Fred Manteghian

Whenever I see the five interlocked Olympic rings, I think of one thing: Audi cars. Okay, they have only four rings, but I'm definitely more interested in driving cars than watching the Olympics, particularly the winter Olympics. Bryant Gumbel noted last week that it's the "paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention." Of course, we all know that's a lie. Bryant Gumbel has never even been to a Republican convention!

Salamander's new Chameleon furniture line is going to thrill a lot of Suzi Homemakers who want to find a home for hubby's electronic toys. The Hampton model here sells for $1,899, and there are four other models available as well. Options (not included in the price) are rear mounted power strips and Plasma mounts. The optional fan cooling and IR repeaters will come in handy when those solid wood doors are shut too. This little company is located in my neck of the woods in Connecticut and you have to admire how they've grown. Their products are well engineered and assemble easily. I've had one of their Synergy racks for over three years and I love it. These look even nicer still.

KEF gets more diverse each year, which I suppose is a good idea. The Extreme Home Theater line of in wall speakers looks very promising, almost too good to hide. The Ci5160RL-THX has four 6-1/2” low frequency drivers and a Uni-Q based midrange and tweeter, and will probably retail between $2,500 and $3,000. In the picture you’re also seeing an in wall subwoofer, the Ci3160RLb-THX with three 6-1/2” bass drivers. To drive them, KEF will introduce the KASA500 stereo amplifier. In fact, that amp can be coupled to other KEF in wall subwoofers via its internal DSP. The estimated price target for this dual channel Class D amp is $1,000.

High-priced DVD players are an almost anachronistic concept in today's cheaper-by-the-minute world. In fact, if I set up a card table at the local warehouse price club and offered sips of unsweetened cranberry juice to shoppers while clandestinely questioning them about the going rate for an <I>expensive</I> DVD player, their predictable guesses of around $500 would only confirm how out of sync audiophiles and videophiles are with the average Joe.