CES this year should provide we audio-lovers with some decent new gear this year, if no major innovations. I suppose some would consider DVD-A a major innovation in a car, but I'm in the camp that smirks and snarls at this "new" format. Anyway, here's a little of what I've heard in the woodwork so far.......
Alpine:
Alpine is responsible for one respectable innovation with their 9820XM, which is an indash receiver with an integrated XM receiver, that is supposed to sell for $349-379, which is a bargain compared to the current head units' prices combined with a $250 XM receiver.
It's rumored that Alpine has a touch screen nav system in the works, I suppose we'll see if that comes to fruition as well.
Alpine is also changing some of their entry level radios to a silver/grey color, and supposedly is starting to lean towards blue lighting on more units as well.
They are releasing new F#1 Status units, the DVI-9990, seen here for anyone who wants a $2500 DVD-A deck in their Av.......
Rockford Fosgate:
They are redesigning most of their product line, from what I've heard, everything but the coaxes and wiring lines. The subs and amps are supposedly more beefy looking and better performers and have lost some of their chrome "cheesiness" with the new cosmetics. Hopefully RF will start working on those model numbers and output ratings as well. (For example a 300W RF amp, and Kicker too for that matter, has been rated at only 75x2, rather than the 150Wx2 that a buyer may expect at 4 ohms)
It's too bad we'll never see RF's Denon built head units in the US.
RF has recently beefed up their manpower with Ron Trout as a trainer and Ken Koga as a designer. I met Ken about 10yrs ago and have to say that this man knows what he's doing in car audio, he worked for Cerwin Vega for years and was responsible for the launch of the Stroker subs, which were the big-man-on-the-block in the sub world for years. Hopefully RF will get things straight and prevent themselves from sliding on name recognition alone, as they've done lately.
MB Quart:
Quart is supposedly totally revamped this year as well. A line of amps are supposedly going to be debuted, and hopefully they won't be rebadged RF amp boards.
JL Audio:
Big news for us Av owners is coming with the JL Stealthbox midgate enclosure that holds a pair of 12W3's. JL has also been busy with:
2 new sub lines
A new Premium component line
2 new E series amps
Don't forget that JL is preparing to enter the home theater speaker market as well, hopefully we'll see those at CES as well.
Kicker:
Will Stillwater even show up??
They successfully lost the wind in their sails several months ago when Mark Eldridge, Gary Biggs and Alma Gates all went over to the JBL camp. Mark and Gary were some of the most winning Expert competitors in history, and Alma Gates was the owner of "the beast", the red Ford Bronco that PPI, then Kicker stuck at events constantly, and was the queen of SPL for quite a while. She finally had so many issues with the trucks lack of performance that it was "retired" to being a booth exhibit that blew people's hair back rather than even being competitive in the SPL world, much less winning.
I'm curious to see if Kicker finally decided to start concentrating on product design rather than paintable heatsinks with tribal designs on them.
Sony and Pioneer have the usual load of new decks, speakers and so on to throw in the mix. Hopefully Sony fired the guy that made the pentagonal Xplod subs and realized that they haven't made a true high performance piece since the death of the Mobile ES line.
I've heard nothing from or about Kenwood or Panasonic so far.
Anyone going to CES, by the way?
Alpine:
Alpine is responsible for one respectable innovation with their 9820XM, which is an indash receiver with an integrated XM receiver, that is supposed to sell for $349-379, which is a bargain compared to the current head units' prices combined with a $250 XM receiver.
It's rumored that Alpine has a touch screen nav system in the works, I suppose we'll see if that comes to fruition as well.
Alpine is also changing some of their entry level radios to a silver/grey color, and supposedly is starting to lean towards blue lighting on more units as well.
They are releasing new F#1 Status units, the DVI-9990, seen here for anyone who wants a $2500 DVD-A deck in their Av.......
Rockford Fosgate:
They are redesigning most of their product line, from what I've heard, everything but the coaxes and wiring lines. The subs and amps are supposedly more beefy looking and better performers and have lost some of their chrome "cheesiness" with the new cosmetics. Hopefully RF will start working on those model numbers and output ratings as well. (For example a 300W RF amp, and Kicker too for that matter, has been rated at only 75x2, rather than the 150Wx2 that a buyer may expect at 4 ohms)
It's too bad we'll never see RF's Denon built head units in the US.
RF has recently beefed up their manpower with Ron Trout as a trainer and Ken Koga as a designer. I met Ken about 10yrs ago and have to say that this man knows what he's doing in car audio, he worked for Cerwin Vega for years and was responsible for the launch of the Stroker subs, which were the big-man-on-the-block in the sub world for years. Hopefully RF will get things straight and prevent themselves from sliding on name recognition alone, as they've done lately.
MB Quart:
Quart is supposedly totally revamped this year as well. A line of amps are supposedly going to be debuted, and hopefully they won't be rebadged RF amp boards.
JL Audio:
Big news for us Av owners is coming with the JL Stealthbox midgate enclosure that holds a pair of 12W3's. JL has also been busy with:
2 new sub lines
A new Premium component line
2 new E series amps
Don't forget that JL is preparing to enter the home theater speaker market as well, hopefully we'll see those at CES as well.
Kicker:
Will Stillwater even show up??
They successfully lost the wind in their sails several months ago when Mark Eldridge, Gary Biggs and Alma Gates all went over to the JBL camp. Mark and Gary were some of the most winning Expert competitors in history, and Alma Gates was the owner of "the beast", the red Ford Bronco that PPI, then Kicker stuck at events constantly, and was the queen of SPL for quite a while. She finally had so many issues with the trucks lack of performance that it was "retired" to being a booth exhibit that blew people's hair back rather than even being competitive in the SPL world, much less winning.
I'm curious to see if Kicker finally decided to start concentrating on product design rather than paintable heatsinks with tribal designs on them.
Sony and Pioneer have the usual load of new decks, speakers and so on to throw in the mix. Hopefully Sony fired the guy that made the pentagonal Xplod subs and realized that they haven't made a true high performance piece since the death of the Mobile ES line.
I've heard nothing from or about Kenwood or Panasonic so far.
Anyone going to CES, by the way?
. It is a toss up between SEMA and CES.....I believe I will make one. My brother in law is big-time into the SEMA shows. I hope to get to be there with him. 
Les 
