t they'll have to cough up more big bucks to get Dolby EX? Here's what I think: No one should make an expensive home theater move until the HD-DVD machines see the light of day and HDTV (high-definition TV) prices plummet. Funny, vinyl 'piles still have a range of hardware and software options available to them nearly two decades after CDs made LPs "obsolete." Let's return for a moment to the original topic: the "death" of high-end audio. Well, I just returned from CES, where I saw most of the usual suspects. Krell just introduced a new CD player; Mark Levinson had a shiny new $15K preamp; Martin Logan was showing its cool new electrostatic speaker; Thiel and Vandersteen each had new, and fairly expensive, "bookshelf" loudspeakers; and Linn Products showed off its amazing $19K Klimax amplifiers. There was a conspicuous absence of mourners and long black limousines. When you stop and think about it, most domestic home theater manufacturers are keyed into the same network as the high-end audio crowd. My conclusion is that we're all in this together. So be careful what you wish for, Russ, 'cause when high-end audio dies, high-end home theater will be next. ...
