Retro Activity

Stop the presses! Two-channel audio just phoned in to say: "Don't bury me, 'cause I'm not dead yet." JBL displayed awesome stereo flagship speakers, the Everest DD6600s (spring — shown above). These massive, gorgeous, retro horn-loaded units are priced at a mere $30,000. Each. (Hello, Tokyo ...) The Everest boasts dual 15-inch woofers, hand-formed woodwork, and treble response past 50 kHz, which should make Nipper happy (oops — wrong company). Snell Acoustics' storied Type A series got a new scion, the A7 ($35,000 a pair, late spring), that's equally, if more subtly, cool-looking — its enclosure forms a continuously tapered ellipsoidal column said to maintain constant cross-section without parallel sides. Down nearer the rational end of the price scale we found Definitive Technology's ultra-slim Mythos ST power towers ($3,598 a pair — left), which sounded quite lovely in two-channel demos. The STs use a new "racetrack" (ovoid) bass driver with matching dual passive radiators to get impressive results from a tower less than 7 inches wide. (Yeah, there's a matching ST center and surrounds for those weak-principled sybarites who insist on surround sound.) — Daniel Kumin