AUDIO

The Sound of Style

For the past few years, it seemed like the only news in speakers was flat, flat, flat! But now that every manufacturer in the known universe has come up with a wall-mountable, plasma-friendly design, we're starting to see - finally! - some innovations in more traditional styles.

TOWERS OF POWER Since CES is about bigger and brasher, it was no surprise that there were a few noteworthy announcements in the tower category.

•Boston Acoustics debuted its flagship E series, which features decorator-friendly, elegantly rounded cabinetry with real wood finishes. The top-of-the-line E100 floorstander ($2,500 each, June) has seven 51/4-inch drivers to rock your world. •JBL's Cinema Sound speakers manage to load an impressive combination of style and sound into an amazingly affordable package. The slim CST55 towers (available now) are $379 each, delivering power-tower performance at a bookshelf price. •Thiel unveiled its latest floorstander, the CS3.7. Building on the company's bestselling CS3.6, it has innovations like a formed-aluminum cabinet top and a radically designed ribbed midrange diaphragm that looks more like something from the aerospace industry than from a speaker company. This will be a tower worth checking out when it launches in early April for around $8,000 a pair. •Pioneer made a serious foray into high-end speakers with its EX Series. The technology is ported from the company's Technical Audio Devices pro division. Borrowing from the $40,000-a-pair Model 2s, the S-1EX ($4,500 each, available now) uses beryllium-dome tweeters. These speakers sounded amazing, with terrific imaging and detail.

REDOING OLD FAVORITES Another speaker theme at CES was, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it - just update it!" Several manufacturers rolled out versions of some of their most popular products with updated styling and improved performance.

•KEF's 3000 series (shown top) replaces the bestselling speakers in the company's history, the 2000 series. The 3000 keeps the egg-shaped styling and KEF's Uni-Q technology, which mounts the tweeter in the center of the woofer. But the tweeter is improved, and a compact ferrite woofer magnet allows for more cabinet volume. These upgrades are meant to give more bass and more output overall with reduced distortion. The matching sub resembles a giant M&M but packs a wallop. The KHT3005 system was due in March for $1,500. •Definitive Technology's ProCinema series, launched in 1995, has been radically redone for 2006. The new ProCinema 1000 (shown below, right) and 800 systems (both available in April) feature pressure-coupled passive radiators that produce deeper bass while reducing distortion. The drivers have also been completely redesigned to deliver smoother sound with a wider dynamic range. A 5.1-channel Cinema 800 system will fetch $1,099, while the Cinema 1000 will go for $1,495. •Klipsch's Reference Series improves with age, and at CES the company launched Generation IV (shown below, left). The Reference Series has 20 new models, with only the entry-level 10 series remaining unchanged. All speakers feature titanium tweeters coupled to new-generation square Tractrix horns and Cerametallic aluminum woofers for deeper bass. And some of the new Reference subs include digital room-correction for tight, accurate bass in any space. New RF-series towers are $598 to $2,498 a pair, bookshelf models are $348 to $698 a pair, and subs are $349 to $1,999. All are available now.

SHE'S A BEAUTY The most eye-catching speakers at the show were Infinity's Cascade series (shown above). Though designed with flat-panel TVs in mind, they look equally gorgeous whether mounted on a wall, a shelf, or their floor stands. From $699 to $999 each and available now, they place cool style and excellent sound within most budgets.