Control4 introduced the Triad Designer Series of in-ceiling speakers, the first architectural speakers to debut since Control4’s $9.6 million purchase of Triad in February (see 1702280028). The series includes a full-range speaker and a subwoofer with suggested retail prices of $1,400 each. The DS4-FR full-range speaker includes two woofers and a wide-dispersion tweeter that covers a 150-degree sound field, and the DS4-Sub has three woofers, it said.

Bang & Olufsen announced the BeoLab 50 loudspeaker with sound control features that tailor the sound for individual listening in a sweet spot or 180-degree sound for a group. The $39,710-per-pair speakers will be available next month, B&O said. The speaker’s “beam width control” is operated by the Bang & Olufsen app. The active speaker system, with a 2,100-watt amplifier, has an external mic that measures acoustic surroundings and applies compensation filters to produce optimum sound at various listening positions, said the company. The speakers are connected in a master-slave configuration and incorporate wireless multichannel audio streaming based on WiSA (Wireless Speaker and Audio Association) technology. The industrial design of the tall rounded speakers combines aluminum surfaces and what the company calls “light oak lamellas.”

Klipsch and Capitol Records joined forces on special-edition speakers co-branded Heritage and Heritage Wireless. The speakers have “mid-century” design with wood veneer and gunmetal switches and knobs, along with contemporary acoustic technology, said the companies. Customers who buy the Heritage speakers receive a free Capitol vinyl LP, they said. The Capitol One ($299) “semi-portable” Bluetooth speaker, 8.5 pounds, is rated at 30 watts and has two 2 1/4-inch full-range drivers and a 4.5-inch woofer, according to specs. Battery life is eight hours on a charge. The 60-watt Capital Three ($499) Bluetooth speaker, DTS Play-Fi-enabled for multiroom audio, has a phono preamp section and incorporates two 2 1/4-inch full range drivers, a 5 1/4-inch long-throw woofer, dual 5 1/4-inch passive radiators and a 192 kHz/24-bit digital to analog converter for high-res audio. The Capitol Heresy ($1,299 each) speakers are passive, three-way, horn-loaded wired speakers.

Apple dropped the unconnected Nano and Shuffle music players from its lineup, while doubling the storage on its $199 (now 64 GB) and $299 (128 GB) iPod touch Wi-Fi-enabled players, TechCrunch reported Thursday. Unlike the most recent iPhone, the iPod touch -- with a smartphone form factor, 4-inch Retina display, front and rear cameras and apps -- retained the 3.5mm headphone jack, a major benefit to some Apple customers. Apple didn’t comment.

The global home audio market is expected to grow 17 percent this year as smart speakers, sound bars and Bluetooth speakers drive growth in emerging markets, said a Wednesday Futuresource report. Home audio shipments grew 20 percent in 2016, to $11.7 billion, while the overall home electronics market slid 2 percent, Futuresource said. Wireless speakers grew 32 percent in 2016 sales, generating $6.2 billion revenue, and sound bar volume jumped 18 percent to $2.7 billion. Legacy categories took a hit, with sound bars becoming the “default TV-centric audio solution” and wireless speakers replacing legacy audio systems, radios and speaker docks in homes, said analyst Zlata Jelisejeva. Futuresource expects similar cannibalization as voice assistants disrupt the audio hardware market and affect pricing and competition. Amazon’s Echo speaker family commands more than 90 percent of smart speaker sales, and the category is expected to become a “platform battleground” for Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, said analyst Rasika D’Souza. Voice control will help drive Wi-Fi penetration, benefiting the multiroom feature, which had 10 percent of audio shipments in Q1, D’Souza said. Multiroom capability is forecast to be in 27 percent of home audio devices by 2021. Immersive audio formats, such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, will increase from a 5 percent hardware penetration level at the end of last year as content availability improves, said the research firm.

Tivoli Audio announced a limited-edition, weather-resistant version of the portable PAL radio with LED illumination and a clear housing. The Bluetooth $199 PALBT is billed as a glow-in-the-dark radio, doubling as a lantern, with up to 16 hours battery life.

Kicker said Friday it’s adding a waterproof design to the EB400 Bluetooth earphones. The $99 IPx7-rated earphones will debut at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market and will be available to consumers in August, said the company.

LG featured its 2017 sound products at a lifestyle event in New York Wednesday. The sound bar lineup included the company’s $449 SJ7 Flex product, a two-speaker sound bar that can be used in one of three modes: as a standard sound bar under a TV, split into front and rear-channel speakers in a surround-sound setup or as a portable Bluetooth speaker with the half that includes a built-in battery. The company also showed the $549 SJ8 sound bar, with high-res audio upsampling, 4K pass-through, Chromecast built-in, 4.1 channels of sound and a slim 1-1/2 inch-tall chassis that integrates, with a kit, into the base of an LG 55-inch TV. The flagship SJ9, $899, features Dolby Atmos immersive audio in a 5.1.2 configuration. LG also showed its Levitation Station ($299), which uses electromagnets housed in a base station/subwoofer to keep a small 360-degree Bluetooth speaker “floating” and spinning in air. When the speaker begins losing juice, it automatically lowers itself onto the subwoofer base for recharging while music continues to play. On LG’s plans for voice control, Tim Alessi, LG's head-product marketing, told us no products in the 2017 audio lineup have voice control, but that technology is “obviously on our radar. We’ll be looking at how to integrate it in the future.”

Lenbrook added a wireless speaker accessory for the Bluesound wireless multiroom music platform, which allows users to add a non-wireless active subwoofer to a Bluesound system without the need for cables. When the $99 RT100 connects an active subwoofer with a Bluesound Pulse Soundbar, the sound bar focuses on reproducing mid- and high frequencies, said the company. That process is built in for owners of Bluesound’s Pulse Soundbar and Pulse Sub, it said.

Denon introduced the $999 AVR-X3400H Monday, a fifth-generation model in its network AV receiver line. The 7.2-channel AV receiver, rated at 105 watts per channel, supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio and 4K Ultra HD and high dynamic range, including Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log Gamma, Denon said. On the wireless multiroom audio side, the AVR-X3400H supports HEOS streaming. The receiver includes Audyssey MultEQ XT32 setup and optimization and an Audyssey app customers can use to tweak the sound, said the company. With a September firmware update, the AVR-X3400H and Denon’s AVR-X1400H and AVR-X2400H HEOS AVRs will have Alexa support for voice control, it said.