More beautiful woodwork was found in the Daedalus Audio suite. The Ulysses ($10,950/pair; add $500 for matching plinths) is Daedalus Audio's top-of-the-line speaker. It uses a 1" Eton dome tweeter, two 5" custom-modified Fostex midrange units, and two 8" proprietary woofers, and has a rated sensitivity of 97dB.

All Daedalus speakers are hand-built using solid North American hardwoods and boast hand-rubbed oli-varnish finishes.

Designer Lou Hinkley is a guitarist who may be better known for his acoustic guitar amps. His work in that arena led him to hi-fi. He told me a funny story: He began showing his loudspeakers at hi-fi shows, and showgoers would offer him demo discs with tracks by bands like String Cheese Incident and Rusted Root, which are bands that have used his guitar amps for years. While these showgoers had never heard of Daedulus Audio, they had actually been listening to Hinkley's work all along!

When I asked Hinkley if he had any acoustic guitar music, he quickly introduced me to the work of Martin Simpson, an accomplished guitarist who actually assisted Hinkley in the voicing of the first Daedalus Audio loudspeaker, 16 years ago.