Other items of note… PMC, the distributor of Bryston were right alongside the CSE stand – as we know Bryston and Lexicon amps are very similar. They showed a new modular multi-channel amp, the 9B ST which shares the same principals as the Krell. In its five channel form (one can create bridged multiples) the 9B ST delivers 120watts, 8ohm into all five channels simultaneously. I was impressed by how cool to the touch it was, even having been used all day long. Bryston also showed a pre-production Dolby Digital, DTS, THX processor – a hybrid design it had discrete digital and analogue signal paths, each element being on separate boards. It should be competitively priced at circa £3,200.

Apart from Meridian’s superb image display – there were other projectors of note – including a Seleco too expensive to recall for fear of serious financial damage (around £40,000). But mass-market plasma displays, particularly those from Sony and Pioneer were less than impressive, especially the Pioneer which had just about every image problem I can imagine. Pioneer did show a prototype receiver offering DTS, Dolby Digital, MPEG-Audio and THX Select processing priced at £1,600, the thing of note being the remote control, a touch-screen offering ten pages of keys and being fully user-programmable. I liked the design, particularly as keys such as volume up/down and power on/off were regular buttons – easy to find in the dark without activating the screen.

On the loudspeaker front, the Warfedale Loudpanels were on display and as usual were blow away by the sound of a passing gnat flapping it’s wings… B&W’s stand sounded atrocious… but Genelec’s loudspeakers I really liked. They’re nearly all active monitors available in a wide range of shapes and sizes. I listened to a system comprising five 1029A (5" mid, ¾" tweeter) and a 1091A sub-woofer with a Lexicon MC-1 and Panasonic DVD source. This would be considered their budget system (OK, maybe not the processing part of it). The room was small but the sense of spaciousness produced by the system was impressive, dialogue was clear and precise and dramatic scenes had the type of impact I’ve only really heard from much larger boxes. The ‘Aria’ scene from ‘Fifth Element’ was one demo piece, and even at reference level there was no sign of strain from any of the ‘speakers.

Disappointment of the show: Those 'in the know' had it on good authority that at the end of the THX seminar, all (yawn) three hours of it, there would be a 15minute clip of ‘The Phantom Menace’. The seminar was sparsely attended but at around 3pm vultures began to gather outside conference room 1 to catch the main event. Remember, in the UK ‘Phantom Menace’ isn’t released for months yet. What did we get? A 90second clip, with distorted monaural audio offset to the right of the screen. Humm… and the THX philosophy is? What a swizz.

It’s late and it was a long drive back – if I think of anything else interesting I’ll follow up.

Stuart.