CES 2007

No, that's not another Vandersteen sock—it's the carbon fiber plinth of the Vandersteen 5As in Audio Research's room. "Richard [Vandersteen] isn't really offering the 5s in carbon fiber," Audio Research's Terry Dorn told us. "He just wanted to explore the material, so he did these."

So how do they sound?

Dorn cued a disc and simply smiled.

We listened and we smiled too.

(Note: this image is a close up of the carbon pattern to show the texture - the speaker looks a bit darker under normal light and more refined looking than how it appears here—a gorgeous speaker.)