Technics was showing some delightfully high-end stuff. The turntables were more alike sonically than different, revealing a house sound marked by clarity, explicitness, transient speed, ambient cues, and vivid pictures.

The room shared by distributor Motet and PMC Speakers showcased a system—actually, two systems, but I only experienced one. This system surprised me, not merely because it delivered a full, big-picture sound but because the source of that sound was not what I initially assumed upon entering.

The Innuos/Asona room showcased and AB-tested two network streamers for me: the flagship Pulsar and the Pulse.

TAD was demonstrating a beefy all-TAD system, beefy in looks and sound. The result? As I listened, "An iron fist in a velvet glove" came to mind.

If the AudioNec Evo 3 speakers ($125,000/pair) in the top photo look familiar, it's no accident. They're from the same company that made the Evo 1 speakers in my last Luna Cables / Thöress report. But this time, they have three more modules, so the Evo 3 is much taller than the Evo 1.