CES & THE Show 2010 • Best of Show

Which one is playing?

This is the question you ask yourself when you sit down in front of a system with two speakers. For the Teresonic demo at THE Show, the answer seemed apparent: the tall, shapely Ingenium ($14,500/pair as configured) and not the smaller Magnus ($6000/pair). The music -- from analog or digital -- sounded big, and the bass had some sock and weight -- the end product of that large cabinet. There was no way a little single-driver speaker could produce such robust sound.

Zssst. Wrong. After we listened for ten minutes, the speaker cables were switched and the Ingeniums belted out the beginning to "Also Sprach Zarathustra" with even greater spaciousness and low-end authority.

Teresonic's own special-order 2A3 integrated amp ($15,000) provided the power, while a Playback Designs MPS-5 ($15,000) handled digital duties. LPs spun on a Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable ($10,000) with a Helius Omega Silver Ruby tonearm ($4750) and a Benz Micro LP S cartridge ($5000). The phono stage was the lovely Fosgate Signature ($2500). Cables were also from Teresonic -- a mix of silver and gold conductors.