Series 6

Vandersteen Audio introduced the Quatro loudspeaker, priced at $6500 per pair. The Quatro is a four-way design using a 1" tweeter, a 4 1/2" midrange, a 6 1/2" woofer, and an 8" subwoofer. Like all of Vandersteen's speakers, the Quatro uses first-order crossovers and is said to be time and phase correct.

Threshold Audio impressed our team with this high-value design. The Dragon V is a five-channel integrated amplifier that boasts 100Wpc into 8 ohms, all channels driven. The decorative Corian on the front panel comes in dark gray as well as other colors. [www.threshold-audio.com]

Zanden Audio's Model 2000 transport looked stunning -- as all Zanden products do -- and it sounded stunning as part of a system with Audiopax speakers and electronics. The two-piece Model 2000 (in between the transport and power supply is the Zanden Model 5000 Mk IV DAC) uses a modified Philips CDM12 Pro2 mechanism and offers an I2S digital output, which will later be added to Zanden's DACs. The price is yet to be announced. [www.zandenaudio.com]

Denon displayed prototypes of their top-of-the-line Studio Reference audio/video components. The AVP-1x (above) consists of a separate video preamp with DVI and HDMI switching as well as the audio preamp/processor.

The DVD-1x universal transport features DVI and HDMI outputs.

The POA-1x is a 7 x 200Wpc digital amplifier. The entire system should be available in late 2004 or early 2005 with a combined projected price of approximately $25,000.