| Editorial November 2002
Home-Theater Trends for 2003
In April of 2001 I wrote an editorial based
on what was then a growing trend in the home-theater industry: the super receiver. Namely,
I was referring to the Denon AVR-5800, which I reviewed in these
pages and found to be at the time the best receiver I had ever heard. But the price was
not inconsequential. At $3800, the big Denon was quite an investment.
The point was that the year of the super receiver was upon
us, and not just for Denon. Onkyo, Yamaha, and Marantz (remember those names) all helped
populate the field of battle. These behemoths are still with us -- the Denon is now the
AVR-5803 -- but the trend towards ever bigger and more expensive receivers seems to have
slowed a bit. After attending the CEDIA Expo 2002 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I’ve
noticed a couple more trends that I think will dominate the next year. And if
you’re reading this, I bet you want to hear about them.
Trend one: It’s all about market share, and that
sometimes leads to companies offering products outside their area of expertise -- or so it
would seem. The in-wall and in-ceiling speaker market is way hot right now.
If you make speakers for home-theater applications and you don’t make in-wall and/or
in-ceiling speakers you’re behind the curve.
Custom installers want to offer their clients options. You
simply must have multiple choices for customers who want one-brand speaker systems but
want some or all of the speakers hidden from view. This point was driven home to me when I
saw high-end speaker manufacturer Revel introducing two in-wall speakers. Here is a
company that produces $14,000 floorstanding speakers for discerning audiophiles and
they’re coming to market with in-wall speakers! At first I had what you would
consider a knee-jerk reaction: "Those sellouts! My gosh, what a cheap way to go for a
high-end company!" Then, as I began to ponder the demise of the industry I know and
love, I had a revelation: "Well, if somebody is gonna make those things, at least a
company that knows speakers will likely make good uns." I recovered nicely and
can now accept it without convulsions.
So look for everybody and their brother’s company to
make in-wall and in-ceiling speakers in 2003.
Trend two: The age of the universal audio player has
arrived. If I were a child, I’d be chanting I told you so, I told you so.
I’ve been predicting it for over two years and it has finally come to pass; the
universal audio player is on the scene, and in a big way. Kudos must go to Pioneer
Electronics for producing the first of these chameleons, but thank goodness they’ve
now been joined by Marantz, Onkyo, Yamaha (there they are again), and Teac/Esoteric (the
one SoundStage! Network editor-in-chief Marc Mickelson and I both really want in
our homes).
Whether your thing is SACD, DVD-Audio, movies, CDs --
whatever you want to enjoy at the time -- these new players will oblige. Face it: Software
incompatibility is annoying as hell, and the hardware manufacturers are doing something
about it. Great going guys, we really appreciate it.
I think the overriding theme for me at this year’s
CEDIA Expo was that the consumer really drives the market. The folks who enjoy this hobby
can now have disappearing high-performance in-wall speakers playing back their
high-resolution music and movies with a one-box player. That’s what the consumer
wants, and we have an industry that’s giving it to us. I’m encouraged.
...Jeff Fritz
editor@hometheatersound.com |
