Very Exclusive Gadgets & Gizmos

The Q-TV2 is an external speaker upgrade for your big screen telly. It’s a 2.1 setup with a big pair of 15W speakers hanging out on each side and an integrated subwoofer. The speakers just plug into the telly and there are no other speaker wires required. It even gives you 3 different EQ programs and a digital lip-sync adjustment. If you don’t need the telly but you do need some amplification, you can even plug in an MP3 player via the auxiliary input. The mounting brackets fit any 30″ – 42″ screen. Priced around £300.

If you’re into high-end audio gear, then the new exhibitor at the CES – Audience - should raise your interest. With its new ClairAudient LSA 4+4 speaker, the all new Audience speakers are based on the principle of a line-source array, in which identical, full-range drivers are positioned in a vertical column. The mouthful name refers to what audiophiles have always been after. The LSA 4+4 derives its name from two line arrays, one in the front and other one in the rear, each with four drivers for exceptional clarity and resolution of fine musical detail.

The BoomTune Bomb II Stereo is a pair of compact stereo speakers that work with their 3.5mm plug so you can connect them to your MP3 player, phone or stereo. They squish down when it’s time to pack them away and have a built-in retractable cable and a magnetic base so they stick together. They’re powered via an internal battery that’s rechargeable via USB. US$49.95 and they come in red or black.

Harman Kardon has anncouced a set of PC speakers, the Harman Kardon GLA-55 Speakers, price is for $999.99.

With the amazing crystal design, they feature "delivers with astonishing bass and clear accurate sound in any direction".

There are some good speakers, some great speakers and then there’s the “Grand Master” of all the speakers. Hansen Audio has created a 10 driver, 3 way, floor standing speaker for audio resurrection. Engineered to perfection by the Hansen Audio, the “Grand Master” has four woofers and four mid-band drivers to perfectly match the two high precision tweeters. Hansen Audio is an overachiever with respect to driver technology with their use of exotic multi-layer composite sandwich cones.

If you’ve been lamenting the lack of hi-fi speakers designed for PCs then these Bowers & Wilkins MM-1 speakers should do nicely. They’re fully active, with a digital amplifier, 2-way speakers with 3″ woofers and 1″ tweeters and a headphone output. They accept a 3.5mm input or USB 2.0 digital streaming with a frequency response from 57Hz to 22kHz. They’re not available until February 2010.

If you’re ever in the situation where you need your speakers to play to a full room of people, something with a 360° design like this one could make things easier. It’s not the most powerful speaker out there, but if you need to use it for a quick presentation, it would be handy. You could also use it for music when you need something extra to listen to with a group of friends.

Horn speaker and their impressive sound quality and form have been so impressive to all rich senses that manufacturers are steadily making something or the other in style to keep us gripped. Take Blumenhofer Acoustics from Germany, for instance. The company has announced the availability of their three-way horn speakers, Clara Luna. The 16-inch midrange unit of the speaker system comes from TAD of Japan, while the system’s titanium dome tweeter is done by the company themselves.

Hornspeakers aren’t always grand, and if you’ve been regular here you’ll abide by the fact. Yet, when the hornspeaker is done like the La Grande Castine, it is grand and sophisticated too. A very high-end 3-way full horn loudspeaker for home use this, delivers in the 108dB range and features a very large sweetspot (because all the horns are time aligned). Measuring 2m x 92cm x 1.20m in size and weighing heavy at 130kg, the La Grande Castine speakers can reach real high acoustic level with only a 3 watt amplifier.

The Indoor Outdoor Wireless Speaker comes in two main parts. The first is a transmitter that hooks up to your laptop or MP3 Player via headphone jack. This transmitter beams the sound to the stereo speaker (that you see in the photo) for a range of 160 feet.