I've worked at <i>Stereophile</i> for eight years, and, in a time when people change jobs as often as they change cars or television sets, eight years is a pretty good stretch. In that time, I've taken part in some exciting and memorable things, from <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/050205Day4/index.html">Home Entertainment Shows</a> and <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/010905ces3/index.html">Consumer Electronics Shows</a> to the live recording of <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/907att/index.html">Attention Screen at Merkin Hall</a>. But <i>Stereophile</i> is fifteen years older than me, and I missed so much.

Mutine's Pascal Ravach was demonstrating the small, but striking, Duevel Planets omnidirectional speakers (CDN$1495/pair), The Planets consist of a floorstanding vented cabinet with an upward-firing 5" woofer and 1" horn-loaded tweeter. The drivers fire against reflective spheres, which disperse the sound.

A close up of the business end of a Duevel Planet loudspeaker.

"Wes," Perry Pecker exclaimed as we passed each other in the 10<SUP>th</SUP>-floor corridor. "We have something you might enjoy."

A closer look at Vienna Acoustics' coaxial tweeter-midrange unit. The central dome is supported by the magnet pole-piece of the flat midrange driver&mdash;and the strengthening ribs are said to dissipate standing waves on the surface of the driver.

Kevin Wolff, Vienna Acoustics' new international sales manager, poses next to the new $25,000/pair The Music loudspeakers.That rotating section of the cabinet contains Vienna Acoustics' revolutionary (<I>hah!</I>) new, flat, concentric 7" tweeter-midrange unit, which handles frequencies from 200Hz to 20kHz. A separate super-tweeter takes over above the audioband.

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