SAN FRANCISCO - Chestnut Hill Sound makes the GEORGE, a high end digital audio system for iPods with some unique features. Most significant is the unique remote control. TMO spoke with the CEO, Steve Krampf, to find out more about this award winning home audio system.

As every audiophile knows, there are audio systems and there are audio systems. There are also iPod docks with speakers and there are audio systems for the iPod. The GEORGE (a story in itself) is a premium sound system with tweeters, woofers and a subwoofer. Most importantly, however, is the unique remote control that allows the user to place the GEORGE in a good place and operate it completely from as far as 30 ft (9 meters) away using 802.15 (ZigBee wireless system).

GEORGE

TMO received an extensive demonstration of the GEORGE at Macworld, and it was an eye opener. If you aren’t familiar with this product, you might want to investigate further. That’s because a lot of similar products don’t think things through. Many make you get up and walk over to the unit to operate some iPod functions, and that’s combined with less than excellent speakers. The GEORGE goes in the opposite direction by integrating a fabulous remote control system that serves to also operate the alarm system and AM/FM radio in a five speaker system.

What’s interesting is that little things are thought out. The AM band rolls seamllessly into the FM band, just as it does in the real radio spectrum. There’s no AM/FM switch. What could be more obvious? If the volume has been turned down or headphones attached, that’ll be enough to defeat the wakeup alarm of most systems, but not the GEORGE. It knows how to overide those human omissions and still get the job done. The small remote is a computer wonder in itsef.

Where the GEORGE really stands out is with Apple lossless/unccompressed audio, a practical thing to do now with the storage capacities available. For a bedroom or small apartment, the GEORGE can serve as a premium sound system placed elegantly on a book shelf or next to the TV. The back of the unit has connectors that other small systems can only dream about.

Mr. Krampf worked in the audio recording industry for over twenty years, and his first commercial product is intuitive, powerful, updateable, and expandable. "We haven’t spent much money on advertising yet," Mr. Krampf said. "So far our success has been due to great reviews and customer word of mouth. But in 2008, we’re going to start comparing ourselves to the competition. Sort of like Apple’s ’I’m a Mac, I’m a PC’ ads."

Regardng the speakers, here’s a quote from the Chestnut Hill Sound page. "Most table top systems deliver audio through a single set of small-sized speakers, resulting in artificial high notes and muddy bass. GEORGE uses coaxial (2-way) speakers that outperform highly equalized single cone speaker designs, resulting in greater detail and accuracy. These stereo coax speakers are paired with a dedicated downfiring 4-inch sub-woofer that is optimized for low frequency reproduction without excessive EQ or resonant ducts. The five speaker system is then bi-amped to ensure your music sounds more like the way the artist intended."

"Right now, we’re in over 30 of the largest Apple stores, including the three in New York. We’re also in the Best Buy stores and Amazon, of course. We’ve been well received by customers, and they’ve become tremendously loyal to us," Mr. Krampf told TMO. "The product generates that kind of enthusiasm."

Mr. Krampf compared the GEORGE to other systems that are similarly priced, such as the Bose Wave Music System and the Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin. What stands out is the sophistication of the remote, the update capability, a universal preamp output and a built-in AM/FM radio. On top of that, if customers don’t like the silver speaker grilles, there are other color options to chose from including an option for cherry or walnut veneer case.

Finally, to punctuate the update capabilities of GEORGE, Chestnut Hill Sound announced version 3.0 of the software at Macworld. "The new features of GEORGE offer users additional remote control functionality. Users are now able to queue up songs on their playlist while listening to the current track on their iPod. The queue will play selected songs in the chosen sequence. In the past, as a user�s music library grew, it took more time to scroll down the list of artists and songs on the iPod. GEORGE now allows users to specify secondary letters when searching for a certain artist or song," the announcement said.

�The last generation of consumer electronics has taken on a disposable quality, with owners being forced to buy a brand new product each time new features are added,� Mr. Krampf noted. �GEORGE reverses that trend by offering a sound system that is updatable; now, consumers can have the latest functionality by going to our website and downloading new features via GEORGE�s USB port.�

TMO’s first reaction to GEORGE was that Chestnut Hill Sound, like Apple, has sweated the details to make the unit a joy to use and enjoy a long technical life. Also, a lot of thought went into that remote control which serves to radically improve the way one interacts with the system. That kind of industrial design something that Apple’s customers have also come to appreciate.