LATEST ADDITIONS

B&W Group North America (Equity) has announced that Doug Henderson will assume the position of vice president of sales and marketing as of April 30. Henderson has been a principal of Audtek Associates for more than 20 years. "I'm excited about this move," Henderson told <I>Stereophile</I>. "At Audtek, we specialized in brand building, and we accomplished a lot with some very good companies. With B&W Group, I have the opportunity to use those skills with some of the finest equipment available today&mdash;and I have a great independent sales force to work with. It's an unrivaled opportunity."

When the brief flowering of quadraphonics began in the early 1970s, I was still at school. As a nascent but impecunious audiophile, I therefore had a ringside seat at the audio industry's first attempt to go multichannel&mdash;and, even for the disinterested onlooker, it wasn't a pretty spectacle.

<I>"Men must eat, though angels be their guests."<BR>&mdash;William Laird, "Tr&#228;umerei at Ostendorff's"</I>

A.J. van den Hul calls the Black Beauty a phono cartridge "just for friends." In a way, this Black Beauty <I>was</I> made specially for me&mdash;it's been tweaked for an undamped linear-tracking arm. Says so right here on the box: "<I>Forsell Version</I>." But before you explode, know that Mr. van den Hul will be pleased to do the same for you. He'll adjust the suspension of any Black Beauty&ndash; or Grasshopper-series cartridge for your arm and 'table. Or, should you specify, for "the preamp and load impedance, a particular brand of records to be played, the type of music generally played (jazz being more dynamic and classical more spacious and detailed), and other personal/sound preferences."

"Slava" has died. The great Russian cellist, known as much for his defiance of the Soviet oligarchy as for the more than 170 compositions dedicated to him, had been hospitalized in Paris at the end of January, but chose to fly to Moscow shortly thereafter to spend his last months in his beloved homeland. He is survived, not only by his two daughters and his wife and frequent collaborator, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, but also by the huge number of recordings that attest to his eloquence.

According to Huckleberry, it's a good ear scratch.

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