CES 2008: Marantz ES7001 Sound Bar launches

"Cinemarium" speaker gets CES launch

8 January 2008 3:22 GMT / By Duncan Madden

Jumping on the sound bar bandwagon, Marantz has unveiled its own one-box surround sound speaker solution at CES 2008.

Having spent three years developing the ES7001, Marantz claims to have "ironed out" the bumps that have been an inherent flaw in many existing sound bar designs.

Nicknamed the "Cinemarium", it sports three 32-bit processors, one used for Dolby/DTS decoding and the other two to implement the complex algorithms that produce "room-filling surround sound with ultimate accuracy and speed".

Connectivity is taken care of by dual HDMI inputs and one out, along with three optical digital and two analogue phono inputs ensuring tremendous hi-def sound quality and eliminating signal loss. There’s also a subwoofer out that’s compatible with every brand of active sub.

The Cinemarium does not tread the path of some rivals such as the Yamaha YSP range by creating a surround effect using walls to bounce the sound around. Instead it has developed a proprietary technology called OPSODIS (Optimal Source DIStribution) in conjunction with the institute of Sound and Vibration Research in Japan.

Marantz is so confident of the Cinemarium’s sound quality in fact, that it says it can happily be used as a hi-fi system with hook up to a CD player or iPod incorporated.

The ES7001 Cinemarium is available from the end of the month for £899.90.