LAS VEGAS – Perhaps it’s too early to pick a best-of-show product among the thousands that came to play at CES, but as of Friday afternoon, my early candidate is Yamaha’s Digital Sound Projector, the $1,500 YSP-1.
This is what you’d call, in computerese, a no-brainer solution. Essentially it’s a strip of 42 tiny speaker drivers, hidden behind a handsome grill in a piece that is matched to sit just under a 42-inch flat panel monitor.
Each of the speakers has its own digital amplifier, and technology to control the orientation of the sound. So that multi-channel surround soundtracks play back with unerring precision and drama: sound is beamed or reflecting off the wall surfaces to create the surround illusion. And there’s only a couple of messy cables to bother with. Stylish and sonically sophisticated, it’s a keeper.
iPod makes an appearance
Apple Computer has its own showcase - a little soiree call Macworld that opens Monday in San Francisco. But that hasn’t kept the iPod out of the spotlight at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Here in Las Vegas, the idea is that the iPod belongs in the dash as well as in the pocket. Pioneer and Clarion want car owners to be able to directly hotwire their music players to built-in car stereos and to use the stereos’ controls to access and play the iPod-stored music. Pioneer’s adaptor will cost $140 when it’s released in March. Clarion’s more complex system is due next month, no pricing yet.
BMW now has some models whose steering wheels incorporate iPod controls, and the automaker also offers a $149 iPod-stereo adapter that lets users control the device through the steering wheel. Driving into DVD market
About 300 miles separates the Los Angeles Auto Show from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. So imagine my suprise when I came across the Hyundai and Daewoo exhibits among brands like Sharp and Pioneer and Samsung.
Both Korean manufacturers were showing off flat-panel TVs, DVD players and an assortment of other plug-in delights, none with specs that mentioned horsepower.
Ring tones for the car?
Ride Tunes might not be the the Next Big Thing, but it’s a start. And it’s clever: a little box that installs in newer cars with remote, keyless entry systems. When you lock or open the car or pop the trunk using the remote, a song plays. Or somebody shouts.
The options are nearly endless. The Ride Tunes box accepted sounds via download from your computer, There’s a Ride Tunes library available: one choice is, “Will you marry me?”
The system is scheduled to go on sale in March for about $150.
