Jim Thompson from Egg.Works, the firm that manufactures Eggleston loudspeakers, was eager to tell me more about the Eggleston Nine. I'd seen the firm's loudspeakers in many different CES suites over the years, but never had a chance to listen to them before.

Jim described the $12,900/pair Eggleston "The Nine" speakers as having a frequency response of 27Hz–24kHz and a voltage sensitivity rated at 88dB. The speaker's nominal impedance is 8 ohms with a minimum of 5.6 ohms, a very comfortable load for amplifiers. It uses a 1" cloth-dome tweeter, two 6" polypropylene-cone mid-bass drivers, and one 8" woofer in a dual-ported enclosure. Although it only stands just 42" tall, each enclosure weighs 120 lbs.

I was impressed by the smoothness, soundstaging, imaging, and transparency of these speakers.