Home Theater Geeks 516 Transcript
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Scott Wilkinson [00:00:00]:
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I finish my coverage of CES 2026 with a few audio products. So stick around.
Leo Laporte [00:00:12]:
Podcasts you love from people you trust. This is Twit.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:28]:
Hey there Scott Wilkinson here, the Home Theater G.E. in this episode, I'm going to conclude my coverage of CES 2026 with some audio products. Now, those of you who watched Part one know that my friend Mike Heiss was supposed to be here, but due to circumstances beyond our control, he had to split. So sorry to miss him. He'll be back, I'm sure on another show, but for now I will take over and endeavor to do as good a job as I can given that I wasn't at the show and he was still. He left me a lot of great notes, so I will carry on so we're talking about audio in this episode and there were a few products to announce. LG for example, had actually announced its new H7 Flex Connect sound bar back in December December and they partnered with Dolby to implement Dolby Atmos Flex Connect which lets you place compatible speakers anywhere at any time to expand the sound system. And the Dolby algorithm adjusts for where they are physically in the room so that you get a reasonable sound field.
Scott Wilkinson [00:01:58]:
It works with any TV and some some LG TVs have Flex Connect built in and there are other speakers that you can get. You saw there a picture of the H7 with some some other Flex Connect speakers that you could add to improve and expand the the sound system and it's very easy and automatic and seamless to do. Samsung introduced its latest generation of sound bars, the HW Q990H and HW QS90H. The Q990H is is flagship. I mean it's 11 channels. The main sound bar is 7.0.2 with four 0.2 rear speakers, dual 8 inch subwoofers so to speak built in. And the Q, what is it? QS90H is a 7.1.2 soundbar. They also introduced some new speakers, not sound bars, kind of regular bookshelf speakers called the Samsung Music Studio 5 and 7.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:31]:
Official model numbers are LS50 and LS70H. The LS70H is actually 3.1.1 with left, right, center and top drivers. It can handle up to 24.96audio and the tweeter goes up to 35khz which is certainly ultrasonic and appropriate for high resolution audio. Whether or not you believe you can hear high resolution audio is another question we have talked about it on the show before and I will again, but in any event it can do it. The LS50H of course is a little smaller. In other bookshelf speaker news, Klipsch introduced the latest version of their the Fives Mark two, the Sevens two and the Nines two. These are all powered speakers with Dirac Live room correction built in. Now the Dirac room correction is very well regarded.
Scott Wilkinson [00:04:44]:
The one that's built into these speakers is of limited bandwidth. You can add the bass range for an extra fee if you have subwoofers. Now interestingly the these speakers are powered by Onkyo Electronics and we're going to be talking about Onkyo Electronics in a minute, so put that aside but keep it ready. The Nines 2 have an 8 inch woofer, Sevens 2 have a 6.5 inch woofer and both have a horn loaded tweeter which is typical of Klipsch. The sevens two are going to cost $2,000 a pair and the nines to $2400 a pair and they're going to ship in the spring. One company that's at the very high end that I really appreciate I have some of their headphones is Focal and they are partnered I believe they have a corporate relationship with the electronics company name N A I am. So Focal makes speakers, name makes electronics and this duo Focal and Name introduced a new all in one Dolby Atmos sound system called Muso Hekla which is 7.1.2 15 drivers, 660 watts of total power, claimed frequency response down to 30 Hz which is quite low. It also supports the name Sphere audio modes which are I think some sort of spatial audio.
Scott Wilkinson [00:06:29]:
They have intelligent room correction and the newest Name Pulse streaming system with flexible connectivity, HDMI EARC streaming and so on. Available in March April time frame for 3600 bucks. Focal also introduced a new floor standing speaker called the Diva Mezza Utopia which is a three way active wireless speaker. Four 8 inch subwoofers that go down to 27 hertz, one 6 1/2 inch cone mid range and one 1 inch beryllium tweeter that goes up to 40 kilohertz. Now these are powered speakers probably name electronics, I don't know for sure. 500 watt class AB amp per speaker. They do Bluetooth airplay, Google Cast UPnP and they support ultra wideband uncompressed high resolution signal transmission wirelessly at 9624. A wired connection is available as well of course and they also have a an adaptive acoustic personal training room preference calibration built in.
Scott Wilkinson [00:07:55]:
How much is that going to cost you? $69,000 per pair. But I'm sure they're fantastic. I'm sure they sound wonderful. If you can afford them, they're probably well worth it. Okay. In headphone news, Clear C L E E R announced a partnership with THX in their new Clear Arc four and four plus with Ear.
Leo Laporte [00:08:29]:
They're.
Scott Wilkinson [00:08:29]:
What do you call them exactly? They're open earbuds. They're open ear earbuds. They're not. They don't seal your ear. And it's the first world's first THX certified open ear true wireless earbuds that include spatial audio. Now, I haven't heard these. I have heard some of Clear's other open ear earbuds that are like this, and I have to say, I didn't like them. Without sealing your ear canal, you can't get good bass.
Scott Wilkinson [00:09:03]:
So how these are going to work, why they're THX certified, I'm going to find out. Because if they do work, then that's cool. But I'm skeptical. As I was reading through all the CES coverage, I came across something from Fender, the guitar company who introduced a set of headphones called the Mix. They're over ear headphones and they have modular construction which lets you replace pieces as needed, such as the ear cups, the battery, and so on. They also come with a wireless USB C dongle for wireless lossless audio. And you can get wired audio over USB C. USB C as well.
Scott Wilkinson [00:09:53]:
Now, here's a piece of interesting news. I don't think Mike got to see or hear, but it's so interesting that I'm going to have someone on my show here to talk about it. Company is called Sonic Edge and they announced a partnership with a semiconductor manufacturer to make these little transducers for headphones, earbuds, headsets, that sort of thing. This is a technology called M EE M S MEMS technology. And what it is basically is microscopic transducers that vibrate in the ultrasonic range and that ultrasonic vibration. That ultrasonic sound is then modulated into the audible range. So you don't need actual drivers that work in the audible range. These work in a different way.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:01]:
It's very interesting. And like I said, I'm going to have the one of the principals of this company on the show in the next few weeks to talk about this technology because I find it fascinating. And they were at CES announcing this partnership with the manufacturer to take their technology to a larger, wider audience. Shall we Say a couple of news items in the electronics range. Onkyo celebrates its 80th anniversary this year and they introduced a couple of new two channel products in their Muse system. They have a streamer and an integrated power amp. The the Y50i. Well, I guess it's a.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:59]:
I guess it's one product. I thought it was two, but it's one. The Y50. 1500 bucks. 250 watts total power into four ohms. Well, it doesn't indicate if this is per channel or total. I'm guessing total class D amp, Bluetooth, WI fi, analog inputs, one HDMI in and out. Oh, I see they have two models.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:23]:
They have the Y50 and they have the Y40 which is a thousand bucks instead of 1500125 watts into four ohms. So less power but and also less expensive. I think that that one also has only an HDMI EARC input. Essentially it doesn't have a separate HDMI in and out. And Marantz introduced a new Pre Pro Preamp processor and a 6 channel power amp. Made in Japan. The AV30 preamp and processor is 11.4 channel, has 8K capable HDMI Odyssey and optional Dirac Live room correction. And the amp 30, which is the power amp is a six channel power amp.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:17]:
200 watts per channel with options for bi amping, bridging the outputs. These components are going to sell for $4,000 each. So Mike I'm sure would have something to say about that. I wish he were here to. To comment on it, but he's not. We'll see if he has anything to say next time he comes on the show. So that is the end of my coverage of CES 2026. From afar, I'm not terribly sad I didn't go except that I can't see my friends from around the country and around the world.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:58]:
Didn't get a chance to hang out with Mike Heiss. If I do go next year, which is the 60th anniversary of CES, which is pretty strong incentive to go, I definitely want to check out the Sphere. That's the one thing in Vegas that I haven't seen yet that I really want to. I've been to about 30 cess. Mike says he's been to 45 or so. So it. We've seen a lot of changes happen in all those years and the technology just keeps getting better and more interesting. I think.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:33]:
So who knows? Maybe I'll make the trek next year.
Leo Laporte [00:14:36]:
Hey everybody, it's Leo Laporte. It's the last week to take our annual survey. This is so important for us to get to know you better. We thank everybody who's already taken the survey, and if you're one of the few who has not, you have a few days left. Visit our website TWIT TV survey 26 and fill it out before January 31st. And thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:59]:
Now, if you have a question for me, send it on along to HTGWIT TV and I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. And if you have a home theater that you're proud of, send me some pics and maybe I'll feature it on the show. Until next time, geek out.
