Amphion's Anssi Hyvönen was happy to demo his tiny Ions ($1350/pair). The diminutive two-ways sport a 1" titanium tweeter and a 4.5" midrange/woofer, and weigh an easy to lift 10.5 pounds. They sound pretty darn big, though. I enjoyed them in a system with a T+A 1535 surround sound receiver and T+A SADV 1245 R DVD player, finding them spacious and three-dimensional. Then HeadRoom's Tyll Hertsens walked into the room and asked, "How do they sound as desktop speakers?"Having no desktop handy, we placed them about 3' apart on stands and knelt down so our heads were between them and our butts were in the air. It may have looked funny, but it sounded immense! The Ions make fabulous near-field monitors and, yes, I'm putting a pair on my desktop soon. Heh heh heh. Good call, Hertsens.
