When I was a young amateur photographer, I subscribed to all the major photo magazines and avidly read all the articles. However, I was bugged when I realized there was a cycle of repetition—that I was reading about the basics of Ansel Adams' Zone System for the third time.
Vienna is a beautiful city known for many things, but the design and manufacturing of audio equipment is not one of them. Waltzes and strudel, yes; loudspeakers, no. One exception is Vienna Acoustics, a company that has introduced a line of loudspeakers named after composers: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn. At the 1996 Las Vegas WCES, Sumiko, US distributor of Vienna Acoustics products (footnote 1), demonstrated the second-from-the-top Mozart, and <I>Stereophile</I> reviewers as diverse in their approaches as Jonathan Scull, Tom Norton, and Sam Tellig (as well as yours truly) were unanimous in our admiration of the sound.
Consider the lowly spork, that modern marvel of versatility: half spoon, half fork. In theory, you should be able to eat just about anything short of a flank steak with it. But the sad fact is, whether you're eating soup or salad, you might as well try to shovel it in using a tongue depressor. The damn thing's so versatile, it almost doesn't work at all. There's a lot to be said for specialization.
<I>Stick it in your wall:</I> Polk Audio has introduced three new subwoofers aimed at the custom installation market. The $600 CSW88 is a sealed in-wall model featuring dual 8" long-throw, shallow-basket woofers mounted behind a metal pressure plate. Its enclosure is constructed from MDF with 1/8" aluminum panels. It is designed to fit within standard stud-wall construction, measuring 60" (H) by 13.5" (W) by 3.5" (D). Rather than a grille, the CSW utilizes a vent, which, not at all coincidentally, measures the same as a standard 10" by 4" heating vent. Inputs on the top and bottom of the enclosure simplify wiring.
Convinced that your favorite music would have sounded even better if <I>you'd</I> been the mixing engineer? UmixIt Technologies is going to let you put your money where your mouth is.
Audio equipment manufacturers want as few restrictions as possible when designing new products. Audio content providers, on the other hand, seem hell-bent on locking down any music you buy tighter than Fort Knox.
Audiophiles know there is no better reason to travel abroad than to attend a hi fi show in a foreign city. I'm only half kidding. With dozens of shows, most open to the public and scattered across every continent, what better way to see the world?
Some components simply endear themselves to audiophiles
Our December 2004 issue honored 56 contemporary audio products that <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/1204poty">stood out from the pack</A> during the course of the year. Of those 56, fully nine were phonograph components (footnote 1), including one—the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/analogsourcereviews/1103linn">Linn Sondek LP12</A> turntable—that's been on the market for something like a hundred years.
I've encountered a number of audio products over the years whose thoughtful design and intricate craftsmanship brought to mind the expression "built like a Swiss watch." As often as I'd thought or even written that phrase, however, I don't think I'd ever stopped to seriously consider what an audio component might be like if actually built by the nation that produces Rolex and Breitling wristwatches.