The Pioneer S-IW891 and the S-IC891A (remember those if you can…) is the name of Pioneer’s new Elite architectural speakers that was announced in a press release earlier today. They are aimed at the high end people who like nice installations with in-wall and in-ceiling speaker models. More images and information inside.

Full press release from Pioneer:

Pioneer Now Shipping New Elite Architectural Speakers That Fulfill High Performance Home Theater
Long Beach, CA June 25, 2009

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. brings audiences to the heights of immersive home theater with the new Elite® architectural speaker line available now at authorized dealers nationwide. With a no-compromise design approach from Pioneer’s Chief Speaker Designer Andrew Jones and his team of engineering specialists, the new in-wall and in-ceiling speaker models are developed exclusively to provide the custom installation market with a technologically advanced audio solution along with flexible integration features that make this series suitable for an array of home theater projects. Delivering premier reproduction of today’s high resolution soundtracks, the new Pioneer® line is perfectly matched to the company’s other renowned home theater products to faithfully recreate the emotional response that a director or sound engineer intended.

“Pioneer was founded with the primary goal of bringing the highest quality music entertainment into people’s homes and we have remained committed to this vision with every generation of speaker introductions for the past 70 years. The arrival of our Elite architectural speakers delivers on the promise of ultimate home theater performance, and one that is truly achieved when all of Pioneer’s products are integrated,” said Andrew Jones, chief speaker designer for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

Approaching Flawlessness
Pioneer continues to advance the science of architectural speaker engineering; culling technological and design innovations from its professional Technical Audio Devices (TAD) speakers as well as award-winning EX Series speaker products, which culminate in six new models that operate to bring entertainment enthusiasts closer to the artistic vision of Hollywood’s creative professionals.

Whether revealing the subtle details of a music CD or the dynamic explosions in an action film, the Elite speaker line is designed to sonically reproduce the integrity of today’s lossless audio formats. Ideal for high performance home theater or high fidelity multi-room audio applications, professional installers can select from three in-wall speakers and two angled in-ceiling models as well as a 3-way left/center/right option that provide versatile solutions they can be confident in recommending for their clients’ most demanding installations. The pinnacle of installation applications the new line can be used in concert to provide full 5- or 7-channel completely in-ceiling, thus nearly invisible, high-performance system configuration.

With a critical focus on build quality, Jones and team independently researched, hand selected and constructed a distinctive line of architectural speakers that are significantly ahead of current industry standards. The speakers incorporate advanced materials components including titanium tweeter, woven aramid fiber woofer and cast aluminum chassis for stellar audio reproduction capabilities that exceed those of similar products in the market. Pioneer’s proprietary Coherent Source Transducer (CST) technology is the truly dramatic advancement that functions to improve off-axis performance and deliver a smoother, more accurate frequency response. Essentially expanding a room’s “sweet spot”, CST technology provides uniform listening serving as a high end alternative to existing pivoting driver designs.

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This ain’t big news since A/V receivers with built-in support for iPhones and iPods have been around for years – but there isn’t much news around today so I’ll share it with you anyway. The top model in todays announcement is the Pioneer VSX-1019AH. Bigger image available inside.

Pioneer Announces Availability of A/V Receivers for iPhone and iPod
New Receivers Feature Proprietary Sound Enhancement Technologies for Compressed Audio Files

Long Beach, CA May 26, 2009

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today announced that it is now shipping A/V Receivers that seamlessly integrate Apple’s revolutionary iPhone and iPod into a customer’s home theater. Pioneer’s VSX-819AH, VSX-919AH and VSX-1019AH A/V Receivers and also feature proprietary technologies designed to restore compressed audio data and recreate the dynamic listening experiences intended by the original musician.

“With our new line of A/V Receivers that seamlessly integrate with Apple’s iPhone and iPod, we now offer a complete solution for improved portable audio playback in the home theater realm,” said David Bales, marketing manager of audio products for the home entertainment division of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “With Pioneer’s rich heritage in A/V receiver design and innovation, we are thrilled to give our customers the ability to make iPhone and iPod part of their home theater system.”

Pioneer A/V Receivers are part of the “Works with iPhone” and “Made for iPod” program and feature a seamless user experience for iPhone and iPod owners. The new line of receivers allow consumers to simply plug their iPhone or iPod to the A/V Receiver and utilize a full-color graphic user interface (GUI) complete with album art, utilize a central remote control option to easily navigate through playlists. The A/V Receivers will intuitively turn on the Auto Music-Mute function when a call is received on an iPhone, allowing home audiences to maintain an uninterrupted entertainment experience.

By utilizing two proprietary digital audio enhancement functions – Advanced Sound Retriever (ASR) and Auto Level Control (ALC) – the Pioneer A/V Receivers deliver a high quality listening experience specially designed for portable audio device home integration. Pioneer’s ASR was designed for use with highly-compressed music files to ensure a more dynamic audio experience when played through home audio speakers. Meanwhile, Pioneer’s ALC technology equalizes the fluctuating volume levels that can occur with digital audio tracks and other input sources resulting in a richer user experience that alleviates the need to manually adjust the volume.

Pioneer’s A/V Receivers are available now at Best Buy and other national and regional retailers nationwide for suggested retail prices that range from $299 – $499.

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The PDP-5020FD is the latest plasma screen coming from Pioneer. We just got the press release in our inbox and here’s the hightlights:

* Improved black levels reducing the idle luminance and improving black levels five times over the previous 2007 KURO models.
* Pioneer KURO televisions are now only 3.7 Inches thick, reduced by nearly 20 percent
* New remote control and redesigned high definition graphic user interface for ease-of-use and seamless integration with other A/V equipment
* Networked Home Media Gallery for playback of digital assets such as HD movie, music and photos from a PC or via USB
* Pioneer KURO televisions are DLNA compatible and Windows PlaysForSure™ compatible

The 50 inch ($4000) and the 60 inch ($5500), both full HD screen will be out in June.

Full press release from Pioneer after the jump:

Pioneer Continues to Surpass Black Level Performance with New Line of 2008 KURO Televisions
Pioneer’s 2008 KURO Displays Boast Industry Leading Black Levels and Richer Color to Create an Unmatched Emotional Entertainment Experience
New York 5/7/2008

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today announces a new line of KURO plasma displays featuring black levels five times deeper than the previous award-winning KURO. Widely recognized for its commitment to creating entertainment experiences that transcend the ordinary, Pioneer takes yet another groundbreaking step towards HDTV perfection with this new line of 2008 KURO flat panel televisions.

“The game-changing performance our KURO displays brought to the market last year revitalized the landscape of high end home theater in a way that was never thought possible. The introduction of this year’s KURO televisions is another step toward our ultimate goal of pure, absolute black that will fulfill the true potential and all the promise of high-definition entertainment,” said Paul Meyhoefer, vice president of display marketing and product planning, home entertainment business solutions group, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “Our goal is to listen and fully understand the minds of creative professionals and their craft. When great entertainment comes together something truly magical happens, the boundaries of technology fall away and you’re left with a truly unique experience. This is the hidden key to the power that KURO possesses and ensures the integrity of the artist’s vision is never compromised.”

Pioneer’s Philosophy is Absolute Black
The philosophy behind Pioneer’s Project KURO and the driving force is to achieve absolute, pure black. True, deep black creates a picture unlike any other that possesses finer detail, greater contrast, and more importantly, the ability to produce deeper colors not achievable before. This year, Pioneer pushes ever closer to their goal of absolute black by further reducing the idle luminance and improving black levels five times over the previous 2007 KURO models. This has enabled Pioneer to accurately reproduce deeper colors within the high-definition color spectrum and outdistance other display manufacturers.

Pioneer understands that color is a vital tool that creative professionals – from visual artists to film and television producers – use freely to evoke emotion and arouse our senses. With varying techniques from the most subtle to intense manipulation of color, artists can induce a very specific feeling within their audience. That feeling can be lost or diluted if a television cannot produce true, pure deep blacks and in turn reproduce an accurate color spectrum. The end result cannot be imitated and is beyond compare.

Evoking Emotion through Sound
Pioneer has incorporated six unique sound settings associated with each of the KURO video settings – standard, movie, sports, performance, game, dynamic – to ensure a customized listening experience that is specifically in tune with the type of programming on-screen.

The television employs an auto volume stabilization feature that further controls the television’s volume level when switching between different types of programming; including network shows and commercials, broadcast channels or different input types to insure each experience remains true and distinct from one another.

Pioneer has included the most advanced SRS® WOW HD technology in the new KURO models by incorporating SRS Definition, a high frequency enhancement that provides finer control and adjustment to manage low, mid and high audio frequencies. The result adds to the virtual surround sound effect and produces clearer, more precise audio in mid to high frequency levels.

A Truly Intelligent Television
The KURO employs a unique automatic adjustment feature called Optimum Mode that simultaneously monitors video and room light conditions. The KURO then seamlessly adjusts the picture and sound settings by even the slightest variation to provide an experience specially tailored to each type of programming. The result is movies that reproduce a film-like quality, sports that feel like you’re on the field and crisp clear narration from newscasts that focus on the reporter, not ambient background noise.

While many consumers will rely on this unique feature, the 2008 KURO models still have the ability to switch between six finely tuned pre-set modes including: standard, movie, sports, performance, game, dynamic for consumers who prefer the ability to manually adjust their KURO television according to their particular taste.

Enhanced Consumer Convenience Features
The introduction of the 2008 KURO 1080p line creates the perfect synergy between film, video and high quality sound, helping blend these into a new world of seeing and hearing like never before. Pioneer has built a reputation for providing best-in-class products that evoke emotion and surpass typical high-quality sight and sound specifications, adding enhanced features such as these to the 2008 KURO line:

* Pioneer KURO televisions are now only 3.7 Inches thick, reduced by nearly 20 percent
* New remote control and redesigned high definition graphic user interface for ease-of-use and seamless integration with other A/V equipment
* Networked Home Media Gallery for playback of digital assets such as HD movie, music and photos from a PC or via USB
* Pioneer KURO televisions are DLNA compatible and Windows PlaysForSure™ compatible