High end audio manufacturer, Pink Faun, is in the process of finalizing the details on its new high-end loudspeaker called the Euphrosyne. The designers at Pink Faun only had one goal in mind for the Euphrosyne, to design a loudspeaker system to reproduce music a accurately as possible; and as a testament to their hard work many in the Netherlands have already adopted the Euphrosyne prototype as a reference.

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Venturer Electronics’ promised cut-price HD DVD player will finally go on sale on 29 December, but you’ll have to switch on your TV to buy one. The SHD7001 will only be sold through the QVC home shopping channel.

Venturer launched the player back in September, pledging to make the machine available to buy by Christmas. The SHD7001 is capable of playing DVDs and HD DVDs at HD resolutions of 720p or 1080i.

For a "limited period", the player will come bundled with HD DVD copies of Hulk and Troy, Venturer said. It also comes with an HDMI cable, though the player provides component-video and composite-video outputs too. There’s a 10/100Mb/s Ethernet port on the back for link HD DVDs to online content, and both digital optical and analogue audio outputs.

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KEF has announced a plethora of new systems to join its KIT range of ‘Instant Theatre’ systems. From solutions that aim to deliver surround sound from just two front speakers, to KEF’s trademark ‘egg’ 5.1 systems, all look to major on style, simplicity of use and sterling sonic performance. If the previous ‘egg’ incarnations are anything to go by, we suggest KEF might just be able to deliver on those promises…

Kicking-off the new range is the KIT120 (see below). Retailing at £1200, it boasts just two speakers but aims to deliver a fully immersive sound by combining vertical NXT radiator speakers – to generate rear and centre channels – with the infamous Uni-Q driver – capable of much wider dispersion than your average driver.

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If you were thinking of buying the excellent Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 system in time for Christmas then you might have a problem.

News reaches us from Q Acoustics of a supply problem with the 1000Si subwoofer meaning, simply, there aren’t many out there.

So the resourceful chaps at Q would like to make you an offer…

While working to bring the delivery date for the subwoofer forward, and so give the shops some subs to sell, the company is also offering a compromise in the meantime.

If you buy the satellites of the new system now – two pairs of 1010i speakers and a 1000Ci centre channel – Q will provide the old 1000S subwoofer in the missing sub’s place. And for the special price of £399.60 – £100 off the normal price.

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Despite the fact that Panasonic is best known for its excellent plasma TVs, the company also does a nice line in LCD screens too. However, Panasonic does things differently from other TV manufacturers, drawing a definite distinction between its LCD and plasma ranges. Panasonic has always insisted that LCD is good for screen sizes up to 32in, but above that plasma is the better option – until now, that is.

The Viera TX-37LZD70 heralds a departure from Panasonic’s previous stance, in that it’s a 37in LCD TV. There’s a very good reason why Panasonic has upped the maximum screen size for its LCD TVs, and that reason is Full HD. Back in July I reviewed the Panasonic TH-42PZ700B and marvelled at the fact that Panasonic had managed to shrink its plasma chambers enough to squeeze a 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD resolution into a 42in screen. As such, the chances of seeing a 37in Full HD plasma are pretty slim for a while – hence Panasonic’s decision to release a 37in Full HD LCD TV to bridge the gap.

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Canada’s Axiom has released a new high-end alternative to the desktop speaker sets from Logitech and Creative called the Audiobyte ("byte" – get it? very clever), which they claim is the first "luxury hi-fi" multimedia speaker set. The Axiom Audiobyte speaker system consists of a pair of mini-monitors with 3” aluminum cone woofers and 1” titanium dome tweeters, powered by an external amplifier with 55 watts per channel. The enclosures are sealed limiting bass response to 100Hz, making the optional EPZero isobaric subwoofer with its twin 6.5” woofers and response down to 35Hz a very good idea.

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The newest addition to the Tweek Geek online catalog is the ADAM Audio Classic line of speakers. The ADAM home monitors feature a unique, proprietary folded ribbon tweeter based on Dr. Heil’s highly regarded Air Motion Transformer. The woofers utilize cones that are made from a material called HexaCone, which is a honeycomb structure made of Nomex surrounded by layers of Kevlar on both sides.

Prices range from $1,249 to just under $6,000 for the ADAM Audio Classic line and ADAM Audio loudspeakers can now be purchased in the USA at TweekGeek.com (with some territorial restrictions in effect).

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Three-quarters of a million Americans now own a dedicated HD DVD player or Xbox 360 add-on drive, the HD DVD Promotional Group said today.

To date, 750,000 HD DVD devices have been sold in North America, the organisation said, citing "retailer reports and other point of sale data". It pointed to busy post-Thanksgiving purchasing as one of the reasons for the growth in sales of HD DVD kit. Many of the big retail chains have been hugely discounting Toshiba players.

And growth there has been. Seven months ago, in April, the HD DVD Promotional Group announced that hardware sales had passed the 100,000 mark – a year after the first players went on sale. By June, the total had risen to just 150,000. So, two months to increase 50 per cent, then five months to increase by 400 per cent. Pretty good going.

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Marantz is to replace its SR7001 receiver with the feature-packed SR7002 – boasting full HD audio support plus two HDMI outputs, allowing users with both TV and projector to cut down on cable-switching capers.

The THX Select-II certified receiver offers 7.1 channels of sound – at a mighty 110 watts per channel – with support for the Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, and DTS Master Audio decoding formats offered by Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. It has four HDMI 1.3a-compliant inputs and those twin outputs.

More details of this featured-packed new £1000 receiver are on their way, along with a full test….

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