One reason we keep a place in our hearts for high-end audio is that there is still room for a single designer's vision, and this is no more apparent than in components with designer initials etched right into the faceplate. Right in line with NAD's stereo components wearing Bjorn Erik Edvardsen's initials, Marantz has issued the KI (Ken Ishiwata) Pearl stereo SACD player (model SA-KI) and matching integrated amplifier (model PM-KI). As with any signature gear, top-notch build is expected, and the Marantz KI Pearls don't disappoint; toroidal transformers, copper plated chassis and hand-picked components make the grade. Of course, you also expect high prices, and the KI Pearl pieces also deliver on that front -- the limited run of 500 pieces (each) of the SACD player and integrated amp will go for £2,499 ($3,769) each, and no US availability or pricing has been released yet. Painful, yes, but you might take some small comfort in knowing this is exactly the kind of gear that will appreciate in value. Audio geeks can go past the break for more glamor shots.

Who would have thought that so many 1080p projectors would hit the market this year at such a low price point? The Sony Pearl made waves at CEDIA when it's low-low price of $4999 was announced. Then Mitsubishi announced their golden child of the HC5000 even less. Home Theater Blog just posted a review of the latter and boy did they like it. Like they said in the intro, it's not the perfect display but from the tone of their review, it sure does sound close: great color and detail, extremely quite fan, zero light-spill - oh and don't forget 1080p. Moreover, all this in a package with a street price under $4500. The guys over there did compare it head to head with the notorious Sony Pearl and well, we won't all steal their thunder, but lets just say if you were saving your pennies for the Pearl, you may want to reconsider.

Sony keeps the BRAVIA train rolling today, announcing pricing and availability for not one but two new 3LCD projectors. The 720p VPL-AW10 and VPL-AW15 projectors both feature the same 165-watt 1,100 lumen lamp, 1.6x zoom lens and 20dB fan noise. The VPL-AW10 uses Advanced Iris technology to provide a 6,000:1 contrast ratio, while the VPL-AW15 improves to 12,000:1 "dynamic" contrast ratio with its Advanced Iris 2 technology, and increased installation options due to its lens shift. Both will accept 1080p/24 sources and downscale to 720p. Sure its not the 1,920x1,080 number that impresses the neighbors like their big brothers Ruby and Pearl, but these two will cost only $1,300 (VPL-AW15) and $1,000 (VPL-AW10) when they ship in June. We're sure home theater builders on a budget will find a way to love these two, even if they don't have that magic 1080p number.

What do you know? Guess who is smack dab at the front entrance? Sony and boy what a nice setup they have. 4-5 viewing rooms with different product lines in each, gobs of Sony 'helpers," Blu-ray everywhere and the Sony Pearl.

Click on for a photo tour of Sony's CEDIA EXPO 2006 booth.

CEDIA's flood gates just opened but we were already in line to see the EXPO's first live demonstration of the heavily published 1080p Pearl. How did it look? Good. Just like we were expecting it to. Bright, crisp and accurate. The best part of the demo though was not the picture inside the dark gallery but rather when the curtains were opened and the room was filled with light. The picture maintained its integrity and look just as good. They did update us on the price of the bulb which will sell for 'around' $300. Is the Pearl looking like one of the best projectors for the money - sure does, but then again the show just started.

Sony has gone and done it again by announcing a rock-bottom low price on the long awaited Sony SXRD Pearl 1080p front projector. A few years ago they released the Qualia 004 for an astounding, but not unheard of, $25,000. Then the Ruby came along for $10k that offered a very similar viewing experience but penetrated into newer markets thanks to the price cut and now the Pearl is going dig Sony even deeper into high-def starved homes at an amazing $4,999 price. We already know that the unit sports a very impressive array of specs including 15,000:1 contrast ratio, 1080p, 200W bulb, and two HDMI ports, along with the standard assortment of legacy connectors, but we didn't think this Sony projector would be this low of a price. Plus, they are stating that the are shipping the VPL-VW50 this month. Lets hope the unit preforms as good as it looks 'cause right now, this is a pearl in our eye. A $4,999 pearl that is.

Click on for live product shots

LCDs and LCoS RPTVs weren't all Sony had to show off today, they also displayed the eagerly-awaited smaller, cheaper and more efficient followup to their Ruby VPL-VW100 front projector, the Pearl VPL-VW50. Featuring the same third-generation .61-inch microdisplay that powers the RPTVs, this 1080p projector comes with a 200-watt lamp producing 900 lumens of brightness, two HDMI inputs as well and one component input for all the 1920x1080 high definition content you can feed it. Speaking of 1080p inputs, via HDMI it is ready for 1080/60p, 1080/50p and 1080/24p so no matter what framerate your Blu-ray or HD DVD player of the future outputs 1080p this can handle it without a problem. You can project an image of up to 300-inches just like the Ruby with a maximum 15,000:1 contrast ratio. Unlike the Ruby the Pearl features none of Sony's Digital Reality Creation (DRC) technology to enhance the quality of non-1080p content, so the quality of the deinterlacing on these lower-quality sources remains to be seen. Ship date is October 20 with a price of 735,000 yen ($6,290.65 US) compared to the 1,365,000 yen ($11,682 US) of the Ruby.

[Via Impress]

We brook the story about the new Sony Pearl a few days ago but info was sketchy at best. We still haven't heard directly from Sony about it yet but apparently they held a press conference about the Pearl across the Pacific within the last 24 hours. Like we said we still don't have a lot of info but we thought that you would be interested to know that it does in fact sport a component input that wasn't mentioned in our last bit of leaked info. It also looks like it has a VGA port, RS 232 & S-Vid/composite input along with rear controls. The Pearl shares the same remote as the Ruby, but sheds the 400-watt Xenon bulb for a smaller, and cheaper, 200-watt lamp. Once we hear more about the unit, we will let you know.

[Thanks, zombieflanders]