The Fanatic himself attended the 2006 consumer electronics show (CES) in Las Vegas. Stay tuned for the sordid details on what went down at the industry's pre-eminent trade show.

"I was very fortunate to be able to pay a visit to the CES for 2006, many of my colleagues have been there and it is something of a Mecca for our industry. I took a few snaps of product of interest that I can show you here."

the 2006 CES!



The Sharp Aquos feaature at the main was really impressive. Their 1920 x 1080 LCD panels were a dominant feature of the exhibition. This is a double pyramid of 65s 45s and 37s that just showed up an amazing image in the adverse environment of the aircraft like main hall.They also demonstrated their PLC system which is a high density data transmission system via power line that enables fabulous networking of these new sets and integration with a home server.Should be available in devices from 2007 onwards. The 65 inch Aquos is available immimently in Australia, definetly the best image at the show, Australian RRP $25995..

Magnus pays homage



This is a picture of Magnus undergoing a voyage of high end analogue discovery, the speakers are Indian made horns using Lowther drivers that imaged superbly. The gentleman on the left is the Turntable manufacturer from Nashville whose device at US$7000 actually is not expensive...a massive piece of carefully milled brass and precision bearings under the name of Sound Engineering.

ambience at the 2006 CES!



This is the Ambience 1600 Reference Speakers running off Bell Canto electronics using Analysis cables. This was voted to be an outstanding sound at the show and is a demonstration of how well these speakers can sound even if they are only a foot off the back wall in a difficult room.Ambience have long been a personal favourite of mine and Tony Moore the designer has been kindling some serious business with them in Europe and America.

moon at the 2006 CES!



This is the Moon Andromeda CD Player, an ultra no compromise device with separate power supply, which retails in Australia for $17999.

sharp at the 2006 CES!



This is the XV12000 MKII....I dont know whether well see this in Australia as soon I expect to see the...

sharp at the 2006 CES!



XV20000...this is the long awaited 1920 x 1080 DLP projectorthat is due for release "later this year".One suspects that this unit may just be a 12000 with a bit of paint and a badge...

dynaudio at the 2006 CES!



Dynaudio Confidence in a gloss finish, some of the nicest moving coil speakers we sell.

burmester at the 2006 CES!



The Burmeister room is decidedly Teutonic in style but actually these US$80,000 speakers sounded like a set of Mission Pilastros with Ribbon airiness and terrific staging and depth. Beautifully built from Berlin and really nice people...

burmester at the 2006 CES!



A Burmeister reference preamp behind glass, lots of gold plate and no compromise build quality, lovely bit of kit...

pmc at the 2006 CES!



Magnus and I thought that this was one of the most thrilling sounds at the show, a pair of PMC MB2-P in cherry ($23,800Aus and $11,720 for the matching centre)being run by a pair of esoteric Japanese power amplifiers. Just a great immediate detailed full body experience to listen to.Whilst the PMC sound is not without character it is involving in extreme. We dont have a pair of these on display but we do have a set of IB1s at the moment ($11,200)....

hitachi at the 2006 CES!



Hard drives get smaller and smaller...

sharp aquos at the 2006 CES!



Aquos by Sharp had an outstanding presence at the show that reflects their premium position in the world marketplace. This is not perhaps demonstrated by its Australian branding. really Aquos LCD TVs should be sold at Bang and Olufsen prices or more but here in Australia its cheaper than anywhere else, good news for enthusiasts...

strange looking horn



This is an interesting but wholesome sounding demonstration of a digital crossover whereby a 12 inch bass driver is combined with a tweeter in a digitally metered but experimental device...

bello at the 2006 CES!



Good to see my favourite cabinet company reverting to a full wooden jacket set of designs...

big marantz projector at the 2006 CES!

Marantz had a VP11 1920 x 1080 DLP projector on display but not on demo, when questioned closely their tech rep admitted that they hadnt been able to get as good an image out of it as their VP12S4 was capable of producing. They gave an excellent demo using a long throw VP12S4 and an SR9600 that really showed the superiority of that projector.If you ever want to see really good projector go around town and try all the Screen Plays and BenQs and Sonys, get a real expeience of whats out there then come in to Carlton Audio Visual and try a VP12 Marantz, its the best.