That's [Home] Entertainment, Part II! Our man in New York covers the Home Entertainment 2002 Show. (Show Report).

The fifth Home Entertainment Show in New York, with a full year of planning, had grown to 250 exhibitors in 85 demo rooms, although as usual a number of those rooms were devoted to things other than music. I found 57 systems worth a listen-and the Aston Martin Vanquish sports car in the Linn room worth an ogle. Speakers being demonstrated range in price from the low hundreds to the high five figures, but you don't necessarily get what you pay for--particularly if you live in a hotel room with a small volume of air and a large area of reflective surfaces--so here's my guided tour of listening impressions.

As before, the lower floors had the big rooms, usually filled with big (or at least expensive) speakers or home theater demos. I've neglected this area in past reports because so little of it is Sensible, but this year I decided to start with the fantasies (did I mention the Aston Martin?) and get practical later on.

1. Dynaudio

The Confidence 4 ($16,000) is a tall, thin speaker with exposed drivers on a floating front baffle. The sound was somewhat warm; there was some mid-bass bloom despite this being a very large room; tremendous power handling; realistic sound on voice, piano and drums but the band felt larger than life (probably because of the warmth); great bass extension. I overheard a comment from another listener: "$16,000? And this is their affordable line?!" But to be fair, they were also showing (but not playing) the Confidence 2, which seems life half the size and sells for $12,000-and both are way cheaper than last year's Temptation.

2. Wilson Audio

The WATT 7 ($22,400) continues the Wilson tradition of small, beautifully made forward-sounding speakers. Highs were piercing at loud volumes; overall timbre was light--where's the bass? And the Watchdog subwoofer ($9,850 each) was allegedly on the job. Cabinets of the demo model were finished in silver gloss laminate; this is one of the "in" finishes this year, but it strikes me as `50s industrial.

3. PSB Speakers of America