Parasound began selling a lower-priced version of its John Curl-designed Halo JC 3 phono preamplifier, it said Thursday. At roughly half the price of the flagship model, the $1,495 Halo JC 3 Jr. can be used with moving magnet or moving coil phono cartridges, said the company. The product grew out of recognition that the $3,000 Halo JC 3+ can be “an impediment to first-time-vinyl millennials and seasoned audio enthusiasts alike," said Parasound President Richard Schram. The company cut costs by designing a lower profile unit that fits into one rack space, it said.

Canadian speaker company Fabriq announced Monday an Alexa-enabled Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker with multiroom capability. The $99 Chorus speaker is selling online at Amazon, Target and thefabriq.com and will be available in Target stores nationwide Sunday, the company said. The company’s previous Alexa-compatible speaker, Riff ($49), is touch-activated and can be part of a multiroom system configured in the device's app. Users can control the Chorus by voice to play music, check weather, place calls and engage other Alexa features, it said. The 8-watt speakers are available in four patterns and come with a charging dock. Battery life is six hours on a charge.

When Sound United bought D+M Group (see 1703020077), parent of Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics, earlier this year, industry watchers wondered what that meant for the various multiroom audio platforms supported by the D+M brands and by Sound United’s Definitive Technology and Polk Audio brands. For now, Sound United remains committed to Play-Fi for Definitive and Polk, to Heos for Denon and Marantz, and to Chromecast built-in for Polk’s MagniFi brand, Brendon Stead, senior vice president-product development, Sound United, told us at the CEDIA show. “We have not made final decisions on how we see the future across all these brands.” Sound United still sees advantages in the Play-Fi ecosystem, and “we’re not prepared to migrate away from that yet,” said Stead. On whether the company might license Heos to other brands to grow that ecosystem, Stead said, “It’s something we’ve talked about but not something we’re actively pursuing right now,” also saying, “we believe it’s an attractive platform that many others would like.” Sound United's future multiroom strategy will become clearer in the next three or four months, when “we turn our attention toward road mapping and how we see the intersection here -- and where we can build momentum off one or the other, or both,” he said.

Jaybird began taking preorders Thursday for wire-free Bluetooth sport earphones designed for runners. The sweat- and water-resistant in-ear modules provide a secure fit, said the company. The Run has one control button users press to take calls, start and stop music, skip tracks and activate Siri or Google Assistant voice control. Battery life is four hours, and the charging case provides an additional eight hours, said the company The Run will be available next month at a $179 list price. Jaybird also announced Freedom 2 sport earphones ($149, October) with a connecting wire and four-hour battery life.

On the day that Amazon announced third-party tools for voice control and multiroom audio compatibility with its Echo devices (see 1708290037), Riva Audio said in an email it canceled its news conference planned for the CEDIA trade show in San Diego next week. Riva has “some exciting new products in development, but the product we had hoped to ship in time for the show has been delayed and we’re not able to provide additional information on it at this time,” said the company. When we asked Chief Engineer Don North in June about plans for voice control, he told us (see 1706270073): “We recognize the importance of what Amazon’s doing. They’ve made such a wave in the market that you’d have to have your head in the sand to not see the opportunity." Without providing specifics about product plans, North said Riva sees voice at work not only in music selection but also in home automation controlling lights, thermostats, alarms, locks and intelligent search. "It’s nice that we’ve developed a platform that can leverage all of those,” he said then. Tuesday it said it will continue to demonstrate and focus on its current Wand series of multiroom systems that began shipping this summer. Riva didn't answer questions.

Audio companies are headed to the CEDIA trade show in San Diego next week with high-end gear for the custom installation and commercial markets. Parasound will bow two amplifiers: the Halo A 52+, a five-channel amp that’s an upgrade to the Halo A 52, adding 55 watts per channel of power and circuitry enhancements, said the company. The Class A/AB amp will be available in Q4 at a $2,995 suggested retail price, said the company. Parasound also will debut the 350-watt-per-channel ZoneMaster 2350 stereo Class D amplifier ($1,295), which addresses installers’ needs for big speakers, passive subs, and long chains of small speakers, said President Richard Schram. Wisdom Audio will introduce the SC-2 and SC-3 system controllers, second-generation models designed to help installers overcome acoustic problems with calibration tools, it said. The SC-2 is an 8-channel-in to 16-channel-out unit, and the SC-3 is a 16-channel-in to 32-channel-out version. Both operate at 24-bit/96 kHz and are based on the Dirac Live platform that's said to remove resonances and acoustic problems in sound reproduction. NEAR will demonstrate landscape speakers in satellite/subwoofer configurations. The Nearscapes IG44.1 ($3,739) has four satellite bollard-style speakers, an in-ground subwoofer and five direct-burial junction boxes, said the company. The IG44.1DSP ($4,739) features the same array and adds a power amplifier to create a turnkey system, it said. The outdoor speakers are to ship in Q1.

Sonos has been clear that "voice is an important part of our strategy moving forward," a Sonos spokeswoman said Monday, responding to our questions about reports of an Alexa-based Sonos speaker due to hit the U.S. market soon. The company doesn't have any announcements to make "at this time -- stay tuned," she said. Sonos scheduled industry meetings off-site at the CEDIA event next week.

JVC announced four Bluetooth headphones Tuesday, including two sports models. The HA-EC20BT ($39.99) and HA-EN10BT ($29.99), are sweat- and splash-proof, come with an inline remote and microphone, and are available in four colors, said the company. The HA-EC20BT ear-clip model features the company’s pivoting ear hook, and the HA-EN10BT has a “nozzle fit” earpiece. The HA-FX29BT Marshmallow headphones ($39.99) have an inline remote and microphone, offer five hours of wireless listening and come in black, white, blue, green and pink, said the company, and the HA-FX9BT Gumy Bluetooth earbuds ($29.95) feature 9mm neodymium drivers and come in six colors.

Klipsch Group is teaming with Avad to revive the Energy brand, in a product portfolio aimed at the custom integrator market, said the companies Thursday. The announcement is part of a strategic alliance between the companies that expands distribution of the Klipsch, Jamo and Energy brands in the U.S. and Canada, they said. The revamped Energy line, due in 2018, will be available exclusively through Avad, they said. Avad will become the primary national distribution partner of Jamo custom installation, home theater and outdoor speakers in the U.S. and the exclusive distributor in Canada, they said. Avad will also distribute select Klipsch home theater and custom installation speakers to qualified Avad dealers that have met Klipsch requirements. Avad has 22 locations in the U.S. and Canada and operates from 230 depots for enhanced distribution services, allowing integrators to access products as they need them, it said.

In a Wednesday blog post touting its Quad Driver ($199) and Triple Driver ($99) in-ear models as the first THX Certified headphones, 1More said THX "has progressed beyond cinema certification and now certifies consumer electronics, content, automotive systems, and live entertainment" with the goal of "delivering the artist’s true vision,” quoting a backgrounder on the THX website. To receive product certification, the headphones underwent hundreds of "scientifically-formulated tests” by THX engineers “to ensure the highest audio standards possible,” said 1More. The certification program gives special attention to interpreting high frequency correlation, improving dialogue intelligibility and low frequency extension, it said. Also in the certification process, THX ensures “nominal balance deviation between the left and right channels to create a well-transferred and well-balanced audio signal,” said the headphone maker. The tests look for “sufficient sensitivity levels to achieve a premium level of audio output, while maintaining minimal distortion at the required sound pressure level,” it said. Engineers also tested for minimal levels of crosstalk, it said. In an announcement, Peter Vasay, THX senior vice president-technology and operations, said the certification program was started to help customers discern products that deliver "truly superb audio experiences."