One well-attended seminar on Friday (presented once only) covered the listening room and its effect on the system. Chaired by Richard Bird of Rives Audio, it offered advice from four experts on room design and acoustic treatment. While much of the information will be old news to long-time audiophiles, the advice presented new listeners with a heads-up on the importance of the room.

Aperion Audio, which like Outlaw sells through the Internet, is demonstrating two surround sound systems at very attractive price points. One of them is built around the Intimus 533-T speaker that just recently received a positive review in Stereophile. The Intimus 633-T tower speaker anchors the other system. The larger system will soon be receiving a new review in Ultimate AV. So it was no surprise to me that it offers great value for money. The setup being reviewed, the Intimus 633 Concert HD, normally sells for $2690, and is slightly less on a show special.

Lipinski Sound had an audio/video system consisting of five of its L-707 monitor speakers ($2495 each), five L-301 Lipinski amplifiers ($2995 each, set up in 2-channel, 300Wpc mode for bi-amping each L-707 speaker, but also bridgeable), and four L-240 Powered Stands ($595 each), each of them (apart from the center) designed to house one of the L-301 amps. This placed the amplification just a little over a foot from its associated speaker. The total cost of the power amp/speaker combination: $35,035. Building the amps into the speaker stands is a great idea that more manufacturers might want to consider.

Mr. Incredible is the on onscreen- that's ZVOX's Tom Hannaher standing next to a flat panel display and the new ZVOX 425.

Admittedly, this show is still very much Stereophile oriented, meaning more two-channel and less TVs and surround sound. So, what does a UAV reporter do? He walks around and listens to stereos like this one, loaded with ultra expensive and strangely pretty MBL gear. And yes, this gear has a sound that's as unique as its looks, with massive scale and dynamic swing.

The distributor for a new (to the USA) Swedish speaker resorted to the dirtiest of tricks to get us into their room – free Swedish food. I didn't know Edamame and asparagus were Swedish, but I guess the meatballs were all gone. I grabbed a few veggies and sat down to listen. The $1,850 GURU QM10 loudspeakers from Sjfn HiFi were pumping out a lot of bass heavy music without the assist of a subwoofer. Unfortunately, the first cut was something that sounded like Yello meets the Greater Wagnerian Society of Skinheads.