Mark Fleischmann

Totem Acoustic enters its third decade with a 20th anniversary version of the venerable model known as The One. The stand-mount monitor features a new crossover, platinum speaker terminals, and redesigned drivers. Exhibited with always-fabulous Naim electronics, this was the best sound I heard at the show, with an up-close laser-like focus that turned a guitar pick scraping steel strings into a revelation. Plenty of woody guitar-body midrange detail too. And the depth, oh, the depth. The price is $3595/pair, you can buy a surround configuration if you want, and act now because only 2000 pairs will be made.

Somehow we've spent the past two years failing to notice Avalon's first and still only home theater speaker package, the Evolution, at around $5000 for a 5.1-channel configuration. Efficiency is HT-worthy at 90dB and the tweeter is a super-cool Avalon-made aluminum-ceramic composite dome mated with Kevlar woofer.

Definitive Technology's Mythos STS mini-tower is a smaller version of the original Mythos, with both distinguished by their built-in powered SuperCube subs. Also in the extruded aluminum enclosure are two 4.5-inch mids in cast-magnesium baskets, an aluminum tweeter, and the 5x10" SuperCube sub along with its two 5x10" passive radiators. Sounded gorgeous with an African chorus floating over the listening room like a diaphanous multicolored mass of clouds. Price: $1499, five hundred less than the original Mythos. Also new are a pair of soundbars, the SSA-50 ($1099) and SSA-42 ($799). The chief difference between these and DefTech's previous soundbar products is that the new ones handle not just three but five channels (with external sub). The demo revealed discernible rear presence and panning. If not as good as discrete speakers, it was certainly darned good.

Trinnov is the name of the new auto setup and calibration system just added to the year-old Sherwood R-972 receiver ($1799). The SMPTE cinema standard is built into it. You can even transfer the SMPTE settings from receiver to USB to PC, log onto the SMPTE website, and analyze the settings. Sherwood also showed a surround-savvy stereo receiver, the RX-4203 ($199) with Dolby Virtual Speaker, Dolby Headphone, and an input that accepts a Bluetooth receiver, just in case you get the impulse to play music from your cell phone.