REL Acoustics was displaying their new S/5 SHO 12" subwoofer at CES. Like other S-Series subwoofers that came before, the S/5 has a forward-facing, 12" active driver and a 12" passive downward-firing passive driver. The S/5 can be driven wirelessly, and employs the 3-stage, low-noise "limitless" electronics for a wide-dynamic range and increased power output.

PSB Speakers was exhibiting a new bass-reflex subwoofer, the SubSeries (SS) 450, which will be shipping in April 2016 at a suggested US price of $1499. The driver features a 12", woven-fiber-glass cone. The subwoofer employs a 450W class-D amplifier, a built-in 4th order, continuously variable low-pass filter. The subwoofer was on exhibit and not playing.

Paradigm exhibited its new Prestige 1000SW, 12" Subwoofer. Priced at $2999, the subwoofer uses a single 12" brushed-aluminum, high-excursion X-PAL driver in a sealed enclosure which is driven by a class-D, 1000W RMS (1700W peak) amplifier.

Jeff Rowland's Model 725 S2 monoblocks ($34,000/pair) have been out maybe four years, but now include new error-correction circuitry originally developed for the Jeff Rowland 625 S2. Also of import are ceramic circuit boards, 4-pole Jensen capacitors, and virtually immeasurable distortion from 20Hz–20kHz. The class-A/B amps deliver 330Wpc into 8 ohms, and have fully balanced transformer coupled inputs as well as switch-mode power supplies with power-factor correction. The display was passive, with Rowland's active system, complete with Nordost cabling, showcasing other products.

So new there isn't yet a firm US price (somewhere between $6-7k is the guess), the U1 is Lumin's latest high end network player with support for 32/384 PCM and DSD128. Tidal and Qobuz are built in and everything is run by the Lumin custom iOS and Android compatible music browsing app.

On the back are five types of digital output: USB, SPDIF, AES/EBU, BNC, and optical. Digital inputs include Gigabit Ethernet and USB for external or flash drives. Should arrive in the US next month.

Lots of all-in-one type digital music systems at CES this year, but this has to be one of the most simple and straightforward in purpose. You have a network ethernet port and a couple of USB inputs (for storage or flash drives) on the back and then left and right speaker posts. That's it, except for the power switch and plug of course.

None other than designer Terry Miles was on hand to introduce Spendor's "all-new top-of-line Spendor Classic" 3-way loudspeaker ($24,995/pair).

Good sound was a notable achievement given that the new Genesis Forte loudspeakers ($140,000/pair) had been shipped to Las Vegas a mere two days after assembly, and had only three days of break-in on them.

More than a decade ago, I reviewed Music Hall's first turntable, and not only did it play way better than it should for its price; but it felt distinctly like what would surely become the forefather of long bloodline of musical, high-value record players; and it did. The newest, youngest, and most attractive of them all, the MMF 7.3 looks like a new stud breeding horse and a super value for it $1595 price.

Roy Hall, the master of the "wee dram" (of single-malt Scotch) was demonstrating all this Creek wonderfulness with the Epos K3, three-way, floorstanding loudspeakers ($2395/pair) which, like the Creek gear that he distributes in the US, showcased beauty, charm, fine detail, and of course: a wee bit of drunken revelry.