Can speakers ruin a monitor?

If you have speakers sitting on your desktop, next to your computer screen, can they damage your monitor or affect its color?

The thought is that audio speakers have magnets in them, and these magnets if they are too big or unshielded can have an immediate effect on the color of a monitor that uses magnetic fields. Colors and shapes will be bent into strange patterns near the location of the magnet. Sounds scary, doesn't it?!

While there is a measure of truth to this rumor, here are a few points to keep in mind:

• This problem only effects CRT displays, not the modern LCD which uses a completely different technology.
• This only happens when the speaker has a big enough magnet and is close enough to effect the CRT.
• You can tell immediately if this distortion is taking place, and remove the speaker from the proximity of the display.
• If you notice any lasting effects of this magnetic interference, you can run your CRT through its "de-gaussing" routine, and it should come back to normal (newer CRTs run a degauss every time they are turned on.)
  

New Barbieri Spectro Coming

Here's something new. Barbieri is going to announce a new spectrophotometer at FESPA digital in Hamburg, Germany in about a month. FESBA is a digital print trade show for the (mostly) European market, and it starts May 24th. Barbieri makes several other spectros which we have tested and liked (and commented on). I can't wait to see what new instrument is coming out on the market!

Besides the Spectro LFP and Spectro Swing, BARBIERI electronic will present their new model of spectrophotometers which is specially designed for a wide range of Large Format Printing applications.

http://www.barbierielectronic.com/n_FESPA2011.htm

Eizo CG243W review

This review is long overdue. I had a chance to test drive this display a few months ago, and have just gotten around to writing up my findings. I am amazed at what I had been hiding for several months! In comparing its profiles with other monitors I have reviewed, the CG243 has the largest gamut of all of them. I am astonished (and embarrassed) that it's taken me so long to bring this out.

http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Eizo_CG243W_review

New ColorEdge CG275W automatic self-calibrating

The ColorEdge CG275W is the first 27" hi-end professional model to include automatic self-calibration. Like the CG245W (released in 2010), the CG275W also has a built-in sensor that can be scheduled at any time at any calibration interval. No doubt that the CG275W will set the new standard for high end color accuracy.

There is no pricing yet. The CG275W is projected to arrive June or July this year.

Features include:

• Factory adjustment of gamma produces the most consistently accurate gradations possible
• Highly accurate Built-In Calibration Sensor built into lower bezel
• Allows correlation with 3rd party sensors for device standardization
• 3D-LUT memory for better additive color mixture and secondary device simulations
• 10-bit display allows the monitor to show 1.07 billion colors simultaneously from a 16-bit look-up table (LUT), when used with a graphics board and software which support 10-bit output.
• Digital Uniformity Equalizer (DUE) compensates for fluctuations in brightness and chroma uniformity that are characteristic of LCD panels.
• EIZO-patented technology stabilizes the brightness after start up or coming out of sleep mode.
• Integrated sensor counteracts the influence that changes in ambient temperature have on the display of color tones.
• DVI-D, DisplayPort, and Mini DisplayPort inputs.
• IPS (in-plane switching) LCD panel with 2560 × 1440 native resolution
• 850:1, 6 ms gray-to-gray response time and 178° viewing angles.
• Wide color gamut reproduces 97% of the Adobe RGB color space, 102% vs NTSC
• ~$200 CG monitor hood included
• 5 Year Eizo Warranty

....and more


And yes, CHROMiX will carry the CG275W, and all other CG and SX models at competitive prices.

New 27" FlexScan LCD from Eizo!

To address the need for larger screen sizes, Eizo has recently announced a new 27" LCD monitor:

The FlexScan SX2762W, ideal for cost conscience color professionals.

The FlexScan SX2762W will appeal to many users for its competitive price point (guessing around $1200-$1500). Although it has many great features (see below), the SX2762W and other SX models will be the first non-CG series to have the ability to be monitor-hardware calibrated.

Monitor-hardware calibration allows the monitor itself to be internally calibrated rather than the computer’s video graphics board. This ensures no color tones are lost in the calibration process and results in more predictable on-screen color. Required for this will be the new EIZO EasyPIX Ver. 2 color matching tool. Easy PIX Ver. 2 includes software and the EIZO EX1 color sensor.

Features include:

• Wide color gamut reproduces 97% of the Adobe RGB color space.
• 10-bit display allows the monitor to show 1.07 billion colors simultaneously from a 16-bit look-up table (LUT), when used with a graphics board and software which support 10-bit output.
• Digital Uniformity Equalizer (DUE) compensates for fluctuations in brightness and chroma uniformity that are characteristic of LCD panels.
• EIZO-patented technology stabilizes the brightness after start up or coming out of sleep mode.
• Integrated sensor counteracts the influence that changes in ambient temperature have on the display of color tones.
• DVI-D, DisplayPort, and Mini DisplayPort inputs.
• IPS (in-plane switching) LCD panel with 2560 × 1440 native resolution
• 850:1, 6 ms gray-to-gray response time and 178° viewing angles.

....and more


And yes, CHROMiX will carry the SX2762W as well as all other CG and SX models at competitive prices.

Extending Curve2's Color References

We recently had a user ask:

"There are only three color references included with Curve2. What do we do if we use a different color reference?"

First, thanks for the feedback, we read it, we like it, we use it.

Second, I get to say Hey! that's already in there!

Check page 13 of the manual.

All you need to do is:

1. Create a folder called "Color Standards" in the same folder as the application
2. Then load any CGATS files you want into it (IT8, P2P or other)
3. Restart Curve2 (folder is only traversed when Curve starts)

You will then see your additions in the pulldown menu for color references!


thanks,

Steve

Curve2.1 released

We have released a brand-new version of Curve2, our G7 calibration software for printing press calibration. Version 2.1 includes:

• VPR (Virtual Press Run),
  
• Support for PressSync curves, and
  
• Support for OneRun targets.
  

All these features are available for Window and Mac platforms. This is a free upgrade for all Curve2 customers.

Curve2.1: Download Here Purchase NEW or UPGRADE

Don't understand Curve2? Take a short tour with our YouTube videos: 20 min Curve2 Overview