Stereophile Staff

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 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.

From the March 2001 issue, Michael Fremer finds that, although homely in appearance, the Herron Audio M150 monoblock power amplifier has several endearing qualities. As Fremer explains, "Herron approaches the marketplace in a cautious, stealthy manner, working from the ground up to grab the ears of audiophiles." MF tells us where this amp grabbed him.

Kalman Rubinson says he "anticipated the installation of the TacT Audio RCS 2.0 digital equalizer/preamplifier with mixed emotions." Would his hard work at setting up the perfect listening environment be rendered irrelevant in the face of digital signal processing? Or would the future of audio unfold at his feet?

Many audiophiles agree that dedicated AC circuits can make notable improvements in the performance of hi-fi equipment. If you are planning to run a dedicated AC line, JPS Labs has a product for you.