On the previous page you saw two speakers whose sound wowed me. But their appearance didn't. Oh, they're gorgeously finished, bravo and all that, but I consider a CES to be dull if it doesn't have a couple of speakers that make me stop and gape.
     As you can probably guess, the Audes speaker at left is one of them. It appears to have been designed for Batman. It comes from Estonia, and it sounds more than respectable
     In the print issue you'll see Meadow Song's Mount Everest, a tall speaker (of course!), which is largely transparent! And the Italian Uvola, which hangs by a cable, and can be finished to look like a watermelon. And the Phoenix Grand, which around here we're referring to as "Mr. Horn" (you'll see why). Other speakers include a gigantio model from Linn, the Komri, the even larger new OM-1 from Mirage, and several new models from Totem, including, finally, its Lightning subwoofer.

     Lest you think that only speakers can be unusual, check out this pair of monoblocks:

     They're from a company called Granite Audio, and they are made of...you guessed it, granite. Or a reconstituted form of it. They're fairly secure against vibration, as are the company's speakers, also made of granite.
     Other unusual amplifiers included the huge single-ended Western Electric 91-C, which looks like a space heater, and the Niro, named for Niro Nakamichi, architect of the famous cassette decks bearing his last name.
     And then there's this model, from the Glass Amplifier Company:

 

     Now there's a company that doesn't blanch when faced by the dread Wife Acceptance Factor! But it sounds as gorgeous as it is...not visually!

(To read the entire 14-page report on CES 2001, just order issue 61 at our secure server.)

Complete articles from this issue:
The Battle of the Super Discs, Cambridge Isomagic Converter, Soundcare Superspikes, State of the Art

Excerpted articles from this issue:
New Surround Formats, Defeating DVD Zoning, Vegas 2001, Audiomat Tempo & Vecteur D-2, Audio Refinement Pre 5 Preamp, Osborn Mini Tower Speakers, Mirage OM-9 Speakers