Okay, boys and girls, does size really matter? Certainly in the case of Legacy Loudspeaker Systems. These $46,000/pair behemoths, which dwarf Legacy President Bill Dudleston, possess tremendous authority below the belt, and project an image big enough to do justice to a full symphonic orchestra. It was hard to get all the details down amidst the din leaking in from other rooms, but I'm pretty sure their lower 15" sealed woofer is driven by its own 1000W module, while everything else, including the open-air top 15" woofer, is driven by external amplification.

Legacy has constantly upgraded this since its launch in 2001. The latest iteration, dating from the beginning of 2009, includes updated drivers that handle more power.

Tri-wired with WireWorld's excellent Silver Eclipse 6 cabling, the speakers were driven by three Coda CS amps ($3900 each). Each amp outputs 300Wpc into 4 ohms, which is just what the Legacy wants. An Ayon 192/24 CD player ($5500) completed the chain of this impressive sounding system.