Atlanta –
went to the CEDIA Expo
with a new president, its first Blu-ray player, a new CD player, and plans for
an iPad app.
The new president is Bill
McKiegan, who was promoted from global sales and marketing director. He
replaces Walt Schneider, who became president last December following his
promotion from COO.
The company hasn’t yet filled
McKiegan’s previous position.
The new Blu-ray player is the
company’s first, due in December at $15,000. Since its introduction earlier
this year, the Evolution 555 Blu-ray player adds network streaming of Hulu and
Netflix video-on-demand services and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) to stream
audio, video and pics from a UPnP-equipped PC or network attached storage (NAS)
device. Additional streaming services might also be available at launch. The
player also accepts a USB stick to play stored media.
The player, shown in prototype
form, will be upgradable to 3D in the second quarter via a dealer-installede
video-board swap, McKiegan said.
The 555 also features IP control
for control from a networked PC’s web browser and from a planned iPad app, due
in December. It will be the company’s first app.
The 555 is a Profile 2.0 BD Live model with 1GB of onboard memory,
Ethernet port, optional 802.11b/g/n wireless card, and Krell’s
proprietary Evolution CAST (Current Audio Signal Transfer) technology, which
sends audio signals between components in the current domain to eliminate
cable-induced distortion and lower the noise floor to its theoretical minimum.
The 555 also offers a vertical stretch feature
for home theaters using 2.35:1 Constant
Image Height display systems to eliminate black bars at the top and bottom of the image
without adding distortion or artifacts. It comes with HDMI 1.3 ins/outs, but the
planned video-board swap will upgrade the device to HDMI 1.4.
The new CD player, which just
began shipping, is the $2,500 S-350a CD player, which brings digital coaxial
and optical inputs back to Krell CD players to enable them to operate as an
outboard DAC for PCs and other products. The company offers a USB-to-coax
adapter at less than $100 for PC connections.
