November 3, 2008
The 20th Sound+Image Awards were held on Friday night in Darling Harbour, Sydney, honouring the top products in hi-fi and home theatre. Thirty-five Products of the Year were announced, together with more than 40 products receiving Highly Commended status.
“These are the products we rate as the best and best value going forward into 2009,” said Sound & Image Editor Jez Ford. “They will all feature in our special Awards edition of Sound+Image, which goes on sale on December 10th.”
The annual black-tie Awards night dinner has become an essential event in the industry’s calendar. Since their inception in 1989, the Awards have recognised excellence in the design, manufacture and installation of home entertainment equipment.
This year’s Awards also see a number of new categories, including Streaming Audio Product of the Year, recognising the potential of computer storage and network-based music. HDTVs also received expanded coverage, with four awards this year for Small LCD TV of the Year (Baumann Meyer), Big LCD TV of the Year (Samsung), Small Plasma TV of the Year (Panasonic), and Big Plasma TV of the Year (Pioneer).
Sony won two awards for its Blu-ray products: one for its $459 BDP-S350, and one for the PlayStation 3.
Hi-fi winners included Elac, Gryphon, Marantz, Mordaunt-Short and Yamaha, with audio-visual winners coming from Jamo, Onkyo, Strong Technologies, Topfield, Whatmough, Yamaha and others.
The evening also recognised four individuals with Lifetime Achievement Awards: Josef Riedeger, Michael Henriksen, David Small, and Australian Hi-Fi’s Greg Borrowman.
The full details of winners will appear in Sound+Image’s special Awards issue, publishing December 10th, 2009