Thinking outside the box: our man in New York covers the Home Entertainment 2004 Show.

This is the fifth Home Entertainment Show that I've covered, and I'm happy to report that speaker design keeps getting better. Each time I audition 4050 speakers, and give you both my impressions as the show went along and my conclusions now that I've had a chance to reflect on what I heard. Starting with some introductory conclusions:

The 2004 Show was back at the New York Hilton, which is probably the best venue that you'll find in New York City. There's plenty of electric power, plenty of air conditioning, almost enough elevators, and almost enough soundproofing (with an empty room as buffer between most audition rooms).

Home theater demos put a strain on the soundproofing on the upper floors, particularly when they leave the door open. They really need to figure out a better way to keep them away from the pure-music rooms--maybe one floor for home theater and the other for music only, or one wing for home theater on each floor. But there was at least one exhibit where it was totally impossible to hear the sweet music for the low frequency effects spilling over from a nearby room.

There seemed to be fewer outrageous tweak concepts this year. Single-ended triode tube amps were much less evident than last time. The Harmonix Cable Support (see #32 below) was the most noticeable voodoo device, but pucks and crystals were thankfully sparse and one man was having trouble buying a green pen to treat his CDs.

But the best news is that speakers keep getting better and better. At the first show I found lots of design flaws that produced boomy bass, screechy highs, and boxy or chesty mids. Boomy bass is still a problem, because that's caused by interaction with the room resonances and hotel rooms aren't where speakers are designed, but the vendors seem to be getting used to the Hilton so it's not as bad. Screechy highs tended to come with super-efficient speakers, so the ebbing of the s-e triode fad has thinned their numbers. But the boxy or chesty midrange sound was a tough speaker-box design problem and it's great to see that modern speaker design has it pretty well handled. So now when you're in the market for new speakers you can focus on sound and appearance, and you can think outside the box!

As usual the Show was spread out over five floors. The second floor included registration, several bazaars of CD and accessory vendors, and some big demo rooms. The fourth floor included eight big demo rooms, and the Concourse level (basement to you) had eight large but largely overlooked rooms. The sixth and seventh floors included the bulk of the show, and most of the Sensible systems. Being a sensible person, I started on the seventh floor and worked my way down.

Day One

1. Living Voice <www.livingvoice.co.uk> The Auditorium speaker line includes three similar-looking models, with two 6" woofers in a D'Appolito arrangement (although the tweeter is offset to one side) in a 40"-tall rectangular cabinet. The basic Auditorium II ($3,600--not heard) uses Vifa paper cone woofers and a Vifa tweeter.

The mid-grade Avatar II ($5,700) puts bigger magnets on the paper woofers, a ScanSpeak tweeter, upgraded crossover components, and better cabinet bracing. Mel Torme was being played very loudly, but the bass stayed tight and the voice was very natural. Great sound.

The top of the line Avatar OBX-R II ($8,300) uses the very expensive Scanspeak Revelator tweeter and the crossover is moved to an outboard enclosure. This was in a different room, and at loud listening levels there was some bass bloom; at a lower level the sound was very natural. These speakers sounded nice, but didn't impress me as much as the Avatar II--probably because of the choice of music or the slightly different room layout.

That last note is a good reality check for a show report. The exhibitors have very little time to set up their systems in a strange hotel room. Some get lots of room-deadening gizmos from the gizmo manufacturers, others either don't get offers or prefer to go natural; some speakers happen to work great in the hotel room but wouldn't in your living room--and vice versa. And some rooms get hijacked by a one of the cooperating exhibitors or an idiosyncratic fan (or just bad taste or hearing loss that leads to, for instance, The Village People at top volume ...). So, if a speaker sounded good to me at the show, there's a good chance it will sound good in your room. But if it sounded bad, there's a 50-50 shot that it didn't get a fair audition.

The main product being demoed in this room was the Chord Electronics Choral system, a very stylish group of small but expensive components. Chord calls this their "lifestyle" series, but it strikes me as over-the-top. If Bang & Olufsen took steroids, this is what might result. The system on display included a CD transport, DAC, pre-amp, and power amp in identically-sized metal cases stacked in a matching metal rack ($20,000). It sounded good and looked good (if a little strange), but the ergonomics could use work.

2. Epos <www.epos-acoustics.com> Roy Hall of Music Hall Audio always has one of the nicest rooms at the show. The room isn't too crowded, because he doesn't play knock-your-socks-off soundtracks at obscene volumes, but the natural sound and normal volumes are like an oasis. That fits right in with Epos speakers, because their forte is playing music at comfortable levels.

The main room was showing the new top of the line Epos M22 ($2,000), a small 3-way tower with two 6" woofers and a 1" aluminum dome tweeter. The cabinet is a nicely finished cherry veneer rectangle. Without grilles it looks great: simple lines that are the antithesis of the Chord trendiness. But for something completely different, the grilles are perforated black metal: they change the appearance to a more modern look. The sound was amazing: a Nat Cole Lp with a lifelike vocal presence and nice tight bass. Roy was also showing his latest Music Hall electronics, the Maven 2-channel A-V receiver (yes, two channel sound--for those who want home theater video but can't fit surround speakers).

The other room had the least expensive Epos ELS3 ($330), a small bookshelf two-way (on $200 ST35 stands) with Creek solid state electronics. Female voice was very natural, but the mid-bass seemed boosted--not a successful attempt.

3. Horning Hybrid <www.horninghybrid.com> The Agathon Ultimate ($15,000) is big, strange, ugly--and they didn't sound good either. This is a three-way horn-loaded design with a custom fabric dome tweeter, a highly modified Lowther full-range driver being used as a mid-range, and two rear-firing 12" short-throw woofers that weigh 75 lbs. each. The cabinet includes separate chambers that all feed a horn opening on the bottom. The sample was finished in zebra wood, but with so many pieces that the grain clashed and ended up looking like bad faux veneer. My only note about the sound was that it was bad, but this is the kind of speaker that will often sound terrible in a hotel room. Maybe a much bigger room would let them shine.

4. WHT <www.cc-audio.com> The Black Satin speakers ($12,500) are unusual but not unattractive. The 8" woofer is mounted at the top of the front panel, loaded into a curved horn opening that makes up the bottom half of the front. Just below the woofer is a ribbon tweeter. The exhibitor complained about room problems; they had added lots of sound absorbing panels but the bass still sounded very loose. They claim the bass is tuned to 30Hz, but they were showcasing a recording of a 6 foot diameter tympani which didn't sound very large at all, and the highs were harsh.

Electronics in this room were Thor Audio TPA60 Mono-Block tube amps. The styling is unusual: 16" round chassis with the tubes exposed on top. They offer a lifetime warranty, but I wonder if that applies to households with pets or small children ...

5. Marten Design <www.martendesign.com> The Coltrane Alto speaker ($24,000) is a beautifully finished large bookshelf, or maybe you could call it a height-challenged tower--the stand holds it about a foot off the floor. The front panel has a 1" ceramic tweeter and a 5" ceramic mid driver; the 9" ceramic bass driver fires out the bottom. The cabinet has rounded front corners, a boat-tail back, and grooves along the top that remind me of a classic CrissCraft power boat--but unlike a CrissCraft this isn't sensual. The sound reflected the model name with great sound on sax, but had a boomy mid-bass and no deep bass. Except that this price is already stratospheric I'd encourage them to develop a "Rollins Tenor" model ...

6. Focus Audio <www.focusaudio.com> The FS 888 ($6750) is the top of the Signature line, a two-way tower with two 7" Kevlar woofers and a ScanSpeak Revelator soft-dome tweeter. The 46" high cabinet is solidly built and beautifully finished in piano burr oak, piano walnut or piano black. They should sound good, but a classical selection had a very distant soundstage and no deep bass; not involving. Switching to the Village People, the soundstage was also distant except for a throbbing drum--unlike Yankee Stadium where the groundskeepers dance to YMCA and the crowd is inspired to join in, here the voices and the brass were in the outfield and I stayed firmly planted in my seat.

Electronics included Blue Circle power amps, which are so large that I expected to see a button labeled "spin cycle."

7. Prame <www.hifiavsupplies.com> Prame is a French speaker that is imported by HiFiAVSupplies of NYC. The HR-2 ($12,000) is large, mysterious, and apparently still under development. Try to picture this: the bottom cabinet holds a 12" woofer that fills the entire width and the top 2/3 of the height; the top cabinet is the same only mounted upside down; in the middle is a very large wooden horn tweeter; and the three are linked together by side braces that are either curved (as shown on the website) or straight (as in the direct-from-the-plane example on display). These may not be the strangest looking speakers I've ever seen, but they're in the top five. I was told there are no specs because the manufacturer won't give them out.

When I came into the room they were playing strings and bird calls, and my initial reaction was "classic horn sound (ouch)." Female vocal with piano was very natural, with a forward but realistic presence; bass fiddle not overpowering (only a little smeared despite the absence of room treatment). Even when played very loud the voice never got harsh. So they may be on to something, je ne sais quoi.

8. Rethm <www.rethm.com> The Second Rethm ($6,500) is a bigger brother to the Third Rethm that I heard at the last show. From the front, this doesn't look that strange except that there's only one large driver and the front panel is a vertical cylinder. From the side, all sorts of strangeness breaks out as you notice the cabinet extends very far to the back but is pierced by two large holes that are lined with black fabric. It seems that this is another application of the (in)famous Lowther driver, this time run full-range as intended. Lowthers are very efficient but extremely difficult to drive, and the Second Rethm's labyrinth port-loading doesn't change that--that's why they were chosen by Red Planet for this room, to show off their HT102 5-channel 100 wpc power amp ($4,200). The sound was quite wonderful, not at all thin and horny as I reported on the Rethm at the last show. Top marks to Red Planet for the guts to use this difficult speaker, and more so for succeeding!

9. Goldmund <www.goldmundusa.com> The Epilogue I speaker is a 7" two-way bookshelf in a sharp-cornered metallic cabinet with industrial-looking mounting flanges on the sides. The $26,140 speakers were shown on metal stands (price not available). Female vocal was nice; there wasn't much bass, but it was nice and tight; even when loud there was no harshness. I was told that the Epilogue I is usually used as the mid-tweeter with an Epilogue 2 woofer ($42,770) all linked together by the Frankenstein laboratory apparatus Epiframel ($11,760). That would probably sound very nice indeed, but we're talking about $80,000 and a sure divorce ...

10. thiphi <www.thiphiaudio.com> The Model 8801 5.1 home theater speaker system ($1,200) includes five tiny bookshelf satellites with 3" full-range drivers and an 8" "sub" woofer. The center channel includes the system command center; the subwoofer unit includes a preamp with digital decoding and a power amp (30W for the sub, 7W each for the satellites); and there's a credit card size remote. All in all a very well thought-out system, but unfortunately not enough bass for home theater.

They were also showing (but not playing) their Model 6A 2.1 "versatile speaker system" ($700). Designed by Ken Kantor, this is a high-style speaker designed for flat panel monitors (plasma TV or Macintosh Cinema Display, but it would look out of place with a chinky PC monitor). The tweeter unit has six 1" titanium tweeters in a vertical line, with a 3" midrange hidden on the back; it can stand on a desk but is designed to mount to the sides of a monitor. The subwoofer unit is a long rectangle with a woofer at each end (how big? one brochure says 6.5", another 8"); this also contains the electronics including 100W for the woofer and 4x20W for the satellites. Connection between the woofer and the satellites is via CAT5 cable with RG45 connectors (think computer Ethernet). With the Ken Kantor cachet and all this interesting technology, I'd like to give this a listen (and I've got just the Cinema23 monitor to use it with).

11. Omega Speaker Systems <www.omegaloudspeakers.com> The Grande 8 Standard ($1,000) is a full-range 8" bookshelf designed for low-power amps (as little as 1.5 watts). It was being demoed by Robyatt Audio to show off their Italian handmade Tekton 2A3/50SI integrated tube amp ($1,800). The unique thing about this amp is that Robin Wyatt was pulling tubes out and popping in different ones to show the way the sound can be changed and that the amp works great with a wide range of power tubes--and he was doing this while the music kept playing!

With an EMI Lp of "Carmen" the lower strings sounded lush but the violins got harsh on top (which may be on the recording). On a DVD-Audio the bass was very punchy, not "tube-like" at all.

12. Aperion Audio <www.aperionaudio.com> Aperion was showing their speakers in a 6.1 setup, but they were most excited about their new website with its interactive "System Builder" feature that helps you configure and purchase the right home theater system for your room size, including Aperion speakers, Onkyo electronics, and even stands and cables, all with a thirty day free home trial.

They were showing the 522D-PT tower ($1,200) at the front, 522D-VAC ($280 ea.) center, 522D-LR bookshelf ($360) sides, a new switchable bipole/ dipole rear ($250 each), and S-10 powered sub ($500). Nice trim cabinets, finished in either medium cherry or gloss black. Sound on a 6.1 movie DVD had harsh a movie theater sound timbre; a different movie DVD in 5.1 had less going on in the surround channels; vocal music in 2.1 sounded very natural, leanish but musical with a tight bass.

13. Linn <www.linn.co.uk> Linn seems to push home theater at these shows. Last time they had a 5.1 system featuring the Ninka tower speaker. This time they moved up to the new Akurate line, but they eschewed the 242 tower in favor of the 212 bookshelf ($5,750/pr. plus $900 for a pair of stands) front and rear, with the 225 center ($3,750 ea.) and the 221 sub ($3,750 ea.). This was a much better system, with very nice sound from a James Taylor concert video. Using the towers in the front would add about $3,000 to this $20,800 system. The sound was nice, but not that nice compared to some much less expensive systems.

14. Innersound <www.innersound.net> Last time I was blown away by the Eros Mk II electrostatic speakers, although the presentation was a little suspicious because these very large speakers were toed in very tightly to a single-chair sweet spot. The impression was like wearing headphones, and while it was very good it also suggested that these speakers might not be the most flexible around, probably because the curved stators are very beamy. This year the product line has been completely revised under new management, with flat stators and upgraded finish. Unfortunately, prices have also been upgraded, so that last year's funky bargain at $6,000 is no more.

The Kaya Reference ($20,000) is the larger model, with a 10" transmission line woofer at the bottom of a 6 foot electrostatic panel, with an external electronic crossover/bass amplifier like the old Eros Mk II. The blend between the woofer and the electrostatic panels was seamless. The sound got harsh at loud volumes, but at a normal listening volume was exquisite.

The Kachina ($12,000) is the smaller version, with an 8" woofer and a 5 1/2 foot panel. Despite a doubling of price and shrinking of size from the Eros, the crossover has been downgraded to a passive one and the bass amplifier is no longer included. This model also showed a tendency to get harsh when loud, on a close-mic'd recording of acoustic guitar and male vocal. A second selection of female vocal with orchestra was very nicely balanced and musical, with great bass; even when played very loud the sound stayed sweet, although the bass finally started to overload the room.

15. Bohlender Graebener <www.bgcorp.com> This may be the replacement for the bargain flat panel slot that innersound has vacated. The 520i Planar Hybrid Loudspeaker ($4,000) is a tall thin tower that appears to be pure planar, but has a pair of 6.5" woofers cleverly hidden at the base (using two smaller drivers matches the width of the 50" tall planar driver). The system shown also included the 210i Powered Subwoofer ($1,500), which uses two 10" woofers joined by the cylindrical cabinet for the same anti-vibration effect as a metal rod linking the baskets. I had a very interesting discussion about why planars are good (the best, even) for home theater. I don't know about that, but the sound of the ubiquitous James Taylor concert DVD was very good.

There's also a 220i Planar Center Channel Speaker, with two 6'5" woofers, two 8" planar mid drivers and a 3" planar-ribbon tweeter, and a pair of Planar In-wall Loudspeakers that duplicate the sound of the 520i (but with four 5.25" woofers) and the 220i (but with two 5.25" woofers). Both the left-right and center channel in-walls mount vertically and require a cut-out less than 6" wide.

16. Reference 3A <www.reference3a.com> Last time they showed the MM de Capo-i bookshelf, which I thought was too ordinary for its $2,500 price. This time they had a smaller speaker, the Dulcet compact monitor ($1,700), which claims to get "astonishingly deep and resolute bass" from a 5.5" bass driver. Apparently they don't believe their own hype, because the system also included the Nola Thunderbolt subwoofer ($1,700) from a different manufacturer. But even with that there was almost no bass and a thin sound.

17. Bosendorfer <www.bosendorfer.com> Yes, that Bosendorfer. World-famous for their pianos, they have apparently decided to hedge their bets by branching out into sound re-production. And they also decided to bring their acoustic strength--the piano soundboard--to the loudspeaker world. Instead of trying to damp out panel vibrations (as Reference 3A does with Corian cabinet material) to minimize room interaction, Bosendorfer mounts piano soundboard panels on the sides of their speaker cabinets and includes screws that you can loosen or tighten to tune the sound for the particular room interaction you want.

The sound from a nearfield seat was awful: thin sound and a recessed center image. Moving back was much better: warmer and a smoother soundstage. The designer said they were set up for a two-channel home theater demo; for music they should be wider apart and further from the seats.

This is a very interesting concept, but it goes against my principles. I gladly switched from records to CDs because it eliminated so many variables that needed constant tweaking and let me just listen to the music. Similarly, I'm looking for speakers that are room tolerant, not "projects" like this. And I wonder if the people who would be attracted by the Bosendorfer name will want to put that much effort into speaker set-up either.

Day Two

18. WEGG3 <www.wegg3.com> William Eggleston, formerly of Eggleston Works, has moved on to this new company whose first line was distinguished by what The New York Times called "industrial baroque" styling. The new Stelar 1 speaker ($5,600), is the first in a new usonian line with more sensual, and somewhat more normal, styling. This is a 3-way tower with a rounded top, front and rear panels that slope in starting about 1/ 3 of the way up, and gloss black finish. There's undoubtedly a lot more to say about these speakers, but they weren't the point of the exhibit so I couldn't get much info and the website hasn't been updated to cover them in depth either. That's a pity, because the sound was lovely: full tight bass, good timbral balance, and sweet highs.

The real focus of the exhibit was the April Music (www.aprilmusic.com) Stello DP200 preamplifier ($2,000), which digitizes analog inputs and upsamples digital inputs to 192kHz. I can see the point of doing the original analog-to-digital conversion at 192kHz to preserve finer detail, but I don't see how later upsampling can restore the detail that has already been lost in CD mastering. Nor did the quick switches from 192kHz to 96, 48 and "bypass" give me a chance to hear any differences. This strikes me as another way to eliminate the wonderful simplicity of digital sound and get back to the constant tweaking that vinyl luddites seem to crave.

19. Odyssey <www.odysseyaudio.com> The Epiphony 6.5" two-way bookshelf ($600) was producing amazing sound. I would rate it the best value of the show. Phoebe Snow had a natural warm sound on the voice with full tight bass in the instruments. The bass isn't as deep and they can't play as loud as the Lorelei towers, but otherwise the sound is similar and the price is right!

The Lorelei ($2,700) uses the 6.6" ScanSpeak Revelator woofer and a 22 lb. crossover in a small tower cabinet for added bass, clarity and presence. Beautiful sound, including big bass without overloading the room (and no room treatment). This was the best sound in the show up to this point, and given the room friendliness I'd say it's the most Sensible sound at the show. I have a pair of these in for review, so you can expect to read more soon.

The marketing angle here is that these are Rolf Gemein Symphonic Line designs (as are the electronics), which when imported from Germany cost several times as much as these US versions. The Lorelei speakers can be mated to the Tempest preamp and the Stratos power amp, with Groneberg interconnect and speaker cables included, for a package price of $4,500. The Epiphony speakers with the Etesian passive preamp, Khartage power amp and cables is $1,500. These are real bargains because you get great sound at a great price.

20. Merlin Music Systems <www.merlinmusic.com> Each year Merlin seems to introduce another upgrade to their already highly developed VSM small tower speaker. The latest model is the VSM-MX ($10,000) which gets huge bass out of a small 6.5" two-way tower by using an external Bass Augmentation Module. The change from last year's model is an upgrade to the crossover components, and a price increase from $7,000. The sound was again excellent, with full but tight bass. These are the smallest great-sounding speakers I know, so if you have a big budget and a little room (or major decorating issues) these could be just the ticket.

21. Kharma Loudspeakers <www.kharma.com> The Ceramique Reference Monitor 3.2FE ($21,000) is a small tower with a 1.5" Focal/Kharma tweeter, a 7" concave ceramic woofer, and silver coils in the crossover. There's also a similar model with the ScanSpeak Revelator tweeter (everybody else's top tweeter, here a "downgrade") and plain wire for only $13,500, but I haven't heard it so don't know what you lose. What you got at the show, with the Ceramique Subwoofer ($7,000) was very hard and edgy violins on loud passages and bass that didn't go very deep but overloaded the room resonances.

Another room had one of the cheaper speakers in Kharma's top line, the Exquisite Reference Midi 1A-DE ($75,000). This is a much larger speaker that includes a 1" Diamond dome tweeter, 7" concave ceramic midrange, and two 9" Nomex Kevlar woofers in a four-way configuration. The cabinet is styled in a fussy combination of wood veneer, smooth black gloss and grooves (no grilles of course). The sound had a cool timbre; it didn't get hard but it sounded flat and compressed; not much bass despite two big woofers per side.

22. Spendor <www.spendoraudio.com> Spendor was one of the BBC licensees producing the famous LS3/5a bookshelf speaker, but they have now branched out with a full line. The S5e ($1,650) is a small 2.5-way tower with a 1" tweeter and a pair of 5.5" drivers for mid-bass and bass. The thin cabinet is very attractive with or without grilles. The sound was somewhat cool and forward but musical, and the bass was amazing for the size.

In another room they had the top of the line S9e ($4,800), which enlarges the lower driver to 8.6" in a true 3-way design and a larger cabinet. There was much more "room" around the vocalist and instruments, more presence, more bass. The sound was still slightly cool but much more inviting.

23. Piega of Switzerland <www.piega.ch> The C 3 LTD mini-tower ($11,000) has Piega's unique concentric ribbon midrange and tweeter, and two 7" woofers in a brushed aluminum cabinet with perforated metal grille. They were also using the P SUB 1 subwoofer ($3,600), which has two 10" drivers and a 500 watt amp. Sound was excellent. A bass fiddle solo sounded very natural, with good body and string/fingerboard sound and amazing presence. Piano was also excellent (the high notes got a little hard, but I don't know the recording).

24. Yamaha <www.yamaha.com> The DPX1100 video projector ($12,000) uses TI's HD2+ DLP chip with a unique Yamaha muffler design (they took advantage of the Japanese conglomerate structure to get some help from their motorcycle division) to keep the fan noise inaudible. I had been sitting right next to the projector and never heard it even on quiet passages. So, great picture and no sound! [Odd praise in a Hi-Fi magazine, no?]

25. Tetra <www.tetraspeakers.com> The 505 LTD ($8,000) is an 8" two-way tower with very unusual styling. The bottom is a fairly normal rectangular cabinet but the drivers are mounted in a tetrahedron (that's an equilateral pyramid, in case you--like me--didn't know) that sits on top. The basic model has a front port; a more deluxe version has a rear port that allows for a raised design on the front panel, and includes a choice of custom finishes. The Bill Evans Trio was played too loud, but the sound was very natural; the piano only showed a little hardness and the bass was deep and tight with no room overload.

They also had their 305 mini-tower ($3,000) from the cheaper Manhattan line. This is a 4.5" two-way mini-tower that looks like a satellite speaker sitting on a thick wooden stand. This system also included the REL <www.rel.net> Acoustics Stadium III 10" subwoofer (price not available). Norah Jones sounded much better than she had on a more expensive system heard earlier in the day, but the sub wasn't perfectly matched to the satellites.

26. Almarro <www.almarro.com> The M0[zero]A bookshelf ($1,200) is a small bookshelf (no specs available) that claims bass extension to 45Hz but without mentioning rolloff. The Diana Krall selection showed a very natural voice but the bass didn't go very deep.

27. Hyperion <www.hyperionsound.com> The HPS-938 ($4,000) comprises the pyramidal HPS-906 tweeter-mid module (with the "Synchro-Vibrate Flattop"--I kid you not), but replaces its pyramid-base combination shipping carton/speaker stand with a rectangular woofer cabinet with two 8" drivers. Shirley Horn sounded very nice, but the volume level was too high and the bass was overloading the room very much. A drum & chant selection was very good, with great drum impact--but again played way too loud. An orchestral section had thick textures--yet again too loud, but the listener who had supplied the CD asked for it even louder! I left.

28. Gershman Acoustics <www.gershmanacoustics.com> I've heard the large Opera Sauvage sarcophagus-shaped towers ($23,000) several times before, and always complained about too little bass. Not this time: the bass rattled the Hilton's concrete floor but didn't set up any dreaded standing waves despite really loud volumes; really good! Female voice was natural. The speakers use two 10" woofers, a 6" midrange, and a 1" dome tweeter in a cabinet with 18 layers of bonded MDF with a wavy internal surface (and 210 lbs. per speaker). They didn't claim any changes this year, but this is the best sound I've heard from these speakers. They're not for delicate, airy soundstaging, but they are great for playing loud and staying musical: opera sauvage indeed!

Speaking of sauvages, right in front of the left speaker was a little mouse cowering on the carpet. Everybody thought it was an attention-getting toy, but apparently it was just part of the Hilton's room service amenities.

In another room they had a 5.1 home theater setup with the Avant Garde RX-20 towers ($4,800) in front, CC-X center ($1,300 ea.) and X-1R rear ($1,700). The Nora Jones concert video had great sound with amazing bass (with no subwoofer)--the best I've heard this recording. These speakers are good looking too. This could be a great home theater + audio solution, since the deep bass response of the front speakers gets around the infamous bass-management problems of DVD-A.

29. Wisdom <www.wisdomaudio.com> This 5.1 system dwarfed the Gershman in size, but not in sound. The NS-27 ($10,000) combines a 24" planar mid and 3" planar tweeter with a 12" underhung woofer--and they used two pairs of these, front and rear. I didn't get any specs on the center channel speakers (other than the price, $3,200 ea.), or the subwoofer (a huge "coffee table" design at $5,900 ea.). I also didn't get any bass impact--the bass drum was totally missing--but otherwise voice and instruments sounded very good. But there sure wasn't $29,000 worth of bass.

30. Penaudio <www.penaudio.fi> The web address tells you these speakers are from Finland, and they are as hard to find in the marketplace as Finland is hard for an American to find on the map ("somewhere past New Jersey"). The Charisma 4.7" two-way mini-monitor ($3,000) sits perfectly atop the Chara "subwoofer" ($2,500) to produce a very thin rectangular tower. There's a lot of technology in the cabinet design, but what you notice is the laser-etched birch veneer whose black and blond strips look like large toothpicks until your fingers prove the surface is smooth. The other thing I noticed was the sound: the lovely Albinoni bass fiddle/organ duet CD showed its full beauty and drew me in. But a female vocal selection, although very nice on the voice and drums, had blurry bass that lacked extension. Sorry, but 7" drivers don't make "sub" woofers in any part of the world.

31. Naim <www.naim-audio.com> The first room had a home theater setup featuring the SL2 ($9,000) in front, AXESS center ($2,350 ea.), and ALLAE rears ($3,900). No subwoofer, so the total system cost is $15,250. The SL2 is a 7.8" two-way tower with separate boxes for the drivers and the bass-loading chamber. The front panel is curved from top to bottom, for a distinctive and stylish look. But at the last show I found the sound forward and lean, with a muddy mid-bass and no low bass. That proved out again here, as the Master and Commander battle scene was not very impressive.

Their other room featured the Ariva small tower speaker ($2,400), with two 7" bass-mid drivers (sounds like a two- or two-and-a-half-way, but they call it a three-way) and a sloped front panel. The room also featured the Naim Series 5 electronics, which are slim and stylish. Male vocal with piano bad beautiful timbre and great presence, although the piano got some bass bloom when loud. On another selection a bass fiddle overloaded the room with midbass and Johnny-one-note resonance--I think they're trying to do too much with too little.

32. Reimyo <www.combak.net> Reimyo is the speaker and electronics arm of Harmonix, which makes "professional turning devices" including this show's ubiquitous tweak, the Cable Support a-1 ($865 for a pair of wood blocks with a groove on top to hold your cables off the floor).

The Bravo mini-monitor ($3,900) uses a 6.7" driver with a concentrically mounted 1" tweeter in a small bookshelf cabinet. As shown they were mounted atop prototype B-bass subwoofers ($3,900) which each include two 6" ported drivers. A falsetto male vocal with electric piano, sax, electric guitar and drums sounded very natural (to the extent that you can call falsetto natural), but lacked bass extension, suffered from midbass bloom, and had little impact. Maybe they needed more Cable Supports (or more respect for the laws of physics = bigger woofers).

Day Three

33. IsoMike Recording System <www.isomike.com> Ray Kimber was demoing his new baby, the IsoMike recording system that uses two spaced omni mics set in a large acoustic baffle and placed far back from the performers. They were playing Direct Stream Digital tapes, so we heard what the mics heard. The first selection included a bass fiddle that had too little body, a piano that sounded very far away, and a drum kit that was all highs and no body. The next selection was an a capella group that worked perfectly: "you are there" sound. A string quartet had great presence, but a lean sound; the violins were hard and nasty on top (they may have sounded that way, but I don't have to like it) and the cellos loaded the room with midbass bloom. Hard to say what was performer error, what was recording studio sound, what was speaker coloration--but the net effect didn't sell me on IsoMike.

34. DeVore Fidelity <www.devorefidelity.com> The silverback reference ($14,000) includes a 6.5" two-way grafted to a subwoofer section with two 8" drivers. The previous models are all called "gibbon" and a number; the name change here reflects "the new king of the speaker jungle." But the tag line goes on "handcrafted in new york city." Other than a broken shift key, I'm not sure I get all the connections. What I am sure of is that the demo was designed to show how loud these speakers can play--which is as loud as you can stand (louder, actually)--without the character of the sound changing at all from soft to loud. Male vocal, guitar and percussion were very natural, and the bass was deep and tight. So the new answer to the question about where a 600 lb. gorilla can sit is "Hopefully in my living room."

In their other room they had a 5.1 home theater using five of their gibbon 7.1 speakers ($1,500 ea.) in the front, center and rear positions, plus a VBT subwoofer (no specs available, since it isn't theirs). The gibbon 7.1 is a three-way large-bookshelf design with two cutouts for mounting the tweeter: you use one for vertical orientation (front and rear locations), and the other for horizontal (center channel). Thus while everybody else claims that their center speaker is similar to the corners, DeVore actually uses the same speaker in all locations. The Drumline DVD had tremendous impact from the bass and snare drums, and Animatrix showed that they work great on movie effects. Very successful, although these two movies didn't probe the full range of sound.

35. Outlaw <www.outlawaudio.com> This 7.1 home theater demo was pushing Outlaw electronics, so I couldn't get any specs on the main and surround speakers other than that they were from Vifa of Denmark. The subwoofers were the Outlaw Model LFM-1, with a 12" down-firing woofer and down-firing ports for placement flexibility and suppression of port noise complaint. They were using three of them, but the usual setup is one ($579 ea.) or two ($999 a pair, recommended for bass smoothing). The Freaky Friday earthquake scene showed how real subwoofers work: they were inaudible until the quake hit, then the whole room shook.

I don't believe that electronics make a huge difference, as long as they're well designed, and the good sound in this room shows that Outlaw products are well designed. Since their direct-sale prices are really good and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, it's easy to recommend their line.

36. mb1 <www.mbl-hifi.com> The Radialstrahler mbl 101 has now made it to mark E status, and costs $45,000 for possibly the most beautifully finished piece of Frankenstein lab equipment you'll ever see. They play loud very well, but the sound is too lean and forward with not enough deep bass to balance. And they look plain weird.

37. Epiphany Audio <www.epiphanyaudio.com> The concept here is a large number of small drivers, I guess to approximate a line source (neither their literature nor the website explains the design philosophy). The 12-12 ($15,000) is a scaled-down version of their flagship 20-21; the numbers tell you how many mid drivers (I'm guessing 3") and ribbon tweeters make up each vertical array. The system shown also included their E-Cube subwoofer ($6,500 ea.) which includes two 18" drivers on adjacent edges of the cube-shaped cabinet. On a jazz cut the bass was a little blurry but bass clarinet was spot on. Instruments became very large in the soundstage, however, so it wasn't a realistic perspective at all.

38. Wilson benesch <www.wilsonbenesch.com> Last time they had bookshelf speakers that didn't have enough bass. This time it was the Curve ($7,300), attractive 2.5-way small towers with a 7" bass, 7" bass/mid and 1" tweeter. Male vocal had natural timbre on the voice and drums had great impact--this was a very large room for such small speakers to be playing at loud levels, so it's no surprise there was some bass smear. Then they switched to a rap artist, although nobody in the audience looked like a fan of rap, and left it on so long that I decided even a video battle scene would be nicer.

39. JVC <www.jvc.com/pro> JVC was showing the DLA-HD2K home theater projector ($30,000) which uses three high definition Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier (D-ILA) chips and Faroudja electronics. D-ILA is an application of LCOS, which JVC claims has greater pixel density than DLP or LCD, and the DLA-HD2K has 1920x1080 resolution. It's also powerful: they were projecting onto a 10' wide screen and achieving film-like clarity. Outstanding picture. Now just get the cost down to my budget, and I'll never go to the movies again!

40. Anthony Gallo Acoustics <www.anthonygalloacoustics.com> Anthony Gallo's first design was a 3" full-range driver in a 4" diameter sphere. That is still the building-block of his designs. When you need more bass a sphere would be really big, but a cylinder also eliminates parallel walls and flat surfaces. He's also developed a cylindrical tweeter, so none of the acoustic surfaces are flat.

At one end of a very large room they had a big system consisting of seven Nucleus Reference 3 towers ($1,300 ea.), each of which includes the CDT cylindrical tweeter, two 3" midrange spheres, and a 10" woofer with dual voice coils that can be biamped with one full-spectrum signal and one LFE track (thus achieving subwoofer output without a separate sub). The Drumline DVD was much darker and less realistic in timbre than the DeVore Fidelity presentation (see #34 above), but had greater impact and more impressive surround presence.

At the other end of the room was a small 5.1 system using the original Micro 3" full-range microsatellites with a TR-1 10" subwoofer ($1,000 for the system). Those darn laws of physics: this was just too little for the proper impact on movies.

41. Nola <www.nolaspeakers.com> The founders of Acarian Systems, makers of the Alon speaker line, have gone on to start a new company, Accent Loudspeaker Technology. Rather than develop a new name for their speakers, they found an old Martian decoder ring from a cereal box and turned Alon into Nola. This must have seemed very clever, and I suspect that a quantity of cognac may have been involved ...

The Proteus ($45,000) is a huge speaker with lots of parts to its design: two tweeters and two raids mounted on an open baffle at the top; two woofers in a cabinet in the middle; and two pairs of subwoofer drivers mounted on the sides of a separate cabinet at the bottom. Harry Belafonte's voice and the string section sounded very natural with great presence, until he got loud and the voice developed a slight edge (like my test suite Chants d'Auvergne recording but not as bad). The bass, however, was a little boomy and one-note despite this being a large room with a concrete floor. Whistling sounded very natural, and the breaths were "right there."

42. M*Design <www.MdesignLife.com> Monster Cable is branching out into speakers, electronics, and highly styled furniture under their M*Design brand. It's hard to know where to begin, they showed so many different systems in the course of their demo.

The StreamLine Tower 8400 ($6,000) includes one 3/4" silk dome super-tweeter, forty 1.5" titanium inverted dome tweeters; fifteen 3.5" aluminum inverted dome woofers, and "built-in BlueMood lighting" that makes your speakers look like a tricked-out Honda Civic. As with the Epiphany 12-12 (see #37 above), these 7' tall towers produced instrumental images that were way too big for realism. "You are there"--but "there" is Madison Square Garden.

More successful was the Eleganza Flat Screen InvisiSound Frame Sound System ($4,000), a "picture frame" for your plasma monitor that includes a super-tweeter, many tweeters, and a half dozen small woofers on each side and the top to produce the left, right and center channels. With the frame covered by a black grille cloth, the speakers truly disappear. Shown with a pair of Eleganza Component Center Subwoofer 1000's located in the Eleganza Cappuccino Home Theatre Component Center credenza-like equipment stand, the sound was pretty good.

I'm sorry that I couldn't get prices for each of the units, but there were too many variations and it's clear that these are being marketed to a crowd that cares more about design than price.

Two other items deserve a mention. The Godfather 1500 High Performance Subwoofer ($4,000 ea.) uses a 15" driver and a 1000Watt internal amp in a corner coffee table cabinet. One would probably be plenty, but they had four in this setup (even though it was only part of the room, so two of them weren't actually in corners). This fits in with the BlueMood lighting and should sell well to the people whose car audios can be heard several blocks away.

The Action Couch includes LFE transducers, so you can not only hear the movie effects but feel them right up your spine. I didn't get a price on this one, but in my prior experience such things cost a quarter (for 12 minutes).

43. Sound By Singer <www.soundbysinger.com> If you make fun of M*Design, not as I do because it's so over the top but because it's so common, Sound By Singer is the store for you. They sell only the best, and by the time you get even the smallest system there will be far more zeros on your Amex than I want to think about. They had two large rooms, each divided into two separate listening areas and tilled with very expensive gear.

Room A-1 was a 7.1 home theater with JM Lab speakers <www.focal.tm.fr/gb_index.htm>, including a pair of Alto Utopia BE's in the front ($18,500), a Center Utopia BE ($6,000 ca.), a pair of Diva Utopia BE's in the rear ($11,500), and two Sub Utopia BE subwoofers ($6,000 ea.). The Seabiscuit DVD had a fantastic picture from the Runco projector, plus great sound--loud but not at all harsh. A two-channel jazz guitar trio was wonderfully natural except for a few notes where the bass hit the room resonance.

Room A-2 was music only, with the JM Lab Grande Utopia BE speakers ($85,000). The Rolling Stones were very effective, but hardly explored the limits of bass and treble. James Taylor showed that big speakers like this just can't do intimacy. A live performance by Sam Cooke was very natural; this time the voice and instruments weren't oversized. But these very large speakers wouldn't sound this good in a normal room.

Room B-1 was a little more reasonable, with a pair of Thiel 7.2 speakers ($13,500) and a Thiel SW1 subwoofer ($4,800 ca.) <www.thielaudio.com>. Male vocal and piano was just believable, a big image that I could imagine in a regular room--but these speakers were set 6' from the walls, which I can't imagine in a "regular" room. Taj Mahal was too loud, too big and too smeared--but he does have the right name for a Sound By Singer customer's home.

Room B-2 went back to JM Lab with their Nova Utopia BE speakers ($37,500). Major percussive impact; plays loud without strain. Violin and piano had a cool but realistic sound, with a meltingly lovely violin; although the piano was a little smeared. Ahmad Jamal had great, deep bass; a little cool in overall timbre; but the piano had a slight boxy feel.

44. Gilmore Audio <www.glacieraudio.com/ Manufac/Gilmore.html> It wasn't clear whether Gilmore was selling speakers, blues performers, or soft-core pornography. Or maybe it's a package approach aimed at Las Vegas vacationers who like equal measures of all three. The Model 2 speaker ($19,500) has four 12" woofer drivers and a 60" ribbon tweeter mounted on a large blue-flecked Corian baffleless panel. In the literature, the speaker is in the middle, designer Mark Gilmore is on the right, and "sexy pinup model" Linda O'Neil is on the left. One looks beautiful (but her website leads me to question inner beauty); one is supposed to sound beautiful (but see below); and the other needs to get his head straight. The first selection I heard was solo Spanish guitar, which sounded very natural, neither cool nor warm, and not oversized despite the size of these speakers. Next was a blues recording that wasn't good sounding but seemed to be somebody's private (pirate?) stock. Third was yet another guitar recording--is that all these speakers can play? Since they would only look at home in a Texas roadhouse, I moved on.

45. InFocus <www.infocushome.com> Home theater demo of the ScreenPlay 777 projector ($30,000), which uses three DLP chips to produce a stunning picture. But it wasn't 10' wide and I don't recall the film-like texture of the JVC at this same price (see #39 above). They also showed the 7205 one-chip DLP model ($9,000), but using a very different source so I couldn't really compare the two.

The speakers in this setup were an interesting new Polk Audio in-wall design that uses a Custom Performance Enclosure to create a properly sized chamber for a particular speaker: its a tall thin box that fits between the studs and takes the in-wall speaker baffle as its fourth side. But I can't tell you how well it works, because there weren't any walls in the Hilton basement to mount it in, so they had the speakers toed-in on freestanding panels.

46. Joseph Audio <www.josephaudio.com> No Show would be complete without a visit to the Joseph Audio room, to hear the latest development of the Infinite Slope speaker design that was once this magazine's "house" monitor. Jeff Joseph is not only a great speaker designer, but he has become a great showman as well. This year's demo started off with a description of the new RM55LE speakers. Even though my seat was way off-axis (past the right speaker), the sound was typical Joseph: warm but very musical; female vocal was lush but not smeared, with tight bass. Then they pulled back the curtain and showed us that we were actually listening to their $2,000 in-wall speakers powered by a $2,500 Manley integrated tube amp.

When they really played the big system, with the RM55LE speakers ($12,500) and monoblock tube amps, I realized that while I hadn't missed the deep bass with the in-wall speakers, it was nice that to have it back. In my right-field seat I noticed a little too much midbass, some one-note resonances, and the overall sound was a little too warm. But at the end of the demo I got a chance to slide over to the sweet spot: now the sound was even better, and the bass modes were better handled.

Kill the tubes and tighten up that sound, but don't change the warmth--warm speakers are just more involving; you can't analyze the recording as well as with cool speakers, but you can get lost in it. Except for that bass issue this sound is right on: right height; right size; balanced timbres; good impact and dynamics (not exaggerated but not flattened).

It seems that Stereophile cancelled the "best sound" vote because other exhibitors complained that Joseph always wins. [That might have something to do with Jeff's tongue in cheek "electioneering," but it was truly earned by the consistently great sound.] So since Joseph Audio can't win the official best of show award, I'm giving them the Sensible Sound Best Sound Nod (actually two winks and two nods, with apologies to Monty Python).

Conclusion

Looking back over my notes, the following 14 speakers made a good enough impression to seek out again:

Odyssey Epiphony ($600) Epos M22 ($2,000) Odyssey Lorelei ($2,700) Bohlender Graebener 520i & 220i ($5,500) WEGG3 Stelar 1 ($5,600) Living Voice Avatar II ($5,700) Rethm Second Rethm ($6,500) Gershinan Avant Garde home theater ($7,800) Tetra 505 LTD ($8,000) Merlin VSM-MX ($10,000) Joseph Audio RM55LE ($12,500) DeVore Fidelity silverback reference ($14,000) Piega C 3 LTD & P SUB 1 ($14,600) Gershman Opera Sauvage ($23,000)

And I'd like to single out the following three for special honors:

Odyssey Epiphony--Best Value Odyssey Lorelei--Most Sensible Sound Joseph Audio RM55LE--Best Sound

--GK