Steven Stone

The history of high-end audio and video is littered with companies who made fine products but failed. Kloss Audio/Video, California Audio Labs, and Dunlavy Audio are but a few of the illustrious firms that did not survive. Genesis almost joined these ranks. Founded in 1991 by Arnie Nudell, Paul McGowan, and Mark Shifter, Genesis quickly made its mark with outstanding speakers and digital electronics. Yet in December 2001, Genesis closed its doors.

One of the many reasons for home theaters' vexing complexity stems from the 5-inch discs that contain the vast majority of program material. Few players are made to handle the new, mutually incompatible formats of DVD-Audio and SACD along with DVD-Video and conventional CD. You can't expect an unsophisticated user to know what discs will and won't work in a particular player. The solution is simple: Short of a PB&J sandwich, a home-theater disc player should be able to handle anything loaded into its tray. A universal player is a necessary and fundamental building block of an ergonomically friendly home theater.

In the world of fine art, the name Dal conjures up images of flaccid clocks created by a mustachioed wild man. But in high-end audio, DALI is an acronym for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries. Since 1983, DALI has been producing speakers for the home entertainment market. With a staff of just over 60, DALI doesn't rate as an industrial behemoth, but it does display the kind of creative independence that leads to big things. DALI does all their R&D work in-house, and instead of being built on a standard production line, their speakers are assembled by two-person teams. Although DALI is better known in Europe than in the US, their new line of Euphonia home-theater speakers should change that.

<I>Paul Brady, Liam Genockey, Steve Fletcher, Jennifer Maidman, Mary Black, Paddy Glackin, Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn. Directed by Julian Vignoles. Aspect ratio: 2.35 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 2.0 (English). 108 minutes. 2003. Koch Entertainment/Compass Records 743599. NR. $24.98.</I>