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B: Bowers & Wilkins or B&W for short not only had the usual room exhibit but also a static display on the main floor. The futuristically styled, 5-driver 50-watt active 3-way Zeppelin sports an inverted d'Appolito array (mid/woofer in the center flanked by two mids flanked by two tweeters) and a soon-to-be ubiquitous iPod dock for a stylish all-in-one solution the MP3 nation can love.

Now it gets a mite confusing as BlueNote has changed colors to Blacknote and GoldeNote by Akamai Audio. Their exhibit showed some exciting new digital products including the DSS 15 digital static source which uses a Linux-based 4GB memory bank expandable with SD memory cards; USB ports to connect to external hard drives; and a transformer-coupled AKM/BurrBrown DAC with true 24-bit resolution. The DSS 30 upgrades to 32GB of memory; optional hi-definition wireless; and four USB ports. There are also the CDP 300 and SACD 300 players with the firm's proprietary red display.

Blumenhofer Acoustics from Augsburg/Germany was a name new to me but I naturally recognized the FJ Acoustics Om, a loudspeaker we reviewed and which Thomas Blumenhofer continues to manufacture now that FJ has apparently closed its doors.

The 15-inch two-way on display sported a sophisticated calibration mechanism for time alignment and tilt axis. Those who claim time alignment to be inaudible should ask why high-end giants Wilson Audio and Focal would bother to incorporate it in their flagship speakers. It's fair to say that other loudspeaker performance parameters must be perfected first before time coherence matters. But then it most certainly does. Running into Kevin Scott from Living Voice who is hard at work perfecting his own 5-way statement hornspeaker, he confided that an elegant solution for adjustable time alignment on his multi-way design remained a true challenge. I suggested he look at the Blumenhofer solution which admittedly moves just a single driver; and at Green Mountain Audio's three-ways.

B for books. The minus 2 floor sold not only software and tubes but technical books on ham radio, audio circuitry and applied electronics.

Burmester is one of many companies who have taken advantage of Oscar Heil's expired patents to author their own take on his air-motion transformer technology.

The 909 monos delivering 1930 watts into 4 ohms and 3200 watts into 1 were massive and gripped the drivers with a fierce focus on the leading edge. Chrome was the name of the game with the 808 Mk5 preamplifier.

But Burmester also makes smaller ranges to welcome those less financially liberated into its folds.

C: Carat Audio is nicely styled kit from France (left) while Caterham Audio appears to be from Italy .

CD sellers had a big presence in Milan and many a stand showed smaller labels I'd never encountered before.

CDS Design had perhaps the cosmetically most wicked speaker of all - diabolically red, erotically curvaceous and altogether different as only Italian industrial design could attempt.

"Swirly Red" goes by Synthesis, won a 2007 design award and is technically a dipole/bass reflex hybrid with a 6" 2-way on the face, a semi-downfiring 8-inch woofer which angles toward the floor and a 2.5" ambient tweeter that fires backwards. Also in the room was the "Drawn Bow" in gloss black whose geometry should likewise spell nightmares to garden-variety garage-based woodworkers. You absolutely must visit the CDS Design site for the full effect. There's even something for, yes, Garrard 301 aficionados:

CEC showed the gorgeous new TL 1N CD transport and matching DAC and, on static display, the Tube 53 integrated. Importer Fugagnollo who also ran an exhibit for Eventus Audio decided on his Heil Syrinx speakers for this room.