Tom Norton

The Harmon Specialty Group was demonstrating Levinson's new $30,000 No.502 surround processor together with Lexicon amps and a complete Revel Ultima2 speaker system, the latter anchored by the big Revel Ultima2 Salon2s on the right and left front channels. It sounded outstanding, but this did not surprise me after my recent review of an Ultima2 Studio2 system.

KEF also demonstrated the smallest entry in its Reference series, the 201.2, in 2-channels. It sounded superb. $5000/pair now, going up to $6000/pair soon. Get 'em while they're hot.

120Hz operation, to remove motion lag in LCD displays, is exploding all over. Olevia's demo was highly effective, showing that its system smoothed motion at various speeds and with a wide variety of program material, including these white bars which scrolled across the screen.

Do it yourself (DIY) speaker builders gravitate to one of several suppliers to buy the parts they need for their projects. One of the biggest is Parts Express, and they had a small booth on the show floor this year. The elegant cabinet shown here, with the arched side walls now popular on many an upscale commercial design (almost invariably made in China), can be had for $129.77 (each) in polished black, cherry, or maple, ready to be filled with the drivers and crossovers of your choice.