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Philips breathes new life into home stereos with SoundSphere
Philips has been on somewhat of a roll with new releases overseas, and the outfit's new SoundSphere might just be the most intriguing yet. Generally speaking, home stereos don't do much for us, but the minty fresh MCi900 and MCD900 definitely add a fresh touch on an age-old concept. Both systems are equipped with a pair of speakers, 100 watts of amplification and "free floating" tweeters that are outside of the enclosure. The shells themselves are molded from a single piece of aluminum, and there's also an integrated CD player and USB socket on the both of 'em. The former gets a Streamium logo and a 160GB hard drive, support for internet radio and wireless streaming with networked PCs or Macs. There's no mention of a price just yet, and potentially more disheartening, no indication that we unimportant Americans will ever see it on our soil. %Gallery-86405%
Philips Streamium WACS7500 and WAS7500: like, damn, that's hot
Philips' Streamium line of wireless media streamers / extenders just keeps getting better-looking as time goes on, and the new 7500 series continues that tradition in style. Apart from the nifty new upright design, these are pretty much the same Streamium kit you know and love: the WACS7500 hub (left) has an 80GB disk for direct ripping, both Ethernet and built-in WiFi for connecting to your PC for content retrieval, and internet radio support. Up to five WAS7500 extenders can connect to the hub or directly to your PC, and an optional iPod dock lets you jack in locally when you're not feeling the streaming action. Both hub and extender will be available in April -- the WACS7500 for $999, and the WAS7500 extender for $299.
Philips intros WAC3500D Streamium home stereo
The goods from Philips just keep on comin', but it's not like we're kvetching or anything. On deck is the WAC3500D, the firm's latest Streamium home stereo, which weds an 80GB internal hard drive, iPod connectivity, and a USB port to create a fairly well appointed audio center. Additionally, the device touts the ability to "receive, play, and store MP3 or WMA tracks saved on a PC," rip CDs to the HDD in a variety of bitrates, and view ID3 tags on the backlit LCD. All music kept on the system can be wirelessly streamed "to up to five WiFi stations located anywhere in the house," and the built-in Class D digital amplifier drives the dual two-ways speakers. Currently, the WAC3500D is available in Europe for around £260 ($522).
Philips Streamium WACS3500 and WAS5000: kind of dreamy, um
Philips are showing off their latest home audio Streamium solution at CES today. Meet the WAS5000 and WACS3500 multi-room solution for streaming music wirelessly throughout the house. The WACS3500 (top) is a three-piece configuration with 80GB hard disk and the ability to up to four additional stations to enable advanced features such as Music Follows Me, the ability for music to turn on and off as you travel from room to room; Music Broadcast to annoy the family everywhere in the house; or My Room, My Music for personalized playlists on different stations in different rooms. The WAS5000 is aimed at extending your existing audio system by connecting UPnP back to your PC and enables the same advanced features as the WACS3500. The WACS3500 should be set to roll in the first half of 2007 for $399 while the WAS5000 will pop for $499.
SLA 5520 Streamium adapter on the cheap
If you've been looking for a no-frills wireless Streamium adapter that won't wake you up in the morning, Philips is dropping their new SLA 5520 that might just do the trick. There's only a small two-toned screen, and no video support or extra functionality other than PlaysForSure. Still, for $99 this unit should mean some low-cost Streamium proliferation for people with an existing investment in Streamium, or who have been waiting on the wireless music streaming sidelines.
