Don't get us wrong -- we love subwoofers -- but honestly we've been pretty satisfied with the formula that combines a driver, strong box and large amplifier into a more or less (we prefer less) inconspicuous cube. Changing the physical design always looks kind of strange, even when the results are great. Horses for courses, however, as KEF has introduced its HTB2SE-W subwoofer that has us thinking of one George Jetson. That impression is only enhanced by the wireless connection (hey, it was futuristic a few years ago) that promises "CD-quality sound," which is probably more than sufficient for even lossless LFE tracks. If you don't like the flying saucer look, simply put the HTB2SE-W on its side -- the 10-inch driver and 250-Watt amp promise to deliver bass so non-directional that you won't be able to tell the difference. Available next month for $1,200 -- head below the fold for one more pic if you're not sure if this is the look for you.

Punching above your weight in the $1,000-per speaker realm is impressive, but it's largely irrelevant because it's just too expensive for most people, period. Don't feel bad, though, Paradigm's forthcoming SE series sits between the brand's Studio and Monitor lines, below the kilobuck mark, and promises to sound fabulous. The company will be showing of its forthcoming $300 (per speaker) SE 1 bookshelf model at CEDIA this week, which in its final testing has been racking up subjective listening wins over competition in the $1,000 range. In controlled tests against a much more expensive and a cheaper set of speakers, the SE 1 has posted an impressive record of 492 wins, with only six losses to the more expensive speaker. Critics may cry foul at the home-test results, and we wouldn't say that there's any one "best" speaker; but this is really about Paradigm testing its SE 1 against market competition and at the very least this performance warrants a place on your audition list. Hit the link for the full details; you've got time to make a decision -- the SE 1, SE 3 ($700, floorstanding), SE Center ($500) and SE Sub ($700) won't ship until sometime after CEDIA.

The pesky laws of physics being what they are, loudspeaker designers have typically been forced to optimize two features from the "bass extension / small cabinet / power efficiency" triad and stick the consumer with the result. Solus/Clements has been working on some clever design to bring a change to that balance, and Atlantic Technology is interested enough in the H-PAS (Hybrid Pressure Acceleration System) design to help license the technology to interested speaker manufacturers. CEDIA attendees will be able to check out the cabinet construction tech that promises to deliver lots of bass from small enclosures and drivers, without needing any special electronics or equalization. The H-PAS demo is certainly promising big -- two 4.5-inch drivers in a 1.4-cubic foot box reaching down to 29Hz at 105dB -- and we'd all love to get more bass from smaller boxes; bass quality is about more than a single low-frequency extension figure. Color us cautiously optimistic for great results in the fourth quarter of this year.

If you were afraid that the post-Kuro Pioneer would retreat to car audio, fear not, because the company has plans to soldier on in the HT space with a marketing message that emphasizes both its A/V specialty roots and "balanced" home-A/V product lineup. As much as we love those Kuro plasmas, there's no denying that the prices didn't exactly jive well with the company's efforts to get consumers to recognize the value proposition in its other products. We'll admit that everyday consumers (read: not Engadget HD readers) looking to assemble a one-brand system could have been scared off of the Pioneer name by the Kuro prices, but we wish Pioneer would have kept its plasmas around as an "aspirational" product and allowed shoppers to cross-shop displays by building in deep, off-brand HDMI-CEC support into its other electronics. Wiping our fanboy tears aside, we have to give Pioneer credit -- its current lineup of electronics (AVRs especially) stack up competitively on the value-o-meter; which is good, because with companies like Denon, Onkyo and Yamaha around, it's in for a tough fight.

We didn't think anything would top Goldmund's $190,000 Telos 5000 amplifier, but we should have known better. Bloated excess knows no bounds, so coming in at a cool $1,000,000 per side, we've got Transmission Audio's Ultimate speakers. Each channel consists of six, 7-foot high panels (one supertweeter ribbon, two tweeter/midrange ribbons, one 24x8-inch woofer, and two 10x15-inch subwoofer); taken together, a stereo pair of the Ultimates will eat up a modest 37-foot swath of your living room airplane hangar. Even people with more money than sense like convenience, though, so the Ultimate takes a page from the HTIB crowd and bundles in six 500-Watt dual-mono amplifiers and a preamp. At these prices, you'd think Transmission Audio could afford some bandwidth, but the company website has been stripped of photos at the moment, so hit the read link for more eye candy.

[Via CNET]

There's no shortage of quality loudspeaker brands that come to the US from its neighbor-to-the-north, and the incremental improvements to longstanding models flowing across the border usually goes without notice. But when updates are made across an entire product series, it deserves mention -- as in the case of PSB updating its Image lineup (not to be confused with its Imagine speakers). All in, there are eight new models that can blanket your HT setup: T5 ($899) and T6 ($1,199) floorstanders, B5 ($399) and B6 ($499) monitors, B4 ($299) sub-compact/surrounds, C4 ($275) and C5 ($375) center channels, and S5 ($799) bipolar surrounds. The Image lineup has always been value-conscious, so all those prices are per pair -- not the cheapest, but you've got to pay for quality. Interested? Hit that link for details.

THIEL is well-known for its impeccable cabinet construction, but the photo above takes its typical speaker porn up a notch. Or eleven. Pictured is a very special edition of its vaunted CS3.7 speaker built in conjunction with Gibson Custom Shop (as in Gibson guitars). Your eyes don't deceive you, the driver-less CS3.7 cabinet seen above is wearing a sunburst finish which, much like the entrants to our own THIEL giveaway, has reduced us to "me want" monosyllables. In case the drop-dead-gorgeous looks aren't enough to win you over, the ten pairs made will be signed by none other than company founder Jim Thiel and -- get this -- Les Paul. The company has not decided which lucky souls will receive the eight remaining pairs (one will be auctioned off for charity, another is slated for Savant AV's NYC design center), but considering that garden-variety CS3.7s weigh in just shy of $13,000 per pair, we're skipping right to shameless groveling. More pics after the break.

[Via AVGuide]

Read - Sunburst CS3.7 backstory, chapter 1

You didn't think that Aperion would roll out just the in-wall and in-ceiling variants of its Intimus 6 speakers and leave you searching for primary speakers, now did you? Showing up fashionably late to the party kicked off by the 6-IW and 6-IC speakers comes the Intimus 6-LCR in-wall model so you can flesh out your custom install. The new model adds an additional 6.5-inch woofer, but keeps the aimable silk dome tweeter and adjustment switches from its more surround-appropriate brethren. No free lunch, though; that extra driver means you'll pay a little more for the 6-LCR -- these carry a price tag of $225 each.

It looks like the crew at AVGuide is making its way through a drop shipment of Paradigm gear this week, and Paradigm's Monitor 9 v.6 floorstander did its part to hold up the company's rep. There's no shortage of competition in the $1,000 per pair price bracket, but the review credited the $949/pair Monitor 9 v.6s with delivering all the traits you'd expect of a speaker at the heart of Paradigm's floorstanders -- impact, dynamics, bass reach and volume; priorities that tend to fit quite nicely into HT applications. Interestingly, the reviewer also found the Monitor 9s to be a little darker in overall character with a somewhat laid back character -- something we've never experienced from a Paradigm speaker, but we're sure many consumers will appreciate. At this price point, you've got to make some compromises based on your priorities, but it sounds like Paradigm got a lot of things right in this model. (Stablemate Monitor 11 v.6 pictured)

The economy has made for a bumpy ride since the CES preview, but holding true to its promise of a February release, Acoustic Energy got official with its Radiance series of loudspeakers this weekend. Now officially available and holding the prices at their initially announced levels, the lineup that serves as the company's HT-specific flagship series consists of the floor-standing Radiance 3 ($3,000 per pair), stand-mounted Radiance 1 ($1,200 per pair), Center ($800) and Subwoofer ($1,200) models. If you're in the market and get some audition time with these, let us know what you think of that tweeter/woofer blending DXT Lens feature on the primary speakers.

Anyone who's ever heard good self-powered speakers next to an equivalent passive setup will attest to the advantages of the active approach. Sadly, market forces overwhelmingly favor the passive approach, except on the desktop, where "multimedia" speakers thrive. Dynaudio's new active Focus 110 A speaker is attempting to take the company's success with the MC 15 model off of the desktop and into the rest of the house. With dual 50-Watt amplifiers in each speaker (one for the tweeter and another for the mid/bass), these beasties certainly have the potential to sound a lot bigger than their size; and at $2,450 for a pair, they had better. Expensive, for sure (you didn't expect Dynaudio to come in cheap, did you?), but you will save some money by not having to get an amplifier or receiver. Press release after the break.

It's a sad day for fans of Now Hear This (NHT) Audio, best known for its speaker offerings -- the company is "going quiet." A letter from company co-founder Chris Byrne makes it clear that while the NHT didn't go bankrupt, there's been a sea-change in the audio market that needs a different approach. Them's strong words from a company that has a pretty solid reputation for doing things a bit differently. We remember, for example, when the NHT 3.3s came out -- that gangly narrow cabinet afforded good imaging from the front-firing drivers and the radical (at the time) woofer location on the side wall enhanced the bass response -- NHT definitely was quirky in a good way. March 31st will mark the end of NHT as we know it; here's to hoping we see it rise again in a new form with creative ideas to throw into audiodom. Not that we're counting on it, but it might just happen.

You remember the curvy-looking Boston Acoustics speakers that came in under the "Vista" name, only to get re-branded "VS" to avoid confusion with other products sharing the Vista moniker? Well, the top of the line model VS 336 floorstanders grabbed a pretty good review from CE Pro, with the soundstaging and bass response earning good remarks. But speakers being subjective, you'd be advised to kick the tires on the $3,400 per pair boxes before you drive them home -- the review turned up a bit of excess presence in the upper bass and midrange that gives a lot of detail but also turned into a "forwardness" as notes moved up the scale. If you're considering them, judge for yourself if you like the effect or not; at this price point you've got plenty of choices that combine looks and performance.

One look at the Caruso speakers from Opera Loudspeakers and you know the punchline -- sure they're fat, but will they sing? Details on what's packed in each handcrafted box is suitably sparse, as these are clearly intended for the silly-rich who want something that's expensive, showy and fits in well with the decor of the prospective owner's abode -- something keeps pulling us towards a Fifth Element Mondoshawan theme (we'll let you judge if that's good or bad). Caruso praised the four side mounted 8-inch woofers, and based on the pics, we're guessing that after that there are four 5-inch mids and five 2-inch tweets (four rearward facing). Lots of cabinetry, lots of wood and lots of money; can you say "ostentatious flagship?" Paired up with the Caruso name, the €28,000 ($35,000) sticker brings Pagliacci to our minds.

[Mondoshawan image courtesy Gung Ho Sci Fi]

We didn't think that the soundbar market would one-up B&W's $2,200 Panorama model, but Leon speakers just couldn't leave well enough alone. For all the people who go to the expense of buying a flatscreen more than 100-inches big and yet can't be bothered to pick up some discrete multichannel speakers, Leon has added the OS (over-sized) soundbar to its Horizon lineup. Give Leon 3-5 days and $6,500 and it'll build your OS custom so it fits your display -- up to 120-inches wide -- in an LCR, L/R or center-only configuration. Leon says that the last install required a crane to lift the soundbar through an apartment window. We guess if you've already got a crane to get your display into the abode, you might as well make use of it for the speakers, too; but we'd recommend you skip the crane and put the $6,500 towards a nice set of speakers for real surround sound.