Genesis Technologies showed up with an entire new product line this year, featuring a built-in amplification to the subwoofer. All of their cone drivers are metal, including the subwoofer and the new mid-range driver.

The Genesis 900 subwoofer houses a 15" woofer and a 500 watt amp in its attractive, polished enclosure. the sub is available in black at $1,900.

The reference speaker line consists of the Genesis 200, 300, and 350 at $40,000, $30,000, and $25,000 respectively. A lower end line was introduced with the APM-1 ($7,500) and APM-2 ($5,500), plus the small 700's for $1,500 finished in black, $1,700 in rosewood.

Krell

Demonstrating both their reference quality products, Krell coupled their new Master Reference 1000 watt mono-block amps with Martin Logan's Statement ESL Loudspeakers.

Krell has introduced several new products at the show along with the reference amps, which incidentally sell for $80,000 for a stereo pair. The KPS-25s CD transport incorporates dual 20 bit DACs and is modular, ready to be upgraded when the DVD audio standard is finalized. It also includes an HDCD filter. The KPS-25s doubles as a full-featured preamp with five analog, two optical and two coax inputs. It will retail for $20,000.

The KAV-500i is a stereo integrated amp delivering 250 watts-per-channel into 8 ohms and will sell for $4,500. The high performance KAV-300r stereo receiver with a Day Sequera tuner can be bought up for a mere $3,250. Their most current CD player will be the KAV-250cd with balanced outs and HDCD Filter, selling for $2,350.

Sometime in the second quarter Krell will offer a lower priced version of the Krell Audio Video Standard including Dolby Digital/DTS digital processor. Price and availability were not disclosed.

All of Krell's new products will be out within the first or early second quarter.

Martin Logan

The Martin Logan Statements sounded terrific, but the $70,000 price tag unfortunately doesn't include the crane rental you may need to get these giants into your home. Featuring arrays of high, mid and low frequency drivers, The Martin Logan Statements acheive a performance worthy of their hefty price tag. The red stain on the wood pannels did make quite a statement as did the $80,000 Krell monoblocks.

Wadia

Wadia Digital showed off two new additions to their current line up. The Wadia 830 CD player provides many of the same features as their 850 and 860 at a significantly lower price ($ 2,950). The 830 is equipped with a 24 bit D-to-A converter and offers a digital volume control.

Also new, the Wadia 270 ($7,950) CD transport tops out the line and links with the $ 8,450 Wadia 27 Decoding Computer, Wadia's highly sophisticated DAC that functions as a master clock for the two pieces.

Classe
Classe is releasing two new A/V preamp processors and both will highlight DTS and Dolby Digital processing. The SSP-50 has multi-zone capability, with seven inputs with on-screen functions. It will retail for $6,500 and should start shipping in April. The SSP-75 deletes a couple inputs and on-screen functionality for a sleeked down version at $3,000. This unit is currently shipping. Classe also exhibited a new 400 watt-per-channel amplifier called the Omega, which is in stores with an asking price of $15,000.

Avalon demonstrated the Eidolon speaker in a walnut burl finish. The exhibition in the Spectral booth demonstrated exactly why they run for $19,500 a pair.

Magnapan

Magnapan proudly rolled out the new MG1.6/QR (pictured). Its larger ribbon allows a lower crossover point resulting in improved midrange definition compared to the 1.5's. The MG12 replaces three current speakers (the MG.6, the LR1, and the SMGc. The MG1.6 is $1,475 a pair, while the MG12 is only $950 a pair.

Audio Research is providing a special edition model of their PH3 Phone Preamp for $2,495, providing a parts upgrade. Upgrades to current PH3 customers is available for around $1,000. Already shipping, put debuting at CES, was the 100.2 amplifier which retails for $3,495. Like the model number implies it delivers 100 watts-per-channel.

Pacific Microsonics

Pacific Microsonics, creators of the HDCD process, announced that their circuit will be included on the next generation Motorola chip (56362) making it the first chip to provide both Dolby Digital and DTS on one processor. The release of this chip will assure the increased presence of all three technologies' future products.

The HDCD catalog of CDs, which exceeds 100 titles, and equiptment licences is growing steadily and they happyly announced that 10% of the nominations for this years Grammy Awards were HDCD recordings.