CES 2009 News Briefs

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News Updates from the 2009 Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas

The CES, which takes place every year in the exhibition centre and hotels of Las Vegas, is probably still the world's biggest consumer electronics trade show. Most of the major manufacturers make sure they have something new to show at CES, though it might be months before we see it in UK shops. Car audio and related in-car electronics still features high at the event, which this year runs from January 8-11. I've covered the CES many times over the years. We'll bring you news updates on the most interesting and relevant stories coming out of the show [Kevin O'Byrne].

VIBE Coming to America
In a distribution tie-up with Metra Electronics, UK car audio supplier VIBE is now entering the US market. Their press release claims them to be the UK’s number one manufacturer of car audio products. To be precise, VIBE's products are designed and engineered by British engineers here in the UK, while the manufacturing is undertaken in the Far East under the company’s strict quality control procedures. There's no doubting that VIBE has become one of the success stories in recent years on the UK car audio scene.

VIBE, in the UK market for more than 15 years and established as a leading brand in Europe, will now be available in all four corners of the USA, Canada and South America through Metra’s established network of distributors. With so much product out there, why do VIBE feel they'll succeed? Because of their Research and Development department’s passion, enthusiasm and expertise, say VIBE, which drives them to design and develop "unsurpassable and inspirational car audio".

Bass is their area of expertise, according to VIBE, and is emphasised heavily in the design of all VIBE products, whether speakers, amplifiers, subwoofers, enclosures or accessories. All VIBE products revolve around bass enhancement, on the premise that without bass, audio listeners are missing much of the feel, excitement and fun in their music. They are exhibiting at booth 11219.

GENAUDIO to change "the way the world will listen to audio"
It's a pretty bold claim GENAUDIO has as the headline on the press release it has given out at CES. In the US such marketing claims seem to be regarded as legitimate 'artistic licence' when talking about new products or technologies, whereas in Europe we tend to immediately consider it bullshit... but it was sufficiently interesting for me to want to at least read it over. For one thing, sound processing has been a hobby of mine since I was knee high to my dear old dad, and I was involved in trying to get Ambisonic sound processing into cars back in the mid 80s, not to mention my time with Alto Mobile some short years back...

GenAudio Inc. has launched its AstoundStereo Expander at CES 2009, with the promise of 10 Million free music downloads from emerging and platinum artists, including Public Enemy, processed with new AstoundStereo technology. Developer of AstoundSound™ 4D sound localization cue technology and finalist in the CES i-Stage competition, GenAudio made the most of the opening day at the CES by officially launching a consumer version of its technology, the AstoundStereo Expander computer software, and announced the giveaway of 10 million free music downloads.

GenAudio claim that the AstoundStereo can be experienced through as little as two audio channels, such as any headphones, home theater speakers or laptop speakers. This claim already makes me extremely sceptical, but hey, we haven't had the chance to audition it yet and so we'll keep an open mind. The AstoundStereo Expander software processes audio files on the user’s desktop or laptop computer in real-time. Listeners are said to be able "to hear their music, movies and video games in a new way, being completely immersed in the sound with elevation, intensive depth perception and widening of the stereo image, creating a four dimensional audio experience". GenAudio say that professional recording artists, record labels, video game development houses and major motion picture film studios have already embraced the technology. GenAudio and Universal Pictures recently partnered for the release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, re-mastered for home theater. The AstoundStereo technology was integrated into the 5.1 and 7.1 programming for both DVD and Blu-Ray Hi-Def releases.

To publicly demonstrate the capabilities of AstoundStereo technology, GenAudio has partnered with Public Enemy and Kan’Nal, as well as leading music download provider Hip Digital, to give away 10 million free music downloads processed with AstoundStereo to provide a four-dimensional sound experience. These tracks and more are available from GenAudio at http://www.AstoundStereo.com/freetrack for 30 days from January 8, 2009.

Consumers can download a free 30-day trial of the AstoundStereo Expander software for Mac or PC via http://www.astoundstereo.com. Consumers can then purchase the Expander for an introductory offer of $19.95.

“When people hear these songs, they will have a new appreciation for the way audio will be heard across the entire entertainment industry spectrum.” said Jerry Mahabub, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GenAudio. “We are confident once people hear any of the free music tracks processed with AstoundStereo, they will want to apply this technology to their existing stereo audio content on their Mac or PC. This will lead everyone to want AstoundStereo integrated into all of their audio devices, such as portable music players, DVD players, car stereos and many more.”

GenAudio's mission is to "provide a true 4D sound solution for the entire entertainment industry". If they succeed, they will be the first in a line who have tried and generally failed to have their technology adopted to the extent they'd hoped for. Full marks to GenAudio for trying to push the boundaries of music reproduction - we'll be interested to test it out and see how it develops in the market.

Pioneer Gives GM Amplifiers Cosmetic Boost
Announced at the 2009 CES, Pioneer have given two of their GM Series amplifiers a cosmetic boost. The GM-6400F 4-channel model (Click on 'More Images' just below the newspaper image to view a picture), and the 2-channel GM-5400T, get a cosmetic makeover, with a splash of red on each side of the RCA and speaker terminal inputs for added appeal when displayed in custom installations. The heat sink shrouds have been revamped utilizing a rectangular shape with a black matte finish to complement the aesthetics of the GM-D8400M and GM-D7400M Class D mono amplifiers in the same series.

The newly designed heat sinks of the GM-6400F and GM-5400T are said to ensure maximum heat dissipation thanks to the sub heat sink being placed on top of the main chassis. The corrugated mesh allows for more heat to be released when the temperature rises, especially at high volume levels, to help achieve a constant operating temperature and high reliability. Both amplifiers incorporate a black outer heat sink complemented by a removable brushed aluminium centre and a blue LED power indicator.

Although unseen in normal applications, the amplifiers adopt the H-shaped bottom chassis from Pioneer's top-of-the-line PRS-A amplifiers to eliminate vibrations and resonance caused by the constant movement in a car. Both amplifiers feature fixed crossover networks and speaker level inputs, enabling the amplifiers to be added to virtually any audio system.

The GM-6400F amp is rated at 60W x 4 (bridgeable to 150W x 2) and the Pioneer GM-5400T at 125W x 2 (380W x 1). There are four other models in the GM range.