LATEST ADDITIONS

Lord Acton said, famously, that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If there ever were an amplifier to test that maxim's applicability to audiophiles, it is surely the Chord SPM 14000 Ultimate Monoblock. Priced no less than $75,000/pair, the SPM 14000 is rated to produce power as do very few other amplifiers on the planet: it is very conservatively rated at 1kW into an 8 ohm load, 2kW into 4 ohms, and "will easily exceed" 2800W (give or take a few watts) into 2 ohms.

The debates may be old, but they're not tired. They rage on with a virulence that suggests there's plenty of life in these old dogs yet. Online forums and Letters to the Editor are filled with them: objectivist <I>vs</I> subjectivist, engineer <I>vs</I> audiophile, double-bind <I>vs</I> doubly blind. The divisions may be artificial or downright specious&mdash;false dichotomies perfectly set up for cheap shots&mdash;but that doesn't dissuade people from drawing sides, driving stakes into the ground, and firing off volley after volley of accusation and retaliation.

<B>VERDI: <I>La Traviata</I></B>
Anna Netrebko, Violetta; Rolando Villaz&#243;n, Alfredo; Thomas Hampson, Germont; others; Vienna Philharmonic, Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor, Carlo Rizzi<BR>
Deutsche Grammophon B0005529-02 (2 CDs). 2005. Rainard Maillard, prod.; Jurgen Bulgrin, eng. DDD. TT: 2:04:13<BR>
Performance <B>****</B><BR>
Sonics <B>****</B>

I know that I can hear differences between... I mean: I know that music sounds different when...

But Mark Ronson's "Just High" video put such a huge grin on my face, I just had to share it.

Are Post Office employees stealing your Netflix requests? Mine are too busy reading my April <I>Stereophile</I>. That is why it's late, right?

Huckleberry and Bagheera both land uppercuts . . . Huck gets in a left to the body . . . what an animal!