Mark Fleischmann

The latest subwoofer to hit the Bowers & Wilkins CM Series is the ASW 12 CM. Similar in design to the ASW10, it has a 12-inch Kevlar-paper-cone driver with a large three-inch voice coil to pound that driver into submission, and probably you as well. The 500-watt Class D amplifier should provide plenty of power, pummeling the driver only when needed, and resting energy-efficiently the rest of the time. The finish is gloss black, the ship date is September, and the price is $2000.

New additions to the Acclaim 7 speaker series (a name that pretty much makes critics obsolete) include speakers especially tuned for the new Dolby Pro Logic IIz listening mode. In case you've been living in a cave over the past several months, DPLIIz is one of two new height-enhanced post-processing modes, along with Audyssey's DSX. Guaranteed to make rain sound rainy. The models in question are the single-point stereo 7W51SFT and left-right stereo 7W52FT and both fit a 5.25-inch driver into a 7.25-inch square cutout area. Pricing TBA. Acclaim 7 speakers in general include LCR, in-wall, and in-ceiling models, the latter with Twist and Tilt.

The news from Energy concerns a tower and a center speaker. The RC-70 tower ($1100/each) has two 6.5-inch ribbed elliptical surround woofers and an aluminum dome tweeter, ideal for medium to large rooms. Available finishes are rosenut and black ash. The RC-Mini center ($275) has dual 4.5-inch ribbed elliptical surround woofers and the same tweeter and is available in rosenut, cherry, or black lacquer finishes.

Two new satellite/subwoofer sets from Mirage include the MM-8, a sleek little cube with a high-gloss black finish hand-sanded to perfection (says here). The accompany sub has an eight-inch woofer and dual passive radiators. Price: $800 for the package. Mirage also plans to show the MX Home Theater System, with five palm-size speakers, reviewed in our print counterpart.