Polk Audio Intros New LSiW Subwoofer

By Ian Bell January 20, 2004

It features patented Polk Audio technologies and features for home theater and music performance.

The LSiW features dual 10″ drivers with high roll surrounds and 2 inch voice coils mounted on opposing 1″ thick MDF baffles. The top, bottom, front and back panels of the enclosure are finished inblack high gloss laminate and the side panels are finished in either Cherry or Ebony-finish wood veneer. The cabinet finishes, overall industrial design and high-end performance of the LSiW match therest of Polk’s LSi Series loudspeakers.

The system is vented via an all-new application of Polk’s patented Power Port that combines a slot-loaded port with a Power Port air diffusion device. The Power Port system allows air exiting theport to slow gradually, thereby, according to Polk, reducing air turbulence at the port mouth for superior bass reproduction with lower noise and distortion than that of conventional ports.

A built-in 400-Watt digital amplifier drives the system. The amplifier’s convenience and performance features include Front Panel Volume & Variable Low Pass Controls, High Pass Filters,unfiltered LFE Input, Phase Switch, Manual or Auto On/Off, Speaker Level Inputs and Line Level Inputs.

The LSiW replaces the PSW650 that debuted in early 1999. The LSiW will be available in April 2004 for $1199.95.

Publisher

I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?

Audio / Video

The Beats Pill is back, baby!

A pair of Beats Pill speakers.

In what's been one of the worst-kept secrets of the year -- mostly because subtly putting a product into the hands of some of the biggest stars on the planet is no way to keep a secret -- the Beats Pill has returned. Just a couple of years after Apple and Beats unceremoniously killed off the stylish Bluetooth speaker, a new one has arrived.

Available for preorder today in either black, red, or gold, the $150 speaker (and speakerphone, for that matter) rounds out a 2024 release cycle for beats that includes the Solo Buds and Solo 4 headphones, and comes nearly a year after the Beats Studio Pro.

Audio / Video

Ifi’s latest DAC is the first to add lossless Bluetooth audio

Ifi Audio Zen Blue 3 DAC (front).

Ifi Audio's new Zen Blue 3 wireless digital-to-analog converter (DAC) will officially be available to buy for $299 on July 9. When it is, it will be the first device of its kind to support a wide variety of Bluetooth codecs, including Qualcomm's aptX Lossless, the only codec that claims to deliver bit-perfect CD quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Admittedly, there are very few devices on the market that can receive aptX Lossless (and fewer that can transmit it), so it's a good thing that the Zen Blue 3 also works with the more widely supported aptX Adaptive, LDAC, and LDHC/HWA codecs (all of which are hi-res audio-capable), plus the three most common codecs: AAC, SBC, and aptX.

Audio / Video

The new Beats Pill might replace Sonos on my back porch

The 2024 Beats Pill and an aging Sonos Play:1.

If I were to build an outdoor stereo in 2024, I'd do it with a pair of portable Beats Pills instead of Sonos speakers. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

In 2017, after more than a decade in our home, my wife and I added a pool. With it came a covered deck, making what basically was a new outdoor room. Not uncommon at all in Florida, but new to us.