Thursday, May 20 -- Part 2

All prices are quoted in euros unless otherwise noted.
1 €  is approximately 1.19 US dollars at time of report.

Ascendo speakers are becoming more affordable because of the company's new C series. The C5 bookshelf-sized two-way loudspeaker retails for 1900 € per pair, while the C6 three-way retails for 4000 € per pair. Both feature coaxial tweeter-midrange/woofer drivers. A center-channel speaker, the C5-Center, is also available for 950 € and shares the same coaxial driver. [www.ascendo.de]

Scotland's Linn showed the new Klimax Chakra 500 Twin stereo amplifier, which produces 100Wpc into 8 ohms and 200Wpc into 4 ohms, yet only weighs 9 kilograms. The Chakra 500 retails for 7000 €.

Speaking of SACD, France's Audio Aero showed a cosmetically improved version of the Prestige SACD player, featuring a separate power supply and the company's STARS digital processing. This version of the Prestige retails for 13,000 €.

Germany's Arcus showed its Premium Class 200 loudspeaker, which feature an active bass and dual 6.5" side-firing woofers. The Class 200s retail for 8000 € per pair.