CES 2009

Acoustics showed speakers from the new Klimt series, led by this large floorstander, "The Music" (yes, that's its name. The speaker uses a newly developed flat midrange with a coaxially mounted tweeter and a separate supertweeter. The picture does not do justice to the speakers stunning appearance and impeccable finish, including a piano black version, not shown here. Yours for just $25,000/pair.

The top module is rotatable to aim it toward the listening position using an elegant screw and thumbwheel arrangement in the back that makes it unnecessary to touch that polished fingers with your greasy paws (though oddly the supertweeter is fixed in relation to the woofers).

There will also be a center channel ("The Poetry" and a stand-mount, "The Kiss" (that's not a typo). though these two models will be several months behind the first quarter delivery of "The Music." (First quarter always means the end of March in CES-speak.) Photos of the center and surround follow in the next two entries. No prices were given for them, nor for a somewhat smaller floorstander scheduled for release late in 2008.