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For 14 years now, <I>Stereophile</I> has recognized the components that have proved capable of giving maximal musical pleasure with its "Products of the Year." Based on a vote by the magazine's reviewers and editors, the 2005 winners were announced in the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/1205poty/">December 2005 issue</A> and the awards were presented by <I>Stereophile</I> editor John Atkinson at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held January 4&ndash;8 in Las Vegas.

Part New Jersey diner, part Wurlitzer jukebox, with a snakelike tonearm that at certain angles looks vaguely lewd, this boxy, man-sized creation from Australia <I>seems</I> to have been built around its distinctive looks rather than for any functional purpose. Combine that with its sky-high price&mdash;itself almost obscene&mdash;and the result is apparently the sort of product that envious, cynical, self-loathing audiophiles love to hate, and reviewers love to write about.

Conceptually, the preamplifier is the bottleneck in an audio system. All sources pass through it, and it influences every sound you hear. A system comprising great speakers and gutsy amplification will sound uninspired if that's the character of the preamplifier. Conversely, a great preamplifier will allow through so much information, so much of the music, that the listener can forgive the shortcomings of lesser speakers and amplifiers.

WAGNER: <I>Tristan und Isolde</I><BR>
Pl&#225;cido Domingo, Tristan; Nina Stemme, Isolde; Mihoko Fujimura, Brang&#228;ne; Ren&#233; Pape, Marke; Olaf B&#228;r, Kurwenal; Jared Holt, Melot; Ian Bostridge, Shepherd; Matthew Rose, Steersman; Rolando Villaz&#243;n, A Young Sailor; Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Antonio Pappano<BR>
EMI 5 58006 2 (3 CDs, 1 DVD). 2005. David Groves, prod.; Jonathan Allen, John Dunkerly, Roland Heap, engs. DDD. TT: 3:46:29<BR>
Performance *****<BR>
Sonics ****&#189;

"<a href="http://www.moscode.com/">It's a romantic amp</a>," he says. "Just right for you."

Sleep inertia is a wonderful phrase, one I'm sure to add to my personal lexicon. "We found the cognitive skills of [some] test subjects were worse upon awakening than after extended sleep deprivation," researcher Kenneth Wright said. That's because in some of us, the cortical areas responsible for problem-solving take longer to wake up than other parts of the brain&mdash;as much as 12 hours, in my case.

One of my most pleasant memories from living in Santa Fe was cruising the back road to Albuquerque to visit Brian Damkroger for the first time in John Atkinson's classic Mercedes ragtop. Naturally, it started to rain and we had to pull off the road and wrestle his roof back onto the car. <I>All this Mercedes mechanical sophistication and we still have to do this by hand?</I> I thought.