LATEST ADDITIONS

Exposure, the old-school British company best known for its <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/1105exposure/index.html">hi… amplifiers</a> and disc players, has entered the ever-growing iPod market with its new EXPO3 wireless dock. The EXPO3 uses a Bluetooth A2DP-equipped cradle to transmit music files to a base station receiver connected to your hi-fi. A fully-charged iPod is good for eight hours of fun; the base station can recharge both iPod and cradle transmitter, and you can continue listening to music while charging.

I first spotted Audia Flight's exquisite-looking two-box phono preamplifier ($6100) at last year's Hi-End show in Munich, and now that Musical Sounds is importing Audia Flight gear, a review of the Phono seemed a good idea. I know nothing about Audia Flight or the designer, or what Italian audiophiles think of them, but the more time I spent with the versatile, exquisitely built Phono, the more I liked <I>everything</I> about it.

"Hello, it is I, C. Victor Campos."

In my last post (and the story of why it was so long ago is an epic which I won't go into now), I observed that the listener I am today is a completely different critter than the one I was years ago. It's inevitable that time, experience, and liff its ownself change us&#151;and change the way we perceive art.

Unfortunately, another esteemed audiophile company has bitten the dust (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/hovland_calls_it_quits/">Hovland story</A>). Of all of the audio companies that have gone out of business over the years, which one do you miss most?

The <A HREF="http://www.hovlandcompany.com">Hovland Company</A> is no more. Less than 10 full years after its incorporation, the manufacturer of highly coveted Hovland Musicap propylene-film and aluminum-foil capacitors and visually striking electronic components has dismissed its staff and closed the doors of its manufacturing facility and headquarters in Los Angeles.

The sky over Madison Avenue is a sliver of summer blue. Steam sighs and whirls up and out from the old street like a thin white curtain in the wind. A few things, quickly, then: