LATEST ADDITIONS

When I <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/854">started out</A> on my multichannel mission in 2000, it was with an all-digital <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/201">Meridian system</A> that relied on lossy, compressed sources like the original Dolby Digital and DTS formats, or on synthesized surround based on Dolby Pro-Logic or Meridian's own TriField. With the appearance of first SACD and DVD-Audio and then Blu-ray, discrete lossless multichannel recordings became available, but there was no way to output those signals in digital form for interconnection to other components for playback or further manipulation. Most audiophiles, me included, already had analog preamps and power amps. It was only with the appearance of HDMI and the accompanying HDCP content protection that we could output those digital signals, and over a single cable to boot. Today, there are A/V receivers, some costing less than $500, and more than a handful of audiophile-oriented preamp-processors, that can accept such lossless high-resolution multichannel content as PCM, DSD, Dolby TruHD, and dtsHD Master Audio.

<B>Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56</B><BR>
by John Fass Morton, foreword by Jonathan Yardley. Rutgers University Press, 2008. Hardcover, 336 pages, 107 B&amp;W photos. $34.95.

<B>MAHLER: <I>Das Lied von der Erde</I></B><BR>
James King, tenor; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein<BR>
London (CD only). Gordon Parry, eng.; John Culshaw, prod. AAD. TT: 66:32

Looking back at the 2010 CEDIA Exposition, I was struck by a couple of new products which, I hope, presage a rethinking of modern electronics design. Today, the streaming of program content can be accomplished by TVs, by Blu-ray players, by dedicated servers and, for all I know, someone will put that capability into a speaker system. The result is that, unless one chooses very carefully, one will be buying the same technology redundantly. By contrast, high-end companies have striven to separate their dedicated analog/stereo products from their digital/multichannel products, forcing the very picky among us into a kludgy home-theater-bypass. Again, we end up buying more boxes and interconnections than should be necessary.

I start my second report from the 2010 CEDIA Exposition by returning to <B>MartinLogan</B>. As well as their $2000/pair ElectroMotion electrostatic hybrid that I described in my first report from CEDIA, the Kansas company showed the appealing new 2-way Theos. This hand-built floorstander combines a 9.2"-wide by 44"-tall XStat electrostatic transducer with a 8" aluminum-cone woofer in a bass reflex enclosure. Its large electrostatic radiator and passive woofer can be bi-wired or not with a unique tool-less binding-post design. At $5000/pair, the Theos will be the most affordable speaker in the Reserve Series of floorstanders.

<a href="http://www.stianwesterhus.com/">Stian Westerhus</a> plays guitar in a band called Puma. Having enjoyed Puma’s latest album, <i><a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/puma_half_nelson_courtship/">… Nelson Courtship</a></i>, a powerful assault on the senses, I was anxious to hear Westerhus’s solo work. I expected something brutal&#151even something frightening, something perhaps verging on the unlistenable&#151but Westerhus’s second solo LP, <i>Pitch Black Star Spangled</i> (<a href="http://www.runegrammofon.com/">Rune Grammofon</a> RCD 2099/RLP 3099), is something else, something more.

Despite predictions to the contrary, the Compact Disc isn't dying anytime soon. Too many are in circulation, and until a smooth, friendly skin covers the computer interface, the music-server revolution will remain nascent. We're still in a long, shaky period of transition.