John Atkinson finishes his survey of pricey floor-standing speakers with a review of the Dynaudio Confidence C4 loudspeaker. JA notes that, "despite its $16,000/pair price, the C4 has much in common with its cost-no-object cousins in Dynaudio's Evidence line."

Next, Robert J. Reina tries the Polk Audio LSi7 loudspeaker, which "just scrapes the $1000/pair ceiling of my self-imposed 'affordable speaker' price bracket." As Reina discovers, "Life is full of trade-offs, especially among affordable speaker designs."

Analog fanatic that he is, Michael Fremer is always searching for the perfect vinyl rig. Has he found it? MF reviews the SME Model 30/2 turntable, commenting, "I've seen nothing else to compare with SME's tank-like approach to spinning a record."

Robert Baird gets the story behind the March RotM (linked below) with Ry Cooder: The Boy and The Bubble. RB uncovers the path that led Cooder from the Buena Vista Social Club to Manuel Galbán and Mambo Sinuendo.

And that record just happens to be our latest installment in the "Recording of the Month" series for the online archives, Recording of March 2003: Mambo Sinuendo. Ry Cooder goes back to the Cuban well, and Robert Baird surveys the results.