Packaged Home Theater Goes Upscale…And Norwegian
By Chris Weiss
From the land of flatland skiing and big, fuzzy sweaters comes this high-end home-theater-in-a-box. And unlike most boxed home theater systems, this one looks like it warrants a closer look by all stripes of A/V buyers.
Bucking the audiophile trend of separate components, the Maestro from Electrocompaniet packs a Blu-ray player, AM/FM/HD radio, Internet radio, LAN streamer and a three-channel amplifier into one simple, little box. Owners can cut out a mess of boxes and wires and enjoy a variety of audio and video with one device.
Speaking of cutting out wires, the Maestro’s three-channel amplifier is designed to handle the front three speakers, while a Wi-Fi transmitter syncs up with a separate rear amplifier, eliminating the need for complicated rear-speaker wiring.
While the Maestro nicely solves the issues of space and wiring, it leaves one classic problem unanswered: price. The system carries a hefty price tag of $7500, which doesn’t sound a whole lot cheaper than buying some quality separates. But if you want to save some work, this one looks like a pretty stellar product. [via Dvice]
