Friday, September 11 -- Part 1

Available in black or silver, ExactPower's new EP20A ($4400) power regenerator offers 50% more power than the EP15A that Doug Schneider uses along with a wider bandwidth and faster correction capabilities. It comes bundled with a Nordost power cord. [www.exactpower.com]

Simaudio's Calypso is available as a CD/DVD transport only ($3600), with analog audio outputs ($4000), with DVI-D video output ($4800), and equipped with all of these options ($5200). The Calypso can be upgraded in the field for owners who decide to add capabilities after purchase. [www.simaudio.com]

Cable company Acoustic Zen is now a speaker company as well, having debuted its Florentine Magic series at CEDIA Expo. There are four floorstanding speakers, two center-channel speakers, and four powered subwoofers in the line. Prices range from $360 per pair for the Full Moon minimonitors to $4998 for the Grand Vista.

Close-ups of the new Acoustic Zen speakers.

Nova, by Earthquake Sound, cordoned off its new Titan floorstanding ($20,000 per pair) and center-channel ($5000 each) speakers, perhaps anticipating all of the hands that would be running over their surfaces. The floorstander's cabinet is made of 16 layers of steam-bent, high-density wood that are wrapped to fit an internal frame.

From big speakers to small. Phantom Sound, whose outdoor products we wrote about earlier, also make in-wall speakers with grilles that look like switch plates. They cost $220 per pair, including a subwoofer, and can be controlled with various third-party automation products.