Pioneer Electronics Inc. today introduced the first Energy Star 3.0 certified audio video receivers – the Elite SC-81 and SC-82, the new Elite BDP-80FD Blu-ray Disc player, the the SP-SB03 Speaker Base TV Audio System and the the "Free Me" XW-LF3 and XW-LF1 Portable Bluetooth Speakers. Pioneer's "Free Me" XW-LF3 and XW-LF1 Portable Bluetooth Speaker provide connectivity with virtually any Bluetooth device with a one-touch pairing feature. Both models feature NFC (Near Field Communication) technology allowing pairing to be accomplished by simply tapping the top of the speaker with the phone or tablet. Once paired, users can wirelessly stream their music content or use the device for hands-free calling to increase the volume of conversations. The Free Me also offers a direct wired connection through an integrated 3.5 mm auxiliary input.

At only 5-15/16" x 1-13/16" x 3-1/4" and weighing a mere 12 ounces, the Free Me is slim and can be easily transported in a bag or purse. Audio is produced by two full-range speakers, delivering 360-degrees of sound.

Additional features of the "Free Me" models include:

• Wireless Audio Playback: A2DP
• LED Status Indicator
• AC Adapter
• Carrying Pouch
• USB Cable
• Stereo Mini-Plug Cable
• Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery

The Pioneer "Free Me" XW-LF3 and XW-LF1 Bluetooth speakers will be available in November with suggested retail prices of $199 and $149 respectively.

Pioneer's new Elite BDP-80FD Blu-ray Disc player incorporates advanced features and technologies including built-in Wi-Fi and Miracast, YouTube, "Send to TV" capability, SACD playback, HDMI output, and iControlAV app control.

The player supports the most popular video and audio file formats including Flash Video (.flv), WMV (.wmv), MKV, FLAC, WAV (.wma) and more. It also supports playback of DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, and Super Audio CD high-quality audio disc formats. The player helps to enhance compressed audio content with Sound Retriever Link, which initiates the Sound Retriever feature on compatible Pioneer products.

For plug-and-play capability right out of the box, the BDP-80FD features DLNA and built-in Wi-Fi. It can also work as a DMP/DMR (Digital Media Player/Digital Media Renderer) to push content directly from a portable source such as a compatible smartphone or tablet. With the Miracast feature via Wi-Fi direct, users can echo the content of their compatible smartphone or tablet device directly on to a connected display. In addition, the BDP-80FD offers YouTube "Send to TV, " making it easy to watch YouTube videos using paired devices.

The player includes 3D video output with HDMI 1.4a connectivity, allowing the high data transfer rate required by the Blu-ray 3D format. The unit supports HDMI 1080p/24 Hz output and 36-Bit Deep Color "x.v.Color" for accurate color reproduction in addition to Pioneer’s Stream Smoother Link, which enhances compressed video files and reduces compression noise for increased image quality when connected to a compatible AV Receiver.

The Pioneer BDP-80FD Blu-ray 3D player will be available in August with a suggested retail price of $299.

Pioneer's the SP-SB03 Speaker Base TV Audio System has been designed by legendary speaker engineer Andrew Jones to deliver full-range sound performance and replace the audio that comes from the small low-powered speakers built into today’s flat panel televisions.

Pioneer’s Speaker Base follows in the tradition of the Speaker Bar and uses a composite wood cabinet to give the unit better control of the speakers and resistance to unwanted resonance.

The Speaker Base features six individual drivers, two custom 4-inch woofers, two 3-inch mid-range drivers and two 1-inch soft dome tweeters. The mid-range drivers and tweeters sit at the front of the unit, while two dedicated woofers are built into the bottom of the Speaker Base enclosure. Incorporating the woofers to the bottom delivers an all-in-one "single point" source, as well as the convenience of a single wire connection.

Each of the six built-in drivers is powered by an individual amplifier. Each amplifier produces up to 28 Watts of power (1kHz 1% THD @ 4 Ohm).

The integrated amplifiers in the Speaker Base are complemented by a matching active crossover network. Utilizing an active crossover enabled Andrew Jones to use higher order filter points (speakers’ cutoff frequencies and steeper roll-off slopes [a.k.a. attenuation]) to achieve improved audio transitions between the woofers and the tweeters, resulting in improved speaker response, vocals and off-axis listening.

The 3D audio expansion mode is ideal for movies, which creates a wider sound field experienced by the consumer. A quick press of the "EXP" button located on the remote control initiates the mode.

The Speaker Base also features Dolby Digital Decoding and three sound modes including music, movies and dialogue. Dialogue is a late night mode that optimizes dialogue conversations and significantly reduces "loud" passages. For added convenience, users can teach the unit to respond to their own remote control’s commands via the learning mode feature. The Speaker Base also features built-in Bluetooth connectivity to enable wireless music streaming from a smartphone device, with the ability pair two devices simultaneously.

Pioneer’s Speaker Base will be available in October with a suggested retail price of $349.99.

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today introduced the industry’s first Energy Star® 3.0 certified audio video receivers –

The new Elite SC-81 and SC-82 7.2-channel receivers are the first to come with with the Energy Star 3.0 certification. They feature Pioneer’s Class D3 amplification technology, ESS SABRE Premier Audio DACs (192kHz/24-bit), 4K 60P Ultra HD compatibility, multi-channel high resolution playback, the recently announced HDMI 2.0 specification, Roku Ready certification, expanded multi-zone and multi-source management and functionality, and Pioneer’s proprietary iControlAV App.

For advanced home theater control, both receivers are certified for compatibility with the most popular custom control companies, Crestron and Control4, and offer custom installation features including full two-way RS-232C and IP control, with the ability to receive metadata from network and iOS connected devices.

Both receivers are offering a variety of multi-zone set-up configurations, providing simultaneous entertainment from different sources in up to three zones – a main zone, a powered Zone 2 (two speakers in a second room) and a third HDZone (additional HDMI source to a third room).

With the SC-82 (for Zone 2), the model adds the ability to adjust tone (treble and bass), volume and balance (left and right), and the option to incorporate a subwoofer to create a more powerful 2.1-channel system. The SC-82 also offers output for a fourth zone (Zone 3), a two channel audio experience with the ability to control volume and balance.

Both Elite SC-81 and SC-82 receivers will be available in July with suggested retail prices of $1,000 and $1,300 respectively.