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Michael Fremer wraps his ears around the Westlake">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/449/">Westlake Audio Lc5.75F loudspeaker in an effort to figure out "what's a pro audio company doing at CES?" Fremer discovers why a brand that, until recently, was rarely heard outside of recording studios is now selling 70% of its products to consumers.

Can you hear long passages of music in your mind? If so, your brain may be wired for sound like those of professional musicians.

In the race to get satellite radio to market, XM">http://www.xmradio.com">XM Satellite Radio was the first to hit">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11148/">hit the air this past September. But competitor Siriushttp://www.siriusradio.com">Sirius; says they were saving the best for last, and has now announced that its official launch date will be as early next year as February 14, with initial broadcasts reaching Denver, Phoenix, and Houston.

Thanks to an agreement reached in October, musicians, rather than their record labels, will receive royalty payments for the use of recordings distributed over the Internet or broadcast over cable and satellite systems. Royalty collection agency SoundExchangehttp://www.soundexchange.com">SoundExchange; will distribute payments directly to performers, regardless of their contracts with the record companies, according to a statement issued the second week of November.

Texas">http://www.ti.com">Texas Instruments says it is on a quest to provide "high-performance audio solutions" for the home entertainment market. To prove it, last week the company announced its first stereo analog-to-digital converters supporting the Direct Stream Digital (DSD) specification and the Super Audio CD format (SACD).

When it comes to digital music players and the future of computer-based entertainment, the computer industry appears to be going in two directions at once. Apple Computer has recently made a strong move into the portable music arena with its $399 iPod, a player that can store as many as 1000 songs. The company is also rumored to be developing software and computer-based editing equipment for the pro-audio industry.

The economic outlook may be gloomy, but there are bright spots here and there. One is Indianapolis-based Klipsch">http://www.klipsch.com">Klipsch Audio Technologies, which, on November 5, announced a bold expansion program that will add more than 200 people to its workforce.