Series 1

Gord Van Kessel, head designer for API's Athena Technologies brand, holds his newest creation, the AS-06 ($249 per pair) outdoor speaker, which sports an ingenious mounting bracket. It's available in white or black.[www.athenaspeakers.com]

Also from Athena is the AS-R1 rear-channel speaker ($129 each). [www.athenaspeakers.com]

It can't be a SoundStage! Network show report without a picture of Mark Markel from Analysis Plus holding some of his new cables. In Mark's left hand is Oval In in-wall digital/video/line-level cable ($3 per foot), and in his right hand is the Blue Oval in-wall speaker cable ($4.25 per foot). [www.analysisplus.com]

Thiel showed off a new silver finish and gave a sneak peek of its very large upcoming SW2 subwoofer (no price set), which dwarfs the CS1.6 and CS2.4 speakers on each side of it. [www.thielaudio.com]

Carl and Marilyn Marchisotto of Alón pose with their newest creation, the Proteus ($45,000 per pair).

Ole Christensen of Gamut heaves one of his 200Wpc D 100 stereo amps ($7600).

Per Kristoffersen of Peak Consult poses next to his Grande loudspeaker ($32,000 per pair), which sounded relaxed and highly detailed driven by Lamm electronics.

Chris Sommovigo of Stereovox used Starbuck's coffee to lure showgoers, and it worked like a charm on Doug Schneider. Chris holds his new balanced interconnect, the BAL-600 ($2500 per pair).

Chris designed the connector on his BAL-600, and a fine piece of industrial sculpture it is!