

It's rare that an offbeat speaker gets the seal of approval of a respected audiophile, but sure enough, Cnet's Steve Guttenberg loved the ultra slim Podium Model 1. The pair of speakers are only one-inch thick, and radiate sound from the front and back. Guttenberg (no relation to Johnny Five's human counterpart) admits that it may not be for all audio nuts: "The large sound is unlike any box speaker I've ever heard, much more like live music." But he says that the distributor, Sam Laufer, intends to use their thinness as a selling point for caterers and others who want a big yet portable sound. At $8,000 a pair, you better hope them pigs-in-a-blanket are highly profitable. [Crave]