Premiere Design

Danish speaker maker <A href="http://www.dynaudio.com">Dynaudio</A> has earned a stellar reputation among audiophiles since its founding in 1977. The current flagship line, known as Evidence, is not new&#151;the Master model was selected as one of <I>Stereophile</I>'s products of the year in 2000&#151;but that doesn't mean it can't still kick some serious butt. I wanted to see what the ultimate Evidence home-theater system would consist of&#151;and how much it would cost.

Normally in this blog, I profile a specific product or product line that can be considered "ultimate" in one way or another. But when it comes to a California company called <A href="http://www.catmbx.com">CAT MBX</A>, this approach doesn't work so well. An offshoot of California Audio Technology, CAT MBX designs and builds ultimate home theaters from scratch, customizing the speakers, electronics, and projection system for each venue. The company's "product" is the entire theater, which is unique for each client.

Who doesn't love <I>The Wizard of Oz</I>? No one I know. Rated as one of the best films ever made, this timeless classic has been released on various home-video formats no less than 16 times since 1980. Now, 70 years after its theatrical debut, <I>Oz</I> is getting its first high-def treatment on Blu-ray for the 17th iteration. I was fortunate to be invited to a press event celebrating this milestone at Warner Brothers' Burbank studio, and I learned a lot about what went into making this ultimate version.

And now for something completely outrageous&#151;a $135,000 Blu-ray player! Leave it to hyper-high-end <A href="http://www.goldmund.com">Goldmund</A> to charge that much for the Eidos Reference Blue, which will be limited to a production run of 50 units. But how can it possibly justify such an astronomical price tag?

Living with a pair of La Sph&#232;re speakers from French maker <A href="http://www.cabasse.com/en/">Cabasse</A> might be a bit creepy&#151;they look like giant eyeballs staring at you&#151;but if you can get past that, you're in for a sonic treat. As Michael Fremer concluded in his <A href="http://www.stereophile.com/audaciousaudio/608cab/">Stereophile review</A>, "...La Sph&#232;re sets new standards, both measurable and audible, for accuracy in the reproduction of music."

Norway somehow seems an odd place to find a high-end projector manufacturer. Yet there in the town of Fredrikstad&#151;founded in 1567 at the mouth of the Glomma River an hour's train ride south of Oslo&#151;<A href="http://www.projectiondesign.com">Projectiondesign</A> not only designs and manufactures high-end DLP projectors under its own name, but also for companies like Christie, one of several providers of DLP projectors for the commercial digital-cinema market. Last year, the company introduced its <A href="http://www.avielo.com">Avielo</A> line, including the flagship Helios, which puts out enough light to compete with the midnight sun.

I clearly remember my first demo of Meridian's digital speakers at CEDIA several years ago. The star of that show was the company's first D-ILA projector, which looked fine, but I was even more impressed with the sound of those speakers.