Mordaunt Short Mezzo 8Price: $2495 per pair

Website: www.mordauntshort.com

Ron said: There is no question that it looks the part of a modern, good-looking loudspeaker, but the Mezzo 8's performance is really the key to its success. Twenty or 30 years ago, given its sonic excellence, such a speaker would have been boxy, ugly, perhaps hard to drive, and yet would still have been proudly displayed in the listening rooms/man caves of discerning audiophiles. Thankfully, times have changed for the better. Recommended!

Read the GoodSound! review.

The gist: A looker that sounds great, too.