented Infinity® Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragm (CMMD®) drivers. Models in the Infinity Classia Series include the C205 bookshelf loudspeaker, C336 floorstanding speaker, CC225 wall-mountable center channel speaker and C255ES wall-mountable surround loudspeaker with selectable monopole/bipole/dipole/dual-speaker operation. Suggested retail prices range from $349 to $899 each.

Updates to follow as information becomes available.