Here’s an exclusive to this report: Polk Audio plans to release a new HD Radio this year. The Executive Shelf System, Model HDX3, would be the first release under a new label “Polk Audio Designs.”
Marketing Manager Paul DiComo said the new branding is meant to be “less geeky” and appeal to a different customer than its upscale iSonic product. The new HD Radio has a more conservative and traditional look than the curvy iSonic. It includes a CD player and a detached speaker.
Ibiquity displayed the two units side-by-side at CES on a nifty shelf system, showing off several new HD Radios to be available later this year.
The new radio, to be sold at RadioShack later this year, will list for $299. That compares to $599 for the iSonic, which decodes HD Radio, XM as well as analog AM and FM. It also includes a DVD player.
Polk showed off the unit to some radio broadcast engineers who attended the show, we heard. The company did not official announce the product at CES, having 40 others to worry about.
