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CHIPs 2006: CE Pro High Impact Products

By CE Pro Editors — on page 80-102 of the December 2006 issue

So many new products, so many tough decisions to make. Fortunately, it's really not up to us, the editors, to select the CE Pro High Impact Products (CHIPs) of the year.

While we do, of course, make the final decisions (in a decidedly unscientific way), we rely on our readers, home systems integrators, to let us know what worked for them -- what saved them time, won them customers, and basically made them money in 2006.

This year, dealers nominated products in fresh categories that have never appeared on the list, like automation software for Media Center Edition, a rack-mount fan, an uninterruptible power supply and an audio calibration tool.

Unlike other "Best of" contests, we don't bench-test products, and we don't select devices based on cool feature sets. Instead, we pick the ones that dealers have sold, installed and generally thrived on throughout the year.

The CHIPs winners are products that shipped on or about September 2005 through August or September of this year -- products that have been around long enough to convince dealers that they're winners.

Products of the Year: Gold

High Impact Acoustics

Quiet Solution QuietRock 545THX
Soundproofing panels

Sheetrock? Hardly seems worthy of a vaunted CE Pro High Impact Product award. But the QuietRock 545THX wall and ceiling panels from Quiet Solution are no ordinary slabs of gypsum. They are THX-certified acoustical panels providing the ultimate sound isolation for home theaters and studios.

At about $6 per square feet, the panels aren't cheap, but they're much more economical than building an isolated room or encasing a space with concrete and lead.

QuietRock "in a dedicated theater saves tons of time from having to install two layers of Sheetrock, hat channels and acoustical rubber matting," says Glenn Kalber, president of GDK Surround, Inc., Sudbury, Mass. "Throw this stuff up and you are done."

Quiet Solution manufactures QuietRock panels using the company's patent-pending CPG (ceramic/polymer/gypsum) composite technology. The National Research Council of Canada apparently has given QuietRock the industry's highest ratings, approaching Sound Transmission Class (STC) 80, exceeding other techniques by some 20 decibels, according to the manufacturer. Low frequency performance exceeds 50 dB in the highest-rated assemblies.

QuietRock, measuring 1-3/8 inches thick, hangs and finishes like standard drywall.

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