This article was taken from the May 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Until recently, most high-end speakers resembled R2-D2 hiding in a waste-paper bin. But with celebrities such as Dr Dre and manufacturers including Bowers & Wilkins pushing the aesthetics, audio tech has taken a rather surreal turn.
Avantgarde Acoustic's Trio Classico (above) is a striking 1.5m-tall assemblage of injection-moulded horns and German-engineered audiophile components. Each unit blends the benefits of old-school horn design -- efficiency, range, nuance -- with hi-fi opulence such as 27-ohm voice coils, 5.5kg magnets and
Kevlar midrange cones coated in microscopic fibres to absorb high-frequency distortion. But at $65,000 (£40,000) a pair, you'll be lucky if you can afford to buy any music worthy of playing through them. www.avantgarde-acoustic.de
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
