I profiled the KEF Concept Blade speaker <A href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/blades_of_glory/">here</A>, but since there's only one pair in the world, there was no way for me to hear it until the company brought it to CES and set it up in a room at the Hilton with an Audio Research CD5 CD player and DSi200 integrated amp. Listening to Patricia Barber in a live recording and a tenor sax with rhythm section, it sounded quite good overall, with very clean, tight low bass, but the upper bass and vocal range was slightly congested. The KEF rep agreed and said it was the room, and I couldn't disagree—hotel rooms generally make lousy listening environments.

<I>I am building a dedicated home theater, and I have completed most of the design work. One of the last details is the projector position. I have a 100-inch 16:9 screen and the Panasonic PT-AE3000.

Krell is finally about to ship its Evolution 555 Blu-ray player ($15,000, November), and a rep was quick to point out that it's not a rebranded Oppo—it was designed and built from the ground up by Krell. It has most of the bells and whistles, including access to Hulu and Netflix, WiFi, UPnP (not DLNA), and an iPad control app; 3D will come in a firmware update next year. Processing is provided by Sigma Designs VXP, and if you connect it to a Krell pre/pro via HDMI, it will jump right to the disc menu, skipping all those pesky trailers and FBI warnings.

Last Sunday, my wife and I joined 25.8 million of our closest friends to watch the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on CBS. So why am I writing about it here? Because this is <I>Ultimate AV</I>, and the Grammys are all about the best in audio <I>and</I> video. The audio part is obvious&#151;this is "music's biggest night" honoring the best recording artists, and all the performances are live, a technological tour de force in its own right. But the show is no less dedicated to video, both on stage and in the home.