ReZoom

In the digital revolution that began in the 1980s, things we took for granted were lost in the shuffle. Hi-Fi systems with their giant stacks of speakers were once as popular as shag carpet, but in the march of technological progress, digitization degraded sound quality, advancements in high-fidelity gave way to conveniently tiny earbuds ... and we all know what happed to shag carpet.

The modern, digital surround-sound system, however, gives hope to audiophiles. Companies like Definitive Technologies and Nakamichi have found ways to produce distortion-free sound, but with bumping bass.

Below are three products that will turn any mild-mannered media room into a super-sublime soundscape.

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  The Mythos One system by Definitive Technologies is the crossroads of great sound and style. Behind the chrome and black casing, engineers use a Kevlar compound to create the speakers, through which you can actually hear all the ticks and pops in your favorite music or movies. Combine with a matching Supercube subwoofer, and you get all the low tones of a concert hall in your living room, but without the big ugly black box. (The Supercube uses layered speakers to get a more powerful boom in a box about half the size of most woofers.)
  The Mythos One system retails for $3500-$5000 depending on configuration.
  

  The Mythos One - crossroads of sound and style.

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  When it comes to amplifiers, there's just no way around it: Amps aren't sexy. And though the new Marantz SR8001 is as unsexy as the rest, the 7.1 channel amp carries a hefty 125 watts of high-current power that most demanding speakers will need. Marantz's novice-friendly Audyssey Auto Calibration will even balance the speakers for the room.
  The Marantz SR8001 retails for $2000.
• 
  Using a combination of small keypads, routing modules and deft wiring, Russound's A-BUS Audio Distribution System can essentially pump everything in your media room (CDs, Satellite, radio, even cassettes) into any room you choose at the flip of a switch. In addition, it also allows you to divide those sources any which way you want. So, you can have NPR in the kitchen while cooking dinner and the new Lucinda Williams CD mellowing out the party on your patio without resorting to the other audio blight brought on in the 1980s – the ubiquitous boom box.
  The Russound A-BUS retails from $1000 depending on the number of rooms.