I was browsing some stuff from ces which is an international fair for new gadgets and computer stuff and people seem to be overwhelmed by these new revolutionary speakers as the "it" thing. What it does in short is ability to broadcast in multiple audio channels from just one set of speakers. It's programmable and there are about 42 sets of little speakers in that one set of speakers so that audio can be programmed to come from various channels and bouncing off walls gives it impression of being multi channel. Biggest thing about it is obviously the fact that it saves space as we know how burdensome it is to have so many sets of speakers. It's a bit expensive now but I can see it taking off and transforming the way we listen to music.I think it could catch in clubs too.

Yamaha Introduces New Speaker Array

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LAS VEGAS—One of the most interesting audio products seen at CES this year could be found at the Yamaha booth, and took the form of the new YSP-1 speaker array. Designed to be the main speakers for your home theater system, the YSP-1 uses digital signal processing (DSP) and a 42-speaker array to create virtual surround sound for DVD movie viewing and multichannel music mixes. This product is designed to be used in place of a 5.1 speaker system, and frees up floor space usually taken up by side and surround channel speakers. The YSP-1 receives a line-level six-channel feed from your home theater receiver, and then applies DSP effects to create a virtual surround mix. Historically, DSP-based two-channel systems that attempted to create virtual surround mixes often failed to impress, and some were downright awful. There was also the problem of "sweet-spotting," where the listener had to keep their head in the right location to hear the overall effect, otherwise the mix became very muddy and quickly caused listener fatigue. Because the YSP-1 has so many speakers, each of which can be individually controlled by the DSP, this system seems to alleviate this effect. In our brief listen of this system, it seemed to do a very good job creating a surround-sound effect, aided only by a subwoofer to handle the low-frequency effects (LFE) channel. Priced at $1,499, this system begins shipping this month.