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<B>THE MAVERICKS: <I>Trampoline</I></B><BR> MCA MCAD-70018A (HDCD). 1998. Raul Malo, Don Cook, prods. AAD? TT: 57:50<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>*****</B>

Low bass is probably the most difficult part of the audio spectrum for loudspeakers to reproduce accurately. Most speakers with "quick, tight bass" don't go very low. Conversely, most speakers that <I>do</I> go low sound muddy and undefined in the bottom octaves. A good subwoofer is the usual solution, but is deep bass really necessary for musical satisfaction?

On March 20, at the CeBIT '98 convention in Hanover, Germany, several leading manufacturers of CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) drives and media announced that the market for CD-RW products has grown much faster than originally predicted.

Concluding its six-year evaluation of Digital Audio Radio (DAR) systems, the <A HREF="http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A> (CEMA) filed its final report last month with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The report, "Technical Evaluations of Digital Audio Radio Systems: Laboratory and Field Test Results, System Performance, Conclusions," is available to the public from the FCC and through CEMA's <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/works/pubs/files/dar.htm">website</A&gt;.

In a move sure to startle a few record retailers, English recording artists Massive Attack will make their much-anticipated new album, <i>Mezzanine</i>, available in its entirety on the Internet weeks before the May 12 in-store release date. The album will appear in stages over the course of two weeks via a <A HREF="http://www.virginrecords.com/massive_attack">special page</A> on <A HREF="http://www.virginrecords.com">Virgin Records America</A>'s web site.

There was something odd about the clock on Jim Thiel's office wall. I didn't get it at first, other than noting that instead of the minutes being marked off at 12 five-minute intervals, Jim's clock had 24 markings. That was it: as well as the number "12" in its usual place at the top of the face, there was another "12" at the bottom, where the "6" usually is. The clock that Jim built was typical of everything this laconic loudspeaker engineer is involved in: logical, functional, and different from what anyone else in the same field does. In his cigarette-strained drawl, Jim explained that the short hand of his clock always points toward the sun: directly up at noon, directly down at midnight. That's the way a clock should be, declared Jim, and when you're in his company, it's hard to see how he could be wrong.

The world used to be a simple place, where a record would sell only if it was big on the radio. These days, folks get their information about music from all over the map. Where do you get yours?