Products of the Year

Wilson Audio Specialties Sabrina ($15,900/pair; reviewed by Robert Deutsch, May 2016, Vol.39 No.5 Review) The accordance of such an honor to a Wilson Audio loudspeaker may not be a shock on the order of seeing Ned Stark get his head lopped off at the end of season one of Game of Thrones, but this well-deserved win by the company's new floorstander is nonetheless noteworthy: at $15,900/pair, the three-way Sabrina is now the company's entry-level loudspeaker; adjusted for inflation, it is perhaps Wilson's most affordable speaker ever—and I can think of at least a half-dozen companies, none of so perfectionist a bent, that sell far more expensive speakers that offer far less.

Notes on the vote: While it's nice, for once, to have a single first-place speaker—think of the ink we'll save!—note must be made of the second-place win, by DeVore Fidelity's sensitive and sensible Orangutan O/93: It's the third time in four years that this model has placed in our voting. (Surely there should be a trophy for that?) Third place was snagged by the budget-priced Elac Debut B6, which earned more votes but fewer points overall than the O-rang.

Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3 Diamond ($22,000/pair; reviewed by Kalman Rubinson, June 2016, Vol.39 No.6 Review)
DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 ($8400/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert, December 2015 & July 2016, Vol.38 No.12 & Vol.39 No.7 Review)
Elac Debut B6 ($279.99/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert & Ken Micallef, April & July 2016, Vol.39 Nos. 4 & 7 Review)
Marten Coltrane 3 ($100,000/pair; reviewed by Michael Fremer, June 2016, Vol.39 No.6 Review)
PSB Imagine T3 ($7498/pair; reviewed by John Atkinson, August 2016, Vol.39 No.8 Review)
Technics Premium Class SB-C700 ($1699/pair; reviewed by Herb Reichert, January 2016, Vol.39 No.1 Review)
Vandersteen Model Seven Mk.II ($62,000/pair; reviewed by John Atkinson, May 2016, Vol.39 No.5 Review)
YG Acoustics Carmel 2 ($24,300/pair; reviewed by John Atkinson, December 2015, Vol.38 No.12 Review)