At the start of his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/570/">Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5 CD player</A>, Jonathan Scull observes, "<I>Man</I>, has Balanced Audio Technology come a long way in a short time." Scull goes in-depth with the VK-D5 to explain just what he's found.
Jonathan Scull says he likes "stories with happy endings." Will his time spent with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/565/">Conrad-Johnson Premier 16LS preamplifier</A> leave a smile on his face or a frown? J-10 comments, "As always, after a period of time, I began tweaking until I got the sound <I>just so</I>, then whipped out the laptop and . . . " filed this report.
In his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/560/">Music Reference RM-200 power amplifier</A>, Michael Fremer claims, "Reviewing a vacuum-tube power amplifier is like having your pants pulled down in front of a large crowd of people." MF explains why he reviewed the RM-200 despite the inevitable public humiliation.
"No doubt about it—Linn's top-of-the-line <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/555/">Komri loudspeaker</A> is a queer-lookin' duck," says Jonathan Scull as he set up a pair in his listening lair. The claimed frequency response for the Komri extends out to 40kHz. "Why even <I>bother</I> going out that high, where even the most beautiful of women cannot hear?" J-10 explains why.
Analog audio electronics are approaching "maturity," a state eventually achieved by most technologies, in which almost all the great discoveries have been made and progress becomes a process of increasingly arcane refinements. Digital audio is in no such danger, as evidenced by three new product announcements made the first week of April.
High-end audio and home-theater enthusiasts attending <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">Home Entertainment 2002</A>, The Hi-Fi and Home Theater Event in New York City on May 31–June 2, 2002, will have an opportunity to participate in a series of interactive seminars and panel discussions on the latest advances in technology—all included with the price of admission.
Back in September of 1986, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/550/">KEF R107 loudspeaker</A> represented the flagship of KEF's much admired Reference Series. Dick Olsher and a variety of other <I>Stereophile</I> scribes profile this important audio achievement over the course of five years, wrapping up with Tom Norton's 1995 review of the R107/2 "Raymond Cooke Signature Edition."
<A HREF="http://www.madrigal.com">Madrigal</A>'s Proceed line of high-end audio products will be phased out some time later this year, according to an April 3 press release.
At the recently concluded SAE-CEA Digital Car Conference in Detroit, representatives of the recording industry joined <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.com">Panasonic</A> for a DVD-Audio love-fest hailing the format as the "in-car music delivery system of the future." Panasonic's automotive electronics division used the conference and exhibition to introduce and demonstrate its first mobile DVD-Audio systems for OEM distribution. The company also hosted seminars exploring how it imagines DVD-Audio will specifically apply to and benefit the automobile industry.
Echoing the sentiments of their <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11282/">American counterparts</A>, German music industry executives are blaming the popularity of the CD burner for slumping music sales. "More music is probably being heard now than ever before," said German Recording Industry Association president Gerd Gebhardt, "but the music is not paid for, because copying has become so cheap and easy."