Mirage Loudspeakers have introduced a new line of speakers, the OM Design series. The new series consists of 3 matching models, the OMD-28, OMD-C2, and OMD-R. The OM-28 is a bass reflex loudspeaker with down-firing vents and a power rating of 300 Watts. The price for this series is listed at $3,750 each. The OMD-C2 is the matching acoustic suspension center speaker with a power rating of 200 Watts. It is listed at a price of $2,000. The matching rear speakers, series OMD-R with a power rating of 200 Watts are listed at $1,000 each. All speakers come in High Gloss Piano Black, High Gloss Rosewood, and High Gloss Burled Maple.

MartinLogan, has just announced the introduction of their new Vista™ loudspeaker. The result of years of research, the new Vista™ hybrid electrostatic loudspeaker features new technological developments, reducing cabinet size and establishing new standards for efficiency, dynamics and precision in the Martin Logan floor-standing loudspeaker line. Vista’s™ Features Include: • Ultra-Rigid AirFrame™ Technology • Advanced Vacuum Bonding • MicroPerf Stators • ClearSpar™ technology • CLS™ (Curvilinear Line Source) • High-Resolution 8-inch Aluminum Cone Woofer • Precision Performance Crossover Engineering

MartinLogan announced the introduction of their new Vantage™ loudspeaker. The result of years of research, the new Vantage™ powered hybrid electrostatic loudspeaker features technological developments that reduce cabinet size, improve efficiency, dynamics and precision in a floor-standing loudspeaker, according to MartinLogan. The MartinLogan Vantage shrinks Summit’s ultra high-resolution XStat™, AirFrame™ and PoweredForce™ technologies into a more compact package with a lower price. Powerful and accurate bass results from Vantage’s concurrently designed PoweredForce 8-inch aluminum cone woofer, 200-watt high-resolution amplifier, and precision acoustic control cabinet design. This provides usable bass extension down to 34Hz, wide bass dynamics and precision beyond the reach of most passive box systems—all from an enclosure not much larger than a case of wine. Additionally, a 35Hz equalization knob allows low-end calibration to optimize speaker/room integration.

If you’re scratching your head at that headline you’re not the only one. JVC’s new wood cone speaker systems caught our attention with its unique manufacturing process where sheets of birch are soaked in rice wine before being formed into speaker elements. The company says it pursued wood as a speaker cone material because of its high propagation speed and natural vibration attenuation. However, forming the wood into a speaker cone proved harder than expected with the wood cones cracking and splitting when stamped. An engineer for JVC found the solution dining in Japan – after asking what the restaurant did to make its dried squid so chewy he was told they soaked it in sake. After soaking wood in sake engineers were able to press it into speaker cones without further problems. The result can be seen in two new speaker systems – the floor-standing SX-WD10 ($1,700) and the SX-WD8 bookshelf system ($1,300). ...

Bowers & Wilkins brings its latest in home-theater solutions with the introduction of three new slim models: the XT4 left/right towers ($2,500/pair), XTC center-channel ($800) and XT2 bookshelf/surround-speakers ($1,000/pair).