Steinway Lyngdorf Model LS Grand Theater System

Peter lyngdorf, founder of Denmark’s Steinway Lyngdorf, enjoys a near-godlike reputation in the audio industry. For much of his career he has worked to create home-audio systems with "absolutely no restrictions or limitations." With the Steinway Lyngdorf Model LS Grand Theater System, he has achieved this goal. The system, which starts around $266,000, combines digital amplifiers and a surround-sound processor with stackable surround-sound speaker arrays. Its striking modular design allows for seamless in-wall incorporation into home theaters, and the technical elements behind the design provide a truly exceptional listening experience.

The most impressive of these elements is Steinway Lyngdorf’s RoomPerfect technology, which measures and compensates for unavoidable acoustic reflections from furnishings and walls. RoomPerfect also corrects the frequency interference commonly associated with multichannel audio, creating an infinite sweet spot throughout the listening space. "When you walk around the room," says Lyngdorf, "it sounds virtually the same everywhere."

The Model A1 digital amplifier, another specialized Lyngdorf technology, contributes to the effectiveness of this system as well. Unlike conventional analog amplifiers that increase volume by magnifying and distorting an audio signal, the A1 increases volume by creating a larger signal—one that is undistorted.

Lyngdorf says his objective in creating the Model LS was to offer listeners acoustic brawn and aesthetic beauty—a combination that the system attains throughout. (Its striking speaker screens, for example, are attached with magnets and can be removed to show off the LS’ woofers and tweeters to interested observers.) "My concern is not only that the sound quality is the very best," says Lyngdorf, "but also that the design is flawless."