CES 2004 Best of Show

The worst sound was that of a guy falling in the pool at Alexis Park, I really got a big kick out of McIntosh's multi-kilowatt home theater, Thiel's surround sound featuring their new sw-2 subwoofer, and Jeff Roland design group two channel system

Nothing special this year. TAD room was pretty good.

My favor room is Joule Electra(preamp LA150 & OTL monoblock), Joseph Audio(Pearl)and Audio Aero Capitol CDP and David Elrod power cords and Linestage PC. The sound was so smooth, seductive and awesome.

I agree, Joule/Joseph was certainly one of the best rooms. Another was the Marten Design/EAR room with EAR electronics driving the new Coltrane Alto speakers, $22K (not to be confused with the original Coltranes). Also, the Musical Surroundings room with the Acapella Arts horn speakers (have I got the name right?)--wonderful!

Other good ones: Fried, Plinius/Harbeth and also Harbeth/Plinius.

The new Vandersteen Quattro was news to me--had that been shown before? It's a $6500, tall svelte pyramid with powered subs.

Can anyone comment on the turnout?

I have a friend who went out this year as an exhibitor, and I heard through a mutual friend that his assessment was that the turnout was astonishingly low this year. And, despite the vast number of companies in high end these days, he seems worried about the state of the industry(don't worry about my friend, he is retired, and only makes a very small product for fun).

Anyway, I would have enjoyed it, as with the number of exhibitors, I would be like a kid in a candy store.