Archives for December 2002

Rockford Corporation to Introduce 2003 Products at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas

Rockford Corporation will introduce its new product lines for 2003, for the mobile, professional, and home theater audio markets, at the CES Show in Las Vegas on January 9-12.

Gary Suttle, president and chief executive officer commented, “This should be a very exciting show for us. We have five great mobile audio brands introducing many new products. We have been awarded five Innovations 2003 Design and Engineering Honoree Awards and one Mobile Audio Best of Honoree Award for our new Omnifi product co-designed by Rockford Fosgate and SimpleDevices. We are very proud to introduce Omnifi, which we believe offers the next generation of connected consumer electronics providing unsurpassed performance and convenience. Simply explained, Omnifi uses the popular Wi-Fi home-networking technology to stream digital music from the PC to the home stereo and to deliver digital music and information to a hard-drive based entertainment system in the car.”

Mr. Suttle, continued, “We are also very pleased to be introducing new home theater products at the show for Fosgate Audionics, MB Quart and NHT. NHT is our most recently acquired brand for home theater and we are excited to have it as part of our family of brands. With superior electronics products from Fosgate Audionics and outstanding speaker products from MB Quart and NHT, we believe we should see a lot of momentum in our home theater lines this year.”

About Rockford

Rockford is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of high-performance audio systems for the mobile, professional, and home theater audio markets. Rockford’s mobile audio products are marketed under the Rockford Fosgate, Lightning Audio, MB Quart and Q-Logic brand names. Rockford’s home theater products are marketed under the Fosgate Audionics, MB Quart and NHT brand names. Rockford recently completed an investment in SimpleDevices, which licenses its standards-based SimpleWareT and SimpleMedia ServicesT software to consumer electronics, PC, automotive and network equipment OEMs.

Rockford Corporation Web Site

Bantam Interactive Scoops Third And Fourth CES Innovations Awards

For the second year running, Bantam Interactive has been selected as the Consumer Electronics Association’s Innovations Design and Engineering Award Honoree, this time for both its BA50 and BA1000 portable MP3 devices. The Innovations Awards program recognizes products that exhibit excellence in design and engineering at the International CES. Bantam’s products will be on display with other Innovations winners at the Las Vegas Hilton during the show on January 9-12, 2003.

The BA1000 is a full-featured portable hard drive player with a built-in MP3 encoder for in-line stereo recording directly from a cassette, CD or album, without a PC. Combined with FM radio and voice recording capabilities, it offers the first customizable horizontal or vertical LCD with white backlight. The BA1000 includes USB 2.0 technology to transfer files up to 40 times quicker than standard USB 1.0 port connections.

Bantam Interactive’s fist-sized BA50 is a multi-format digital audio player with FM radio and voice recording capabilities. Priced at $79.99, the device comes equipped with 64MB of built- in flash memory and a SD (Secure Digital) card expansion slot. It uses a single AA battery for 12 hours of playback.

“Being consistently recognized by CES is a positive endorsement that our MP3 players are a cut above our competitors,” said Santosh Patel, president of Bantam Interactive, Inc.

“Last year, we were the first company to bring home two awards in the same category in the same year. Our reputation is built on innovation and consumers will continue to see cutting edge technology and design in our next generation digital audio and video products.”

About Bantam Interactive

Bantam Interactive Technologies, Inc. is an emerging developer in Web-enabled audio and visual technology. The company’s mission is to develop, manufacture and distribute market leading personal audio and video devices that provide customers with performance, value, unique features and innovative, ultra compact bantam-sized design. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.

Bantam Interactive Web Site

RCA’s Elvis 30 #1 Hits DVD-Audio Debuts at No. 1

BMG says that the DVD-Audio version of the RCA Records remix package of Elvis Presley hits, Elvis 30 #1 Hits, made its debut on sales charts in the number 1 spot when it was released on December 10.

The CD version of the new compilation of the 30 definitive #1 singles of Elvis Presley came out on September 24, and it made history by becoming the first album ever released by Elvis Presley to debut at the top of the charts in the U.S. To date Elvis 30 #1 Hits has sold over 8 million albums worldwide.

The DVD-Audio, which was recorded in 5.1 audio for optimal sound quality, features 30 of Presley’s No. 1 singles as well as the No. 1 JXL remix of “A Little Less Conversation.” As added value for the consumer, the release also includes never before heard outtakes of Presley recordings and a special a:b test of three songs which demonstrates the before and after versions of the Presley recordings used to create the 30 #1 Hits package.

DVD-Audio takes advantage of the digital technology originally developed for DVD-Video. It uses the format’s vast data storage potential to deliver astounding multi-channel sound enriched with the nuance, warmth and subtle overtones of a live musical performance. This extensive storage space not only allows for extended-range audio, but a lineup of interactive features such as MPEG-2 video, still images, and text, which together serve to make “listening” a more active experience.

BMG is the global music division of Bertelsmann AG, one of the world’s leading media companies. BMG owns more than 200 record labels in 42 countries including Ariola, Arista Records, J Records, Jive Records, RCA Records and RCA Label Group – Nashville. In addition, BMG’s music publishing operations are the third largest in the world.

Canton Introduces New Premium Karat Tower

Canton Electronics has introduced the Karat L 800 DC, a full-range, three-way floorstanding loudspeaker that incorporates many of the engineering principles developed for the company’s flagship Reference 2 DC speaker. The L 800 DC features the side-firing woofer and elegant slim face that distinguishes the Karat family, providing for superior upper-frequency dispersion and off-axis imaging..

The Karat L 800 DC incorporates many of the engineering principles developed for the company’s flagship Reference 2 DC speaker. The L 800 DC features the side-firing woofer and elegant slim face that distinguishes the Karat family, providing for superior upper-frequency dispersion and off-axis imaging.

The L 800 DC features Canton’s Displacement Control (DC) technology, which uses a proprietary high-pass filter to prevent infrasonic frequency signals (below 20 Hz) from interfering with the bass driver. In conventional speakers, these signals can generate high levels of unwanted harmonic distortion in the audible lower bass range, causing a muffled or “blatty” tonal quality. DC technology allows the speaker’s 12-inch cellulose-graphite woofer to provide clear, linear bass reproduction to 20 Hz, the bottom of the audible sound spectrum.

The Karat L 800 DC includes two 7-inch midrange drivers, which are made of lightweight and extremely rigid aluminum. The diaphragms benefit from a concave shape that contributes to the speaker’s highly symmetrical mid and upper frequency radiation pattern, and helps defeat the standing wave modes that can occur with conventional dome style voice coil caps.

High frequency reproduction is handled by Canton’s legendary 1–inch aluminum-manganese tweeter. This remarkable transducer’s dome and voice coil former are constructed as a single structure, giving the driver a lower mass, and greatly improved heat dissipation characteristics. The diaphragm is also much less susceptible to deformation at extremely high frequencies, allowing it to retain its linear output all the way out to 30 kHz, far beyond that of most tweeters.

All of the drivers in the Karat L800 DC were designed and developed by Canton’s own engineers, and matched tonally to generate a smooth and extended response across (and beyond) the entire audible frequency range. The cabinet is constructed of reinforced 1-inch MDF, and is 8 inches wide, 45-1/4 inches tall, and has a depth of 18-3/4 inches.

The L 800 DC will be available in January, 2003 in Ash black, Cherry, or Beech veneer finishes, as well as the Karat family’s unique silver lacquer finish. It has a suggested retail price of $4,200 per pair.

Canton Electronics Web Site

More CES 2003 News

Canton Introduces New Premium Karat Tower at CES 2003

Canton Electronics will launch a new full-range, three-way floorstanding loudspeaker, the Karat Tower, at the Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2003, in Las Vegas next month.

The Karat L 800 DC incorporates many of the engineering principles developed for the company’s flagship Reference 2 DC speaker. The L 800 DC features the side-firing woofer and elegant slim face that distinguishes the Karat family, providing for superior upper-frequency dispersion and off-axis imaging.

The L 800 DC features Canton’s Displacement Control (DC) technology, which uses a proprietary high-pass filter to prevent infrasonic frequency signals (below 20 Hz) from interfering with the bass driver. In conventional speakers, these signals can generate high levels of unwanted harmonic distortion in the audible lower bass range, causing a muffled or “blatty” tonal quality. DC technology allows the speaker’s 12-inch cellulose-graphite woofer to provide clear, linear bass reproduction to 20 Hz, the bottom of the audible sound spectrum.

The Karat L 800 DC includes two 7-inch midrange drivers, which are made of lightweight and extremely rigid aluminum. The diaphragms benefit from a concave shape that contributes to the speaker’s highly symmetrical mid and upper frequency radiation pattern, and helps defeat the standing wave modes that can occur with conventional dome style voice coil caps.

High frequency reproduction is handled by Canton’s legendary 1–inch aluminum-manganese tweeter. This remarkable transducer’s dome and voice coil former are constructed as a single structure, giving the driver a lower mass, and greatly improved heat dissipation characteristics. The diaphragm is also much less susceptible to deformation at extremely high frequencies, allowing it to retain its linear output all the way out to 30 kHz, far beyond that of most tweeters.

All of the drivers in the Karat L800 DC were designed and developed by Canton’s own engineers, and matched tonally to generate a smooth and extended response across (and beyond) the entire audible frequency range. The cabinet is constructed of reinforced 1-inch MDF, and is 8 inches wide, 45-1/4 inches tall, and has a depth of 18-3/4 inches.

The L 800 DC will be available in January, 2003 in Ash black, Cherry, or Beech veneer finishes, as well as the Karat family’s unique silver lacquer finish. It has a suggested retail price of $4,200 per pair.

Canton Electronics Web Site

Consumer Electronics Association – CES 2003 Web Site