SoundStage!

The Edge of the Art award recognizes the single product we reviewed that offers the very highest performance, and in 2003 that product was the Esoteric P-70/D-70 transport and DAC, about which Marc Mickelson wrote, "...they might represent the last attempt, and the best attempt, at building the ultimate CD player" -- high praise indeed. Accepting the award are Tomoaki Omachi (left, president of Esoteric), Kazutaka Tsuda (center, product manager for Esoteric), and Jimmy Yamaguchi (president of TEAC America).

David Fabrikant (left) and James Greenberg of Ascend Acoustics accept the SoundStage! Budget Leader award for their CBM-170 loudspeakers -- one of Doug Schneider's very favorite small speakers with a small price.

Bill VanderMarel (left) and Mark Aling (right) hold the Exceptional Value award for the Anthem TLP 1 preamp, whose rich functionality -- including built-in AM/FM tuner -- and low price made it the obvious choice in this category in 2003. [www.paradigm.com]

Accepting the award for Best Product Debut are ExactPower vice president Dennis Elliot (left) and director of sales and marketing Bob Rapoport. The EP15A power regenerator represents quite a debut into the home-electronics arena for a company with years of power experience in other fields.[www.exactpower.com]

Lehmann Audio's Black Cube has long been the low-priced phono stage, and it has brought many audiophiles on a budget musical bliss. These things along with its long-time availability have made it our Hall of Fame award winner for 2003. Above, Hart Huschens, Lehmann Audio's US distributor, accepts the award.

Kathy Gornik and Jim Thiel accept the Aesthetics & Sound award for the Thiel CS2.4, which is shown between them in a new silver finish. Thiel Audio has won SoundStage! awards for three different speakers in three different categories, a remarkable achievement that underscores the many-faceted appeal of the company's products. [www.thielaudio.com]

Shunyata Research's Grant Samuelsen (left) and Caelin Gabriel (right) accept the SoundStage! Innovation in Design award for their Hydra Model-8 power conditioner, about which which Marc Mickelson (center) wrote: "Shunyata Research has seemingly done the impossible with the Hydra Model-8: improved upon a very good existing design in terms of its functionality and performance, and lowered its price as well." That's innovation! [www.shunyata.com]