Contrary to what some people may think (see my Magico M5 blog), I did listen to other ultra-high-end speakers besides the Magico M5 at this year's CES, and after the M5 the two I thought ...

Ultra-high-end turntable systems helped produce some of the finest sounds of the show. The use of magnetic suspension to float platters, magnetic drive, twelve-inch arms, exotic materials, sophisticated stands to isolate ‘tables from structural resonances ...

One of the odder and more unexpected surprises at this year's CES was a trio of loudspeakers that used thick sculpted sheets of tempered glass for their cabinets or, in one very expensive and remarkable ...

In the recesses of the Alexis Park Hotel, I heard perhaps the best sound at either CES or T.H.E. Show . Keith Herron was featuring his wonderful Herron Audio electronics, including his new SP-4 hybrid ...

Vandersteen Model 7 Loudspeaker Preview Robert Harley One of the “must-hear” systems at CES was Richard Vandersteen’s all-new Model 7 loudspeaker. The buzz surrounded not just the exceptional sound the system produced, but the radical ...

CES Attendance Drops 22% Robert Harley According to an initial estimate by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the governing body who puts on the Consumer Electronics Show, attendance at the just-completed 2009 CES was 110,000, ...

Best of CES Robert Harley Best Sound The Magico M5 loudspeaker ($90,000) driven by Soulution electronics through MIT cable was easily the show’s best sound. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, the M5 combined ...

The McIntosh XR200 is a more approachable “real” room speaker that takes it’s cues from big Mac’s flagship XRT towers. With a trio of 8** woofers per side, subsonic bass is and was a bone-crushing ...

The Magico M5 floorstanding loudspeaker was undoubtedly the most anticipated debut at CES 2009 and it didn't disappoint. For those of you familiar with the great MartinLogan CLX its sound is easy to describe and ...

Improving the breed is part and parcel for the high end. Few are as successful and original as the sounds and shapes that stem from the imagination of Anthony Gallo. The new, evolutionary Gallo Acoustics ...

Channeling the spirit of the ultra coherent, two-way the Magico Mini II couldn’t have been an easy task for the masters at Magico but the new V2 seemingly does the impossible. This 2 ½ way, ...

Joseph Audio’s statement speaker, the Pearl has been a stand out success for this company–now in its 17th year. At $28,500/pr however it wasn’t for every budget. So Jeff Joseph took his venerable compact winner, ...

The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show opened yesterday to what seemed like lower attendance and scaled-back aspirations. Nonetheless, every exhibitor with whom I spoke was happy with both the quality and quantity of foot traffic through ...

A few years ago I was impressed by the mighty little Amphion Ion, an Arctic white, desktop-size mini-monitor of extraordinary transparency. This was the first CES that I was able to experience Amphion’s flagship entry, ...

Linestages Conrad-Johnson Anniversary Reference Triode Series III The third-generation of c-j’s ART is here, and just about in time for the company’s thirtieth anniversary. It was introduced a decade ago to celebrate the occasion of ...