Digital Trends
LG Electronics has put on its annual Summer Show, parading new products that it hopes will light up consumers’ wallets come the end-of-year holiday buying season. In the mix this year are two new HDTV series, the SL80 and SL90 series, both featuring edge-to-edge glass panels and slim bezels—with invisible speaker systems and Energy Star 3.0 compliance. Plus, the SL80s sport 240Hz refresh, while the SL90s offer LED backlighting for improved dynamic contrast ratios.
LG Electronics has rolled out five new home theater systems, each tuned by audio expert Mark Levinson. The systems range from slim, elegant designs intended to complement an existing room’s decor to simple, functional, no-fuss designs that make no pretensions about being furniture or art objects.
"LG’s latest home theater and audio systems were designed to meet consumers’ desire for advanced technology that doesn’t compromise the stylish design of their homes," said LG USA’s sales and marketing VP Allan Jason, in a statement. "Our new systems offer consumers the best of both worlds and truly complement the entire entertainment experience."
Audio equiment maker Harman International—makers of Harman-Kardon, AKG, JBL, Lexicon, Revel, Mark Levinson, and other well-known brands of consumer, auto, and pro audio gear—announced today (PDF) the company will be acquired by private equity fims Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and Goldman Sachs Group’s private equity firm for about $8 billion.
Under the deal, Harman stockholder would receive about 4120 in case for each share they own, which is a 17 percent premium over Harman’s closing stock price on April 25. As an alternative, stockholders could opt to exchange some or all of their stock for shares in the new company to be formed by KKR and GS Capital Partners.
High end home entertainment gear manufacturer Mark Levinson was showcasing its latest and greatest disc player earlier this week. The new No51 Media Player looks to be available now for a whopping $18,000.
The No51 Media Player, said Mark Levinson, reportedly provides DVD playback at “cinema-grade movie reproduction†and a CD listening experience which is far better than stand-alone CD players. Five specific areas make up the strengths of the No51 Media Player, three of which are: a video processor which uses custom calibrated scaling and de-interlacing, 14-bit/216 MHz video DAC’s and HDMI output; an audio processor which is built around a low voltage differential signaling transmission line and offers the ability to output 44.1, 88, 88.2 or 96 kHz signals in S/PDIF, AES or TOS formats; and the power supply, which is a dedicated system built around a custom designed low-noise toroidal transformer and joined by a secondary analog power section allowing for the first stage regulation and filtering.
From the press release:
Based on the No320S Preamplifier and a direct descendant of the critically acclaimed No32 Reference Preamplifier, the No326S features audio circuits, controls, architecture, and an optional phono module all adapted from the legendary No32. In fact, some audio circuits, such as the proprietary discrete volume attenuators, are identical to those found in the No32.
To offer audiophiles the highest signal purity, the Mark Levinson engineers have chosen to use an exotic circuit board material, Arlon 25, in the design and construction of the No326S’ main circuit board. By utilizing this material in the No326S, the team was able to conduct extensive listening evaluations and employ subtle component changes — the result is that the No326S yields an open, detailed sound with the engaging textural signature that only Arlon 25 can provide.
“According to reports on the Internet and releases from a number of high-performance audio companies, the recently released DualDisc software titles are causing problems. The brands that reportedly have troubles with DualDisc are a who’s who of high-end DVD players, including Sony (Europe), Marantz, Mark Levinson, Proceed and Lexicon.
DualDisc is the latest version of the high-resolution audio disc that joins a CD and a DVD into a single disc product. DualDisc is supposed to bridge the very outdated compact disc with any new HDTV capable disc’s launch, such as BluRay or HD-DVD. Great effort and testing went into DualDisc before its launch, with most of the problems being found in the packaging. The fear with DualDisc was that, with its added physical thickness, it would get stuck in car in-dash CD players. “
The deal is reportedly delayed over a decision as to where the R&D and executives would be located (Canada, U.K. or the U.S.). The deal would give B&W a more lofty brand of electronics to market above Rotel which will better suit the higher end speakers in B&W’s current line up. B&W now distributes Classe into most worldwide markets.
Today, Proceed is respected as one of the elite brands in all of high-end AV, but after a disastrous run at making a high-performance DVD-Video transport called the PMDT, Madrigal has decided to endthe Proceed brand name by merging it, in part, with the Mark Levinson brand.
Select Proceed components will now be re-badged under the Mark Levinson brand, including the AVP2+6 preamp, the CVP2 video switcher and the HPA2 and HPA 3 power amplifiers. Gone will be the PMDT DVDmachine, ironically, soon after Madrigal finally smoothed out the software bugs that plagued the unit. Other Proceed components that will not make the cut are the BPA2, BPA3 and the AMP5amplifiers.
Everyone wants to be an insider, and you can be one too! Choose your poison: sign-up for our Newsletter, join us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. Do all three and you'll be swimming in the the latest news, reviews, videos and more gadget goodness!
Become a DT soldier! Join us on Facebook and share the best news, guides, videos and other cool information directly with all your friends. Some might even thank you for it!
Join the thousands and follow the best of us on Facebook.
Do you like information in small snippets? Then our Twitter feed is just for you. Follow Digital Trends and you'll be able to catch up daily on our latest content, or even interact directly with our team. Tweet Tweet!
Join the thousands and follow the best of us on Twitter.
That’s Right, Sign-up For Our Monthly Random Prize Drawings and You Could Be That Winner.
