if we knew, we probably wouldn't care

We stop to look into the long, long darkness.
And JA wonders:

Where
does it
go
?

"It's a mystery," I reply.

We keep up with the rest of the blue and gray crowd, adding our footsteps to the dirty song. Transferring from the Time Square shuttle to the 1 train is no big deal. Getting off at 59th Street is as easy as being wrong. You'll climb the filthy stairs and step into the day, surrounded by glass towers and golden doors. You'll walk into the millionaire's hotel and be directed to the appropriate floor, where food and drink and news will be waiting for you. But first:

"You know," he continues, "after I'm all done being an editor, I think I'll take some time exploring these tunnels."

"Does Laura know?"

"No. She might think it's dangerous."

"Can't blame her."

***

I try to keep track of what the ladies like. Keeping track of what the ladies like is not always easy. The likes of the ladies can be elusive. Can be ever-changing. Can be like chasing sunshine around a dusty corner. But hey.

What else
am I
going to do?

The ladies don't only like pink iPods and green furry Furgle powered speakers. Call me slow, but I'm starting to get the feeling that the ladies might like these Jamo R 909s. As a matter of fact, Shiny Shiny says "if you like big things that make a lot of noise," you might want to check them out. And — just in time for Fashion Week over at Bryant Park — Chip Chick called them the "Anorexic Speaker System," which is kind of funny in a twisted way. But seriously: Let us hope that our little girls don't grow up wanting to be like an R 909, but instead grow up wanting to get the most out of their music collections.

I think it has something to do with freedom. In a press release distributed by Klipsch's Sarah Knight (she's a lady), it was announced that the R 909 has been crowned European High-End Loudspeaker of the Year by the European Imaging and Sound Association. I have no idea what that means or if it's even important, but there you go. It's something. Furthermore, Jamo's Steen Michaelson says:

The R 909 marks a real watershed for Jamo. It's a return for the company to its rightful place as being one of the foremost European innovators in loudspeaker technologies.

So, what makes this speaker special?

Let's see, remember those Onkyo speakers that I mentioned last week — the ones that employ a thin, resonant enclosure, which vibrates like a guitar body? Well, the Jamo R 909 is absolutely nothing like that. In fact, the Jamo is even crazier in that it has

no
enclosure
at all!

Dude, no enclosure at all? That's right. But who, but how, but why? Crazy talk, I know. Listen, what I hear is this:

Unlike the Onkyo D-TK10, which is meant to resonate till the break of dawn, the Jamo R 909 is, theoretically, altogether free from cabinet coloration. It's liberated, untethered, it's got all the space it could ever want. The result, if I've got this right, is — or should be — a wildly crisp and clear sound. But, as you might know, a loudspeaker's enclosure helps to produce bass. So where does the R 909 get its low end? Jamo compensates for the lack of an enclosure with a pair of high-efficiency 15-inch bass drivers.

A look into the September issue of our sister publication, Home Theater, shows the R 909 is a "Coming Attraction."

***

And so:
Headed downtown, we sit inside the crowded D — perhaps we are enclosed — journeying through the dark tunnels. We talk, again, of women.

"They're incomprehensible."

"Inexplicable."

"Unintelligible."

"Impenetrable."

"A mystery."

"A mystery."

We smile, shrug, and nod. We go where the train takes us. We stop to look into the long, long darkness.
And we wonder:

X