Sherwood Newcastle has announced that their brand spanking new flagship AV receiver, the Sherwood Newcastle R-972, will be out in March.

 

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 is a seven channel 100 watt AV receiver. The R-972 is an HDMI 1.3b compliant device, and will upconvert all incoming video to 1080p over it's HDMI output. The heavy lifting is done by a Silicon Optix Reon processor, and judging from past devices that have used this chip we know that the Reon upconverts better than just about any consumer solution going.  Onboard decoding of all advanced audio codecs is handled by a pair of Texas Instruments 32 bit DSPs. I believe the Sherwood Newcastle R-972 marks the first consumer device that implements the Trinnov Optimizer Digital Room Correction we saw at this year's CES. The Trinnov system is a room correction processor "that uses state-of-the-art acoustic analysis and digital filtering techniques to compensate for the acoustic defects of the room where the loudspeakers are located. It is designed for stereo and multichannel professional control rooms, as well as for high-end hi-fi and home theater installations.". -quote from the Trinnov website. Other features the R-972 boasts are dual mode (IR + RF) remote control, four HDMI inputs, 7 analog video inputs, RS-232, three zone functionality, and a USB port which will allow users to download before and after room optimization graphs for some visual evidence of what the Trinnov system did for their system's performance. No word yet on the DACs used in the R-972.

 

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 is scheduled for a March release, and will list for $1799.95. The R-972 has an impressive feature set and will definitely be slated for audition. Sherwood, if you're reading this, sign me up for a pre/pro with these features.

TC Group. the Danish holding group that manages Tannoy Limited, has announced that they are merging with famous instrument maker Gibson Guitar.

 

Under the terms of the agreement TC Group CEO Anders Fauerskov will be named COO of the new Gibson Guitar Corporation and will remain based in Europe. Gibson Guitar's CEO Henry Juszkiewicz offered "This merger will revolutionize the music industry for many years to come. The synergy between the two companies will allow us an enormous advantage in the development of new audio technologies and brings together two of the world's most powerful brands."

 

Tannoy was founded in 1926 by Londoner Guy Fountain, and produces loudspeakers both in their facility in Scotland and in Southeast Asia. Famous for their dual concentric loudspeakers, Tannoy has been one of the cornerstones of audiophile loudspeakers for decades. Nashville-based Gibson Guitar has been around since 1894 and has given the world many classic guitar designs that are instantly recognizable whether you're a musician or not. They also produce just about every stringed instrument you can imagine.

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TiVo has a new offer on their TiVo HD high definition DVR from now until February 17.

 

New subscribers to TiVo HD service receive three months of service free of charge and free shipping. TiVo HD monthly service fee of $12.95 for the remaining nine months of service plus $299 for the box. TiVo is not compatible with satellite service, so only cable subscribers need apply.

 

The TiVo HD will replace your cable tuner with the addition of a CableCARD from your cable provider. The TiVo HD will store 20 hours of high definition programming or 180 hours of standard definition programming, and will handle up to 1080i material.

In what is either the beginning of the fire sale or the start of Toshiba's counteroffensive, Toshiba has slashed prices on their HD DVD player hardware.

 

Effective immediately the entry level Toshiba HD-A3 is $149.99, the Toshiba HD-A30 $199.99, and the flagship HD-A35 $299.99. The news was released this morning in a fairly lengthy press release from Toshiba that tried to put a happy face on what has certainly been a very bad two weeks for Toshiba and HD DVD by citing strong holiday season sales and good adoption rates of HD DVD hardware in 2007.

 

One has to wonder how much longer we'll be reporting HD DVD news after the Warner defection and with rumors regarding Universal and Paramount swirling around the net, but Toshiba is going to keep marching on. For now.

 Phil Jones'  loudspeaker company AAD makes the front page twice in one day with another new loudspeaker line, the AAD Vi Series.

 

The AAD Vi Series consists of the Vi630 and Vi860 floorstanding models, the Vi410 bookshelf and the Vi420 center channel. The 3 way, 42 1/2" tall AAD Vi630 features two 6.5" composite cone woofers, a 6.5" kevlar and carbon fiber transmission-loaded midrange and a 1" textile dome tweeter. Monumental at 49" tall, the 3 way AAD Vi860 ups the ante to two 8" composite cone woofers coupled with the same midrange and tweeter, and plumbs down to 24Hz. Both the Vi410 and Vi420 utilize the same 1" tweeter coupled with a 4" composite cone midranges. The Vi Series are efficient (88-91dB) and range the same amplifier-friendly 6-8 ohm load.   

 

The AAD Vi410 is a wallet-friendly $550/pair, and while pricing details aren't available on the rest of the line at press time, you can be sure they won't scare off price-conscious audiophiles. The AAD Vi860 is likely going to be one of the least expensive full range loudspeakers you'll find.