CEDIA 2010

On the last day of CEDIA, I happened upon this incredible wall sculpture in Leon Speakers' booth. It turned out to hide five of Leon's new Profile 631 in-wall speakers, each with two 6-inch woofers, two 3-inch midranges, and a silk-dome tweeter, all powered by McIntosh amps. The entire package also includes four of Leon's Aaros ultra-thin subwoofers with 10-inch aluminum cone drivers, which were sitting on the floor, powered by the two of the company's L3-1K 1000W amps. The dragon itself is cut from a 16-foot sheet of solid ¼-inch billet aluminum using a giant water-cutting machine, and it includes 800 strands of fiber-optic cable and DMX-controlled LED lights.

When I asked about the price, I was told it's "seven pounds of gold." Really? Yes, really. I know that gold is popular in a troubled economy, but using it as actual currency is pretty unusual. Of course, the company would also take cash, which comes to almost $146,000 at gold's current price of about $1300/oz.