Even at $14,400 a pair Usher's BE-10 speakers are a steal

Pretty much everything about Usher Audio's BE-10 screams "audiophile speaker." It's big, it's beautiful, and it sounds so good you don't even have to be an audiophile to appreciate it. Maybe the "audiophile" tag sounds a tad elitist, but anyone who occasionally gives their undivided attention to the sound of music--meaning they don't read, talk, or otherwise multitask as they listen--could be considered an audiophile. In any case, the BE-10 sounds too good to be ignored, and if that makes it an audiophile speaker, so be it.

Audiophiles with a hankering for plus-size beauties will probably get a little weak in the knees at their first encounter with the curvaceously shapely BE-10. The 4-foot-tall speaker is weighty enough to require a team of two people to unpack, and besides, you won't want to accidentally mar the speakers' exquisitely crafted birch or walnut veneers.

True, most of the better audiophile speakers have always been extraordinarily costly, and over the last decade or so, high-end speaker prices have gone through the roof. Lucky for us, Usher Audio is bucking that trend. Not that I could tell by looking or listening; I had pegged the BE-10 at double its retail price before I knew of its $14,400 MSRP. The BE-10 is the brand's penultimate model, and if that's a little rich for your tastes, Usher offers a range of more affordable stereo and home theater components. Prices start at $400 a pair for the S-520 bookshelf speakers.

I reviewed the BE-10 for the Robb Report Home Entertainment magazine. Here's the link to the full article.