The Audio/Video Essentials category spanned a range of brands and products, including everything from a $60 DVD player to an $8,000 home-theater enabled entity that might best be described as a couch on steroids.
 
The winner, however, was something considerably easier for non-aficionados to wrap their heads around: Yamaha's YSP-1 Digital Sound Projector, a cylindrical speaker designed for simple mounting beneath flat-panel plasma displays.
 
The speaker blends seamlessly with nearly every unit and provides astounding audio oomph given its size. It boasts single source multichannel surround sound, with 42 drivers fueled by digital amplifiers with steering logic.
 
And at $1,500, it costs thousands less than comparable products. At a show that was all about louder, bigger and better, the YSP-1's streamlined sound stood head and shoulders above the competition.

For more CES info, go to www.cesweb.org.