CES 2009

My rounds at the high-end audio exhibits at the Venetian Hotel only let me sample a few rooms that looked interesting, or appeared to have some semblance of relevance to both music and home theater. But If I diverge a bit from the home theater tack in a one or two of the following entries, well, it's stuff I found interesting.

The best sound I heard on the first of my two visits to the Venetian was from the Magico v3 speakers driven by Boulder electronics and sourced from a music server (custom built by Magico and not commercially available). It was sublime. Unfortunately, Magico appears to have no plans for a center channel, and using another set of v3s for surrounds, or a three more for surround music, might be a bit, um, expensive. The v3 sells for $25,000 per pair. And just because I can't afford doesn't mean it can't sound great.