Series 1

MBL had the highest-polished, heaviest-looking and loudest-playing system at the show. The high volume came along with bass you could feel deep in your core, yet refrained from any edge or grit. This was a room full of extreme audio.

Mark Markel proudly displays his newest creation. The Big Silver Oval lists for $759 for a 6' pair and is a 9-gauge design. [www.analysis-plus.com]

SoundStagers John Crossett (left) and Jason Thorpe pose with the top-of-the-line Duevel Jupiter loudspeaker ($26,000), which looks and sounds distinctive. It's at the top of our "for later listening" list.

Mikhail Rotenberg is the man behind the Single Power line of headphone amplifiers, two of which were named SoundStage! Reviewers' Choice products in 2004.

deHavilland used a vintage Ampex 351-2 reel-to-reel deck as its "analog source," and the result was silky smoothness. Where does one find reel-to-reel tapes to play? eBay, of course.

Jason Thorpe poses with the new Weiss Jason CD transport ($14,200), whose heavy, machined remote is one of the best we've seen. It should be -- it's sold separately for $1500.

Hans-Ole Vitus, head of Vitus Audio, kneels between his two large, beautifully built SM-100 monoblocks ($45,000 per pair), whose size belies their output: 100 watts in pure class A.

Ever vigilant, Roger Kanno questions Energy head designer John Tchilingurian about new Energy speakers debuting at CES. [www.energy-speakers.com]