by Gary Kayye, rAVe Founder

Everyone in ProAV generally makes fun of BOSE Corporation. For years, it’s sold products to consumers without any technical specs, performance details and without any information about how a product it makes is differentiated from another product of a different brand (e.g., Sony, Mitsubishi or Panasonic).

But, there’s one thing we universally love with the BOSE brand name on it: its noise cancellation headphones. No one else makes better ones — not JBL, not Sony and certainly not Sennheiser.

And, for years, we’ve joked that BOSE is “better sound through marketing.”

But, now BOSE has joined forces with companies like JBL, Bosch, Shure, Yamaha and Peavey, albeit indirectly, with its new partnership with Audinate to license the company’s patented Dante media networking technology.

Nortek subsidiary Core Brands launches Korus, a wireless multi-room audio product portfolio designed for custom-install applications using SKAA technology from Eleven Engineering.

Currently Korus offer 2 amplified tabletop speakers-- the V400 and V600, both promising plug-and-play installation over distances of up to 20m.

The technology in use is the 2.4GHz SKAA wireless protocol. According to Korus it transmits audio at up to 480Kbps (compared to 201Kbps for Bluetooth)with just 40ms latency (typical Bluetooth clocks at around 120ms).

Users can stream audio to up to x4 speakers simultaneously from a single or separate devices using a Korus Baton wireless transmitter. Batons feature 30-pin and Lighting 8-pin connectors for iDevices and a USB port for connection with PCs and other devices, and a wireless transmitter compatible with Android devices should be available in 2014.

Gefen launches its first USB audio product at CEWeek 2013, New York-- the Compact Pro Audio Package, one complete with USB-to-audio decoder, x2 speakers and a two-channel amplifier.

The USB decoder is a palm-size DAC-equipped device able to scale PC audio to up to 192kHz resolution and down-mix multi-channel digital audio to 2.1 channel.

It connects to PCs via USB and features optical digital, stereo analog and headphone outputs. Users connect it to the GefenTV 2x50W audio amplifier (features x2 digital and x1 analog inputs) which in turn delivers audio as analog stereo to the included GefenTV speakers.

Extron Electronics introduces the SpeedMount Ceiling Speaker System, a patented low profile, plenum rated two-piece ceiling tile speaker system for division-of-labor installations.

The CS 1226T SpeedMount speaker system, says Extron, greatly simplifies ceiling speaker installation and delivers significant time and cost savings. The 2-piece system consists of the CS 120P plenum rated enclosure and a CS 26T two-way speaker cartridge. A low-voltage contractor places the CS 120P enclosure directly on the ceiling grid without the need for a tile bridge, C-ring, or tile rails. Signal wiring is then routed to the enclosure. This dramatically cuts installation time and costs during the rough-in phase.

Later, an AV technician can quickly complete installation by connecting the CS 26T speaker cartridge to the wiring and securing it into the enclosure. The CS 1226T is the latest in Extron's expanding lineup of speaker system solutions that divide the installation labor between contractors, reduce parts counts, and streamline sound system integration.