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“Cool” Gets Warmer
You have to be intrigued by the ad:
“Home stereo. Reinvented.” We like the
way home stereo has been moving just
fine, thanks very much, but does Apple
Computer (whose on-line ad this is)
actually have a better idea?
It doesn’t look that way. The iPod
Hi-Fi’s name is what’s been reinvented.
What is it? It’s a powered speaker with an
iPod slot, not the sort of ground-breaking
innovation you might expect Steve
Jobs to launch. Is it better than the little
powered speakers from Bose or Harman
Kardon? Tough acts to follow, we’re sure
you’ll agree!
Actually the device was the star of
Steve’s launch party only because this
was the dullest Apple launch since the
days of the Macintosh Performas (the
other products launched were an iPod
leather case costing a hundred bucks,
and a new version of the Mac mini with
It seems like forever (but it isn’t) that
the high end exhibits of the Consumer
Electronics Show in Vegas have been
held at the Alexis Park, an increasingly
shabby “villa” (or motel, to be more
exact).
Oh, it wasn’t as shabby as the Sahara
bilevel complex which preceded it, whose
electrical system was so horrible CES
had to rent giant generators and run
cables into the window of every exhibit
room. To some exhibitors, the use of
these two awful venues was evidence
CES didn’t care about high end.
So next year high end moves upscale,
to the Venetian, right on the Strip. The
Venetian includes a replica of the Grand
Canal and even the Plaza San Marco
(shown at right), with all the trimmings
except the pigeons.
The Venetian has more large salons
that we can count (compared to maybe
two or three at Alexis), and at its back
end, down the corridor, is the Sands
Convention Centre, which CES is
already using. It also has hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of rooms in its hotel
towers. What they’re like we don’t know,
but our bet is that this will be a considerable
improvement.
But there’s a secondary advantage for
CES.
For many years, disgruntled audio
companies have snubbed CES and
attended an alternative show, which for
an Intel processor but no video card).
The reviews we’ve seen praise the
iPod Hi-Fi for “powerful bass.” We
hope that doesn’t mean boominess, but
considering the unit can be powered
optionally by D cells, we have no illusions
it can reach realistic concert levels.
They downgrade it for weak treble and
the absence of an FM tuner or a wireless
receiver. And for not being cool.
As for us we don’t go around bashing
boomboxes for not being high end high
fidelity, and besides this thing costs
only US$299. But the expression “hi-fi”
has been grossly abused for years, and
the iPod Hi-Fi’s slogan looks like a
snide attack on those who want quality
products.
But without the people willing to
seek out quality, no one would remember
Apple. Promoting mediocrity, Steve, is
what really isn’t cool.
Goodbye Alexis, Hello Venice
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
some years has been known as The Home
Entertainment Show (T.H.E.Show, get
it?). It had set up shop at a hotel called the
St. Tropez. By an amazing coincidence,
the St. Tropez was next door to Alexis,
with a walking time of…oh, maybe 45
seconds. But with CES on The Strip,
the St. Trop might as well be on the
Moon.
There’s speculation, of course. The
Strip is upscale territory, but the Imperial
Palace is about eight minutes from
the Venetian, and is just shabby enough
to be cheap.
We shall see.