The influence of Apple's iDevices in today's marketplace gets stronger with every passing day and the iPad is certainly taking the home theater market by storm.  Popular applications like Netflix, hulu Plus and Pandora are dazzling the masses while it's also being found useful as a custom remote control for home automation and other uses around the house.  There haven't been an enormous amount of speaker systems that come with iPad specific docking moldings, but that trend will likely change as the iPad continues to dominant the tablet market.  One such device that arrive early in the product life cycle of the iPad is the Altec Lansing Octiv Stage 450, a compact speaker system with the ability to mount the iPad on a large docking stand.  Design:The device is very simple in design.  The base of the unit measures only ...

As the top of the line in their HKTS series, Harman Kardon's HKTS60 5.1 Home Theater Speaker set is a nice upper-entry-level or lower-mid-range (depending on where you're sitting) surround sound system that features five 2-1/2-way dual driver satellites and a 200w powered subwoofer.Harman Kardon calls the HKTS60 the most advanced speaker package they've ever made, designed specifically for movies and today's high-definition content sources.  The four identical satellites and matching video-shielded center channel speaker each feature a 1-inch dome tweeter made of HARMAN's advanced CMMD Lite material.  CMMD Lite is "a sandwich of aluminum and ceramic, which creates a tweeter that is extremely strong yet lightweight, so it can reproduce high frequencies with incredible detail, accuracy, and clarity."  Each of these tweeters sits in a Harmon Kardon "constant directivity waveguide" which purports to create an "incredibly wide stereo image ...

For those who don't want to deal with running wires for monetary or decorative reasons, but still crave a fuller sound experience than the one provided by your flat screen (answer: yes you do), Sony may have an inexpensive Sound Bar System for you.Sound bars may not be acceptable to home theater enthusiasts, but they're great for back up viewing locations such as bedrooms.  Sony's HT-CT350 is a full package that includes a powered subwoofer module (the subwoofer's amplifier powers the sound bar and features all the video and audio ins and outs) as well as a soundbar speaker equipped with two full-range 1-5/8" x 2-7/8" cone-type drivers and two 1-5/8" cone-type drivers in a bass reflex enclosure.  This translates to a fully discrete 3.1 system that emulates a 5.1 system.The HTC-CT350's subwoofer module features a small 5-1/8" cone type ...

Premium speaker designer MartinLogan has announced a new flagship in its Reserve ESL Series of full-range electrostatic line source loudspeakers.  Living up to its name, the CLX Art is an update of the older CLX linear frame model and is a dynamic visually as it should be powerful sonically.  It features new Art Frame styling (press release-ese for "an additional piece of hardwood framing"), stainless steel binding posts, and premium power cords.  However, if the new looks aren't for you, the CLX will remain available as special order.The CLX Art from MartinLogan uses dual electrostatic transducers (a XStat CSL high frequency, and a DualForce double diaphragm, triple stator dipole low) to vibrate air and reproduce faithful, perfect sound in unmatched detail.  I've personally heard the CLX Art's cheaper siblings and they sound rich and full, but I understand that electrostatic ...

For those with smaller rooms, or who find the challenge of purchasing separate Blu-ray players, A/V Receivers, and speakers daunting, Sony has a system for you.  A feature-laden, WiFi enabled 3D Blu-ray disc player with a built-in amplifier with 5 satellite speakers and a passive subwoofer for 5.1 channels of discrete high definition surround sound.  Ladies and gentlemen, a home theatre in a box (HTIB).The BDV-E570 from Sony offers built-in WiFi capabilities for connection to a home network, which is becoming more and more common with just about every home electronics product.  Wireless is especially handy for those who have their router in another room.Once connected to the Internet, the BDV-E570 is among the Sony products with access to Bravia Internet Entertainment, a collection of entertainment and social networking widgets.  Check out the full list here, but they've got Hulu ...