CES 2009

I went into the Pass Labs room to check out the company's new amps. But what caught my eye was the SR-1 loudspeaker ($25,000/pair). SR-1 stands for "First Son of Rushmore," the Rushmore being Nelson Pass's original assault on the state of the speaker art. A conventional deign compared with the active quad-amplified Rushmore, the four-way SR-1 uses four top-line SEAS drive-units, including a 29mm Hexadym soft-dome tweeter,

With a system that included two XA100.5 monoblocks and Pass Lab's new phono stage, with a Basis turntable at the front end, the SR-1s produced a big, refined sound from an Alison Krauss LP.