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Grant Fidelity's $3,200 Impression II weds CD player, tube amp and overkill


See that? That's a $3,200 CD player, which will be impossible to justify for pretty much anyone not featured on Joan Rivers' newest TV show. Designed and produced by Grant Fidelity, the CD-1000 Impression II packs a high-end Sanyo CD drive, tube analog output, tube headphone amplifier and a rather basic display screen, while the "anti-vibration aluminum chassis" tries as hard as it can to look both unorthodox and absurdly expensive. It's hard to say if your burnt MP3 discs will actually sound better on this thing (okay, so they won't), but at least you can rest easy knowing that shipping on this 50 pound beast is completely gratis.

[Via OhGizmo]

HD goes underground in London's Tube

London Underground
Light control is probably the biggest challenge to a good projection setup. The subterranean nature of London's subway is pretty much ideal in that regard, and now CBS Outdoor has brought its cross-track projection (XTP) system to the Tube. The Piccadilly Circus, Euston, Bank, Liverpool Street and Bond Street stations have been outfitted with a total of 23 14-foot screens that are getting HD video ads beamed onto them, sans audio (thankfully). There are plans to build out to 150 XTP screens and compliment them with 2,000 digital screens Tube-wide, which all fits in with CBS Outdoors' plans to bathe subway riders in advertisement. If ad-targeting tech is brought into the equation, we see some potential for really embarrassing hilarity. Meanwhile, London readers are encouraged to let us all know how the picture XTP quality is holding up!

Sony debuts tubular, non-directional speaker


Finally, Sony is striving to incorporate its technology into our "everything everywhere" lifestyles with a stereo speaker that matches our fast-paced, Jetsons-esque, 21st century "chill sessions." What are we talking about? Mainly, the company's new non-directional speaker prototype, a thin, tall, acrylic tube with a woofer at the bottom, a mid range "unit" at the top, and a tweeter created through the use of the vibrating, resin cylinder. Apparently, the speaker is capable of projecting sound in a omnidirectional fashion due to it's circular shape and unique speaker placement, though there's no telling how accurately it reproduces Mastodon's harmonized guitars. The speaker is self-powered (i.e., active), and as far as we know, Sony has no immediate plans for release, Stateside or otherwise.




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