Darryl Wilkinson

Panasonic thinks - and rightly so - that a lot of consumers haven't got a clue as to what HDTV really is or how to get real HDTV content. The company also says they expect almost three million of these clueless people (some of them probably understand what's going on, but a lot more of them don't) will purchase plasma TVs this year. For those smart enough to buy a Panasonic plasma HDTV, the manufacturer will offer the Panasonic Plasma Concierge program.

PRICE $31,000 as reviewed

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Beryllium tweeter and midrange drivers
Hand-polished, high-gloss finish
Slender, curved cabinets
Minus
Expensive
Heavy

THE VERDICT
Paradigm set out to create the best, state-of-the-Paradigm-art speakers the company has ever produced, bringing together top-notch cabinet construction and finishing capabilities and advanced driver technologies in hopes of achieving something greater than the sum of its already great parts. They’ve succeeded.

Paradigm, the Canadian loudspeaker company founded in 1982, has a long and respectable history of building excellent-sounding, great-looking speakers at relatively affordable prices—not outrageously expensive but not stupidly cheap, either. Somewhere along the way, though, somebody at Paradigm accidentally said out loud at a company meeting: “What if cost were, well, not no object, but at least less of an object? What if we combined all our best technologies and maybe threw in a bit of new stuff, too? Just how awesome of a speaker could we make? We should try that someday.” And thus the company’s latest and greatest-ever series of speakers was born.

PRICE $1,499 ea

AT A GLANCE
Plus
2.5-way crossover
Excellent build quality
Amazing soundstage
Minus
Gloss finish needs careful handling

THE VERDICT
Paradigm achieves affordable high-end in the Prestige 75F towers thanks to a beautiful design with furniture-grade finish and reference-quality sound.

With its tall-and-narrow rectangular cabinet, front-mounted drivers, rear-firing port, and cloth grille, Paradigm’s Prestige 75F is the quintessential tower loudspeaker. Fans of new driver types, exotic cabinet designs, the rarest of rare-earth metals, and de rigueur built-in powered woofers might be tempted to pass by (especially when the grille is attached), much as I did figuratively when a pair of the towers arrived.

Of course, the world assumes that if you want a flat-panel TV that you'll want to hang it on the wall. Not according to Jeff White, President of Boltz USA. "Contrary to sexy television commercials featuring young 20-somethings fussing over which wall to hang their new, sleek, flat panel TV, we've heard from many customers who would much rather display their new toy on an attractive stand." (Personally, since as I young 20-something I suffered by watching TV on a miniscule 13-inch TV with rabbit ears and not even a Beta-tape VCR to keep it company, I feel that 20-somethings ought to be barred by law from owning a flat-panel TV until their 30th birthday. Think of it, as my mother used to say, as "character building"... But I digress.)