Klipsch is shipping WiSA-certified loudspeakers it introduced at CES, said the Wireless Speaker and Audio Association Tuesday. The wireless Klipsch home theater series includes the RW-34C center channel speaker ($499), RW-51M front and rear monitors ($699 a pair) and RW-100SW subwoofer ($599). When combined with the Axiim Link wireless transmitter, sold separately for $199, users can connect their TV to any Klipsch Reference Wireless speaker, WiSA said. LG’s WiSA-ready OLED and NanoCell TVs are said to simplify setup.

Soundcore introduced what it calls the industry’s first “sonically aligned, true wireless” earbuds for sale on Amazon and its own online store starting Oct. 8 at $149. The Liberty Pro 2 earbuds pair a “custom-tuned” balanced-armature Knowles driver with a Soundcore-developed dynamic driver to render “an accurate sound stage and alignment of all frequencies,” said the vendor. Though many headphones and earbuds have used multiple drivers for “generations,” engineers aligned each of the Liberty Pro 2's two drivers in a “coaxial architecture,” said Soundcore. The concept “has been around for decades in car audio and home audio products but has never been done in a pair of wireless earbuds,” it said. The Liberty Pro 2s have wireless Qi charging and Qualcomm’s AptX audio codec, launched last year at IFA (see 1903180017).

Bowers & Wilkins expanded its Formation audio line Wednesday, announcing the Flex, billed as a 2 x 50-watt compact wireless speaker system. Like the other five speakers in the Formation wireless speaker family, the speaker touts sound quality, streaming at 96/24-bit Hi-Res quality over Wi-Fi. It resembles a Sonos One in form factor, but voice control isn’t shown as a feature for the 8.5-inch-tall Bluetooth speaker that’s compatible with Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Roon. B&W promises free delivery, 30-day returns and a two-year warranty on its website, but it didn’t give price or availability other than “coming soon.” The company didn’t respond to questions.

Amplifiers, speakers and distributed audio products headline Lenbrook’s CEDIA Expo product introductions this week across its Bluesound, NAD and PSB brands. NAD will show its CI 8-120 DSP amplifier ($2,999), designed to handle long cable runs and challenging speaker loads, delivering 120 watts into eight channels, said the company. Installers can program and control functions of the amplifier via web browser, including managing digital signal processing and IP control; they can also set up, calibrate, reboot, restore custom settings and update firmware, said the company. Lenbrook’s BluOS operating system added Google Assistant voice control via Actions on Google. Users of Lenbrook’s Bluesound, NAD and Dali speakers will be prompted Oct. 8 to update their players to add hands-free control of their music from a Google Home speaker, said the company. To raise music volume, users ask Google Assistant on a Home speaker: “Ok, Google, tell BlueVoice to play louder,” it said. Bluesound also supports Amazon Alexa and expects to support Apple Siri via AirPlay 2. The company’s PSB brand will demo the PWM2 wall-mount speaker ($1,749, January) that can mount horizontally or vertically for music playback or be used as a front, center or surround speaker in a home theater configuration. PSB’s new CS AIC 860 in-ceiling speaker ($649, November) is angled in a way that minimizes refraction to provide a wide sound field that seems to come from the listening area vs. the installation point, said PSB. Three new PSB subwoofers ($999, October; $1,299 and $1,199, January) offer different placement options for installers including between studs in wall, standard in-wall and rack-mount. A 500-watt in-wall subwoofer amplifier ($1,199), designed for new construction and capable of powering two subwoofers, will ship in January, it said. In its Dali line, Lenbrook will show the Katch One sound bar, a 10-driver design powered by a 200-watt amplifier system ($999, October). Inputs include HDMI, optical and analog, said the company; users can connect a smartphone to the sound bar via Bluetooth for music playback.

Global headphone revenue grew some four times faster than shipments in Q2, indicating continued strength in the premium segment, said Futuresource Friday. True wireless models were about one in five shipments and are the “driving force” behind the growing category, said analyst Adriana Blanco: All other headphone segments continue to “slump,” with in-ear, non-true wireless headphones taking the biggest hit. Apple’s lead with AirPods is being eroded by rivals including Xiaomi and Huawei in China, while Samsung maintained a strong global presence, she said. Wireless headphones overall grew 40 percent year on year in Q2 to 60 percent of total shipments and 87 percent of revenue. Shipments of headphones with voice assistants tripled from 2018 to 2019 and were embedded in nearly a fifth of headphones shipped in Q2, it said. AirPods 2 brought wake-word activation to the category, followed by Beats Powerbeats Pro. Though voice-activated models have captured less than 5 percent of the sports headphone category, they’re expected to advance over the rest of the year, Blanco said. The top three brands -- Sony, Apple and JBL -- remain unchanged from Q1 but Apple is “within striking distance” of Sony, Blanco said. JBL, meanwhile, had the largest volume share increase at 2 percentage points, helped by its “strong portfolio" in the sub-$100 market.

Polk returned to familiar ground for its latest flagship loudspeaker, revamping its Stereo Dimensional Array (SDA) technology first introduced some 20 years ago by Matthew Polk. The company launched at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Friday the Legend Series L800 SDA tower speakers ($2,999 each) with an updated Pro version of SDA, a technology designed to cancel interaural crosstalk and produce lifelike imaging, smooth spectral response and tight, deep bass. The 2019 version uses a “Head Shadow” filter in the dimensional array, which is built to more exactly match -- and cancel out -- crosstalk, said the company. An additional patent was granted for the L800’s 15-degree angled baffles, in which transducers are angled more precisely toward the listener to eliminate high frequency extension loss and the need for listeners to “toe-in” the loudspeakers toward a sweet spot. The L800s are part of the new Legends Series line, which also includes L100 bookshelf ($1,199 a pair), L200 bookshelf ($1,799 a pair), L400 center channel ($1,799 each), L600 tower speaker ($1,999 each) and L900 height speakers ($599 a pair) for a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X system. The L800 SDA tower will be available Nov. 3 at select Polk dealers; the other five models are due Oct. 1, it said.

Philips has a “strong heritage” in the audio business, and “this year, we are starting our journey to bring it back to where it belongs,” Kostas Vouvas, TP Vision CEO-Philips TV & Audio, told an IFA news conference Thursday in Berlin. TP Vision markets Philips-brand products in most territories outside North America. Its IFA introductions included the PH805 wireless, active-noise-cancelling headphone. “It’s a great-performance headphone for the mainstream market,” said Vouvas. Weighing in at a “very comfortable” 235 grams (8.3 ounces), the PH805 “offers everything you would expect from such a headphone,” including touch controls and 30-hour battery life, he said. It cancels 95 percent of background noise, he said.

Headphone announcements last week show high-end audio companies extending their reach with high-volume partners. LG extended its relationship with Meridian Audio on a trio of Bluetooth 5.0 wireless headsets in its Tone lineup. The Meridian hi-fi solution brings audio improvements to the line, LG said. A composite diaphragm inside the speaker unit is said to produce clarity in high and low ranges for a more detailed and balanced sound. Treble is reproduced by a high-strength metal layer; a plastic layer provides “deep bass,” LG said. A fast-charging battery delivers up to three hours’ use from a 10-minute charge. Dual mics are said to make phone calls more audible in noisy environments. The HBS-XL7 Tone Flex ($149) with EQ by Meridian, has a 32-bit hi-fi digital-to-analog converter and Google Assistant button; the $129 HBS-SL6S Tone Style comes with an external speaker that allows users to make phone calls or listen to music without the earbuds; and the $99 HBS-SL5 Tone Style, like the SL6, offers eight hours’ playtime. The collaboration is an extension of the companies’ relationship beyond wireless speakers and sound bars, said Tim Alessi, LG head-home entertainment product marketing. Master & Dynamic, meanwhile, said select Verizon Wireless stores in San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte -- along with verizonwireless.com -- will carry its MW07 true wireless earphones ($199), MW65 active noise-canceling wireless over-ear headphones ($499), and the MW50+ 2-in-1 wireless over-ear headphones ($349).

Headphone maker 1More introduced its first speaker, a saucer-shaped portable Bluetooth model billed as having 360-degree sound dispersion. The $99 speaker, which can be paired for stereo listening, is selling for $149 in a promotional bundle at 1more.com. The company also launched $29 in-ear headphones with a tangle-free neckband cable and IPX4 water resistance rating.

KEF Monday began selling a downsized version of its Q650c loudspeaker, highlighting increased placement options made possible by removing the rear port for positioning in a cabinet. The Uni-Q driver has an improved damped tweeter loading tube, said the company, and the crossover features a new low-distortion inductor. The Q250c is available in white, black matte or walnut finishes for $599 each.