Mark Fleischmann

The McIntosh MX150 pre-pro ($12,000) can reassign its XLR and RCA ins, a boon to those into triamplification. Its Room Perfect room correction uses 121 test tones to massage your room with 112 octaves of wonderfulness. While the USB input cannot accept 122 source components at once, it can recognize that many one by one. Let us gloss over the MVP 881BR, an $8000 Blu-ray player with non-3D-savvy HDMI 1.3. That brings us to the binding posts that made our eyes pop out of their sockets. They were on the back of an MC302 power amp. The top hex piece unscrews as you'd expect, while the bottom round piece floats. Details? You want more details? It uses electricity.

The Rotel RKB-1508 delivers eight channels of 65-watt Class D. That enables it to be small, run cool, and shave your power bill. Just the thing if you need to jam an eight-channel amp into a tight spot. Price $1199.

At the Integra booth were a half-dozen new receivers: two THX Ultra2 Plus certified, two THX Select2 Plus certified, and two non-THX certified. There was also an Ultra2 Plus pre-pro. But what got our attention was the top receiver, the DTR-80.2. For a mere $2800 it offers a massive toroidal power supply which accounts for much of the $600 difference between it and the next model down. Power is rated at 145 watts per channel. Also on board is Audyssey MultEQ XT 32, the newest version with the highest-resolution EQ filters, and DSX height/width enhancement. Video prowess includes Reon processing and ISF calibration modes. The product is Made for iPod/iPhone, certified for Windows 7, and boasts various internet radio portals and subscription music services including Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius, Napster, Mediafly, Slacker, and vTune. Sorry about the flash-marred picture, but it does show the navigation controls just to the left of the volume knob, which is kind of cool for us old-fashioned front-panel-oriented folk. Please also note that Integra stuff is sold exclusively by people qualified to install it.

The beautiful Totem Tribe 5 is 48 inches high with four Montreal-made woofers and a tweeter with no crossover circuitry to pollute the sound. It is ported at both the top and bottom of the enclosure and can produce SPLs of up to 110dB into eight ohms. The speaker can function as an LCR, so you can use five or more of them in a surround system, though Totem also offers smaller complementary models. Price is $3000 with custom finish or $2200 if you're not as fussy. Want sub with that? The Tribe Sub sells for $1795 with outboard amp. It can sit on a pedestal, hide under the sofa, or be built into a wall.