Q: What do you recommend for bookshelf speakers under $100 now that Best Buy's Insignia NS-B2111 is no longer offered?
A: It seems as if we finally have a sub-$100 successor to the late, lamented Insignia NS-B2111.
Dayton Audio's B652 bookshelf speakers (www.daytonaudio.com) sell for only $50 a pair on Amazon, and they are getting lots of good reviews. I haven't been able to test them yet but have been promised a loaner pair for review once Dayton catches up with consumer demand. Given the $50 price and positive reviews, they are a safe bet.
2013 CES follow-up
DISH uproar: I recently wrote about the uproar from the Best of CES awards at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, in which CBS forced the editorial panel of its online subsidiary CNET to disqualify the DISH Hopper with Sling DVR because CBS doesn't approve of the Hopper's commercial-skipping technology.
It was later leaked out and confirmed that CNET's editors had unanimously voted the Hopper with Sling as the winner. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) responded by firing CNET as the judging panel for the awards and announced the DISH Hopper with Sling as co-winner of the Best of CES award, along with the Razer Edge gaming tablet.
CEA President Gary Shapiro said, "We are shocked that the 'Tiffany' network, which is known for its high journalistic standards, would bar all its reporters from favorably describing classes of technology the network does not like."
The more I think about CBS meddling in the selection process to change the outcome, the more offensive the entire affair is. My hat is off to the CEA for taking decisive action to protect the integrity of its show and correct an injustice.
TV safety: Did you know that in the United States, every three weeks a child is killed by a flat-panel TV flipping over? I was shocked when I learned this statistic at CES — and that it doesn't include injuries to children, adults or seniors, nor pets that are killed.
