LATEST ADDITIONS

Members of San Francisco's legendary Grateful Dead have announced plans to reunite for a six-week, 25-city tour beginning in June. The group---whose core consists of original Dead members Phil Lesh (bass), Bob Weir (guitar), and Mickey Hart (drums)---will call itself The Other Ones, after an old Dead tune. The group will headline the third annual "Furthur" tour.

Kinergetics Research was a name to be reckoned with in the early days of CD, when they produced some of the earliest well-received, audiophile-grade CD players. They've branched out since then, producing amplifiers, preamps, subwoofers, and surround-sound processors. In fact, they're so busy with such products that they no longer build CD players! The last <I>Stereophile</I> review of a Kinergetics CD player appeared way back in 1993.

The ProAc Response One S was one of the very first products I reviewed for <I>Stereophile</I> back in 1994 (Vol.17 No.9). That review was such an over-the-top rave that John Atkinson felt obliged to audition the speakers himself before running my report. I assume he liked 'em too&mdash;after all, my review did see the light of day.

Other people usually have experiences or insights that we lack, and their opinions can be extremely useful when we make our own decisions. This is especially true when it comes to forking over big bucks for new equipment. Below is a list of expert sources. When you are considering a purchase, which do you find most reliable?

On February 23, Pacific Microsonics announced that <A HREF="http://www.atlantic-records.com/">Atlantic Records</A>' forthcoming golden-anniversary release will feature classic popular recordings remastered using Pacific's high-resolution <A HREF="http://www.hdcd.com">HDCD</A&gt; technology. The patented High Definition Compatible Disc process enhances the detail, richness, and dynamics of compact disc performance.

The Crystal Semiconductor Products Division of Cirrus Logic Inc. announced last week the availability of the industry's first digital audio transmitters and receivers designed to support the emerging 96kHz digital audio sampling rate. The new mixed-signal receivers and transmitters are targeted at both the professional audio and consumer DVD audio markets.

When Bob Graham introduced his <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//analogsourcereviews/400/">1.5 tonearm</A> at the end of the 1980s, many thought he was dreaming: Vinyl was going the way of the console radio&mdash;who would invest two-grand-plus in a <I>tonearm</I>? But there was a method to Graham's madness&mdash;he'd designed his arm to be a drop-in replacement for more than 20 years' worth of SME arms, all of which shared the same mounting platform. Perhaps, in his wildest dreams, Graham had already envisioned the current "analog revival"&mdash;but even without it, he figured there'd be a robust replacement market, and he was poised to exploit it with what he thought was a superior product.