My first appointment at CES was at Rockford Fosgate’s booth in the Palms Hotel Ballroom.  Erick Gunderson, Director of Advanced Products filled me in on the many unique aspects of the new RF buds (Erick knows his stuff…he formerly was with respected in-ear monitor manufacturer Etymotic).  The new RF buds use unusually large 15mm diaphragms that really seem to make a difference.  In addition to being one of the best sounding earbuds I’ve ever heard, I found them to be very comfortable.  I also noticed that their performance didn’t change at all regardless of how I had them positioned in my ear canal (I’ve experienced huge performance differences in other manufacturers products depending on how they’re seated).  I was also impressed with their super flexible, tangle-free flat cable. They come with a nice travel case and several different sized silicon plugs.

At $99, they represent a very good value based on other models available on the market.  They will be available to purchase at the end of February.  But I’m taking the first pair that I get my hands on!  (In the spirit of full disclosure, I worked for Rockford Corp for 15 years and was VP Sales when I left in Augus of 2008)  BC

Back in the day, Altec Lansing used to be a company respected for it’s state of the art Voice of the Theater speaker systems.  They and JBL were arch-rivals and both produced awesome loudspeakers.  Then they went through a number ownership changes and started to churn out cheap products with substandard performance…a far cry from their heyday.

Last week, I was strolling past their CES booth and heard something that made me do a double take.  They were doing a demo of their very cool looking Expressionist Ultra 200 watt computer speaker system.  And I have to say that I was really impressed.  It delivers great bass and plays loud.  Very loud.  The system sells for $199 and given it’s performance, cosmetics and fit/finish, it is a good value.  I immediately added it to my product assortment and you can check it out here.  As always, shipping is only $5.00!  BC

Update  5/14/2010 – Check out the review of the Altec Ultra 2.1 System at Appletell!