Of all the components to be seen and heard at an audio show or in a dealer's showroom, the most memorable and attention-grabbing are inevitably the super-speakers—bogglingly expensive, filled with cutting-edge engineering and exotic materials, of mammoth size and weight, with full-range reproduction that shakes building foundations and extends far enough up top to disrupt the navigation of bats. Survey the field, and the biggest Wilson, Aln, JMlab-Focal, Burmester, EgglestonWorks, and Nearfield Acoustics models, to name a few, fit that description.

Of all the components to be seen and heard at an audio show or in a dealer's showroom, the most memorable and attention-grabbing are inevitably the super-speakers—bogglingly expensive, filled with cutting-edge engineering and exotic materials, of mammoth size and weight, with full-range reproduction that shakes building foundations and extends far enough up top to disrupt the navigation of bats. Survey the field, and the biggest Wilson, Aln, JMlab-Focal, Burmester, EgglestonWorks, and Nearfield Acoustics models, to name a few, fit that description.

The ultimate system evaluation disc? John Atkinson has been busy putting together <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/853/"><I>Editor's Choice</I>: <I>Stereophile</I>'s Sampler & Test CD</A>. JA chooses his favorite <I>Stereophile</I> recordings from the past 10 years and throws in a few test tones.

One of the cooler toys being shown at the Westin&ndash;St. Francis is the $199 hp digital media receiver en5000. This nifty remote-controlled Ethernet device connects to any TV and stereo in your home and links it to your home computing network. After you've loaded its software onto the network's computers, it will instantaneously communicate with all of them, allowing you to access all digital media contained on any of them. You can create playlists, slideshows, or show movies from, say, the room containing your hi-fi without needing to have a computer in the space at all. This struck us as precisely the sort of product David Hyman was recommending in his keynote address on day one. Best of all, no noisy fans in the listening room!

<IMG SRC="/images/newsart/he2003.polk.jpg" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=172 HSPACE=6 VSPACE=4 BORDER=0 ALIGN=LEFT>Polk Audio completely redesigned its popular RT<I>i</I> series of loudspeakers. The RT<I>i</I>s occupy the "better" position in Polk's good (R series), better (RT<I>i</I>), best (LS<I>i</I>) hierachy. The refurbished line features new drivers, higher quality cabinets, and handsome cosmetics&mdash;including real wood veneers in black oak and cherry.

The first day of the annual Home Entertainment shows is traditionally devoted to "trade" access only&mdash;that is to say, set aside for press conferences and dealer demonstrations (<I>ie</I> officially sanctioned schmoozing and cruising).

I'll spare you my thoughts on the matter&mdash;they're guessable anyway&mdash;and simply say that the war with Iraq has given me and my family the jitters, just as it seems to have done with millions of other people. But rather than giving 10 more dollars to Henkel Consumer Adhesives, my wife and I have taken a different tack: We made up a Road Box. A Road Box is a cardboard box full of things for us to take from our home if we have to leave in a hurry. We keep it near the door that leads to the garage.

I'll spare you my thoughts on the matter&mdash;they're guessable anyway&mdash;and simply say that the war with Iraq has given me and my family the jitters, just as it seems to have done with millions of other people. But rather than giving 10 more dollars to Henkel Consumer Adhesives, my wife and I have taken a different tack: We made up a Road Box. A Road Box is a cardboard box full of things for us to take from our home if we have to leave in a hurry. We keep it near the door that leads to the garage.

I'll spare you my thoughts on the matter&mdash;they're guessable anyway&mdash;and simply say that the war with Iraq has given me and my family the jitters, just as it seems to have done with millions of other people. But rather than giving 10 more dollars to Henkel Consumer Adhesives, my wife and I have taken a different tack: We made up a Road Box. A Road Box is a cardboard box full of things for us to take from our home if we have to leave in a hurry. We keep it near the door that leads to the garage.