Pioneer
Every listening room has its own shape, size, and furniture — all of which affect sound. With the supplied microphone, Pioneer's thrifty VSX-815 receiver will automatically adjust its five-band equalizer to customize sound to best match your digs. With seven channels of amplification rated at 100 watts each, it can pump out all the excitement in Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES soundtracks, and Dolby Pro Logic IIx and DTS Neo:6 processing can adapt everything else for 7.1-channel playback. Plus there's Windows Media Audio 9 Professional decoding for stereo and multichannel WMA files. Three component-video inputs can switch HDTV signals. Price: $365. pioneerelectronics.com, 800-746-6337

Sony
It's surely no coincidence that the Qualia 007 SACD system's model number evokes James Bond. Part of Sony's high-end Qualia line, the player sports modern styling and a transparent lid that will dress up any listening room like a high-tech tuxedo. After you place a CD or SACD in the mechanism, a trio of metal pistons gently raises it to the spindle while leveling and centering the disc. A built-in digital stereo amplifier (the player can't read the multichannel layer on hybrid SACDs) is rated to deliver 75 watts each to a pair of maple-finish speakers (not shown). Each is 15 inches tall and has a 1-inch tweeter and a 6 3/8-inch woofer. Price: $12,500. sony.com/qualia, 877-782-5423

B&W
For the tweeters in its new 800 Series flagship speakers, B&W turned to none other than the hardest substance on Earth. Made of vapor-deposited and laser-cut diamond, the 1-inch tweeters are said to give cleaner sound at high frequencies than aluminum domes. They're also loaded into Nautilus-style tapered tubes, which are isolated from cabinet vibrations thanks to a gel cushion. At the top of the new line is the 800D (above), a three-way ported speaker with dual 10-inch woofers and a 6-inch midrange. Those sizable drivers let this 4-foot-tall, 275-pound bad boy reach down to 32 Hz. Choose your favorite finish from cherry, rosenut, or black-ash veneers — all real wood. Price: $20,000 a pair. www.bwspeakers.com, 800-370-3740

NOTE All prices and product information are supplied by the manufacturers. Dealer prices may vary.

Sharp
In debuting its first rear-projection DLP TVs, Sharp makes a distinctive style statement by giving them V-based cabinets. The 56DR650 (shown) has a 56-inch (diagonal) screen that displays images with 720 lines of resolution, matching the high-def 720p format. It has a built-in HDTV tuner, but external HD sources can connect to the set's component-video, VGA, or HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs. There's also a CableCARD slot, so you can get high-def programming via cable without an external box, and the TV Guide On Screen electronic program guide is included. The relatively compact design, made possible by DLP technology, keeps the cabinet's depth to only 15 3/4 inches. Price: $3,300. sharpusa.com, 800-237-4277

Panasonic
Still recording TV on tape? It might be about time to get a DVD recorder now that affordable models like Panasonic's DMR-ES10 are packed with convenient features. For starters, the versatile deck can burn every recordable-DVD format except DVD+RW, and it plays them all. Its four quality modes — XP, SP, LP, and EP — yield 1, 2, 4, and 8 hours, respectively. Economical LP recordings are said to retain 500 lines of resolution (previous models cut that number in half). Recording on DVD-RAM discs will give you most of the abilities of a hard-disk recorder, like pausing playback while recording a live program. The ES10 also plays DVD-Audio music discs. Price: $250. panasonic.com, 800-211-7262

Samsung
Surround sound is great, but the cables running to the speakers in the back of the room are at best an eyesore and at worst a tripping hazard. Samsung's HT-WP40 home theater in a box cuts the cords. Its small wireless amplifier (not shown) receives signals from the DVD player/receiver up to 30 feet away via 2.4-GHz Bluetooth technology. The stereo amp is rated to deliver 134 watts into each channel — the same as the five-disc player/receiver provides to the other three speakers (the bass module has its own 130-watt amp). Efficient digital amplifiers keep the player slim (only 3 3/8 inches tall), and the system welcomes DVD-Audio discs. Price: $449. samsung.com, 800-726-7864

NOTE All prices and product information are supplied by the manufacturers. Dealer prices may vary.

X2
The Mega View 566 portable multimedia player ingests all your music, home video, TV shows, and photographs and lets you slide them into a jacket pocket. Featuring a 3 1/2-inch color LCD screen as well as an FM radio and voice recorder, the player has a 20-gigabyte (GB) hard drive that can store up to 80 hours of video (MPEG-4 or DivX), 10,000 songs (MP3 or WMA), 100,000 photos, or 640 hours of voice recording. The Mega View can record TV shows directly without a computer and turn itself off via a built-in timer. There's also an SD/MMC memory-card slot. The whole thing weighs 8 1/2 ounces including battery. Price: $449; 40-GB version, $549. x2usa.com, 949-754-4252

Definitive Technology
The thud of hockey players crashing into barriers (well, maybe next season) sounds off with Definitive Tech's new SuperCube III subwoofer, featuring a 7 1/2-inch active driver and two passive radiators. The mini sub is just one part of the six-piece Mythos Gem sub/sat system, which also includes four sleek, 10 1/4-inch-tall satellite speakers and a wider center speaker. The satellites are all semi-enclosed in aluminum and can be wall-mounted using the supplied stainless steel brackets. The Gem stands shown are optional. Price: $2,044; stands $259 a pair. definitivetech.com, 410-363-7148



Denon
With the price of a bargain-basement DVD player approaching that of a cheap bottle of wine, Denon still makes players for folks who take quality as seriously as a sommelier. The flagship DVD-5910 universal player features the Realta/HQV chip from Silicon Optix, which is said to perform more than a trillion video-processing operations per second. According to Denon, it's equal to the power of a $60,000 scaler. With its HDMI output, the player upconverts DVD video to high-def resolution, and it includes Dolby Digital, DTS, DVD-Audio, and SACD decoders. Price: $3,500. denon.com, 973-396-0810

Sennheiser
The constant low rumble in an airline cabin ruins the clarity of satellite TV, your portable DVD player, or any MP3 player. In-flight entertainment is where noise-canceling headphones make the biggest difference. Now, Sennheiser's PCX300 with a collapsible headband makes the phones easy to squirrel away in the supplied travel case. The PCX300 actively reduces rumble using two supplied AAA batteries in an outboard battery pack (below), but unlike some other noise-canceling headsets, it can be used for regular listening even when the batteries are exhausted. Price: $220. sennheiserusa.com, 860-434-9190

NOTE All prices and product information are supplied by the manufacturers. Dealer prices may vary.

Norcent
With a 27-inch screen, Norcent's LT-2720 LCD TV fits snugly in a bedroom. Though conventional TV reception is handled through a built-in analog tuner, the set needs to be connected to an outboard digital tuner for HDTV. The high-def display, by the rated numbers, has 1,280 x 768-pixel resolution, a 600:1 contrast ratio, and a 50,000-hour lamp life. Stereo speakers and a headphone jack are on board. The built-in sleep timer even lets you program the set to shut itself off, so you can fall asleep during Nightline without being awakened by a loud commercial. Price: $1,299. norcent.com, 909-305-8885

Toshiba
There aren't that many machines that can record HDTV, but if you own one of Toshiba's integrated high-def sets, you have one more option than everyone else — the compact (8 1/2 x 2 x 10 1/4-inch) Symbio high-definition A/V recorder. The 160-GB external hard drive connects to your set through its FireWire port. Symbio takes advantage of the TV Guide On Screen program guide in the TV, enabling one-touch recording of both standard- and high-def programs. Your TV's remote also controls pausing and replaying live broadcasts. Price: $499. tacp.toshiba.com, 973-628-8000

Bell'O
Why perch that flat screen on a shabby stand when what you really want is furniture as sleek and elegant as the TV itself? Bell'O International's AVS-2663 combines steel and tempered safety glass in a low-rise stand flanked by leather-look panels. Measuring 63 1/2 x 21 x 20 1/2 inches (W x H x D), it contains two bottom shelves for components, a center speaker, and software. Wires and cables can easily be hidden within the stand. Price: $1,000. bello.com, 732-972-1333

iPoser
Desperate to join the iPod club, but just don't have the coin to be that trendy? The iPoser will get you looking as hip as those techies on the subway for a fraction of the cost. Its casing exactly matches the iPod's, except it's all casing — the iPoser is completely hollow. An iPoser Mini is available (in all colors), and you can even get a fake first-generation iPod, just to pretend you were cool way before everyone else. The ersatz iPod's LCD screen lights up, lets you browse menus — the only catch is it won't store or play music of any kind. And the convenient cavity is a good place to hold loose change and breath mints. The company guarantees a lifetime supply of nonworking white earbuds. Price: $15; Mini version, $10. iposer.net, 800-IPOSER

NOTE All prices and product information are supplied by the manufacturers. Dealer prices may vary.