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PS Audio's Power Plant P500

Over the past few years, <A HREF="http://www.psaudio.com">PS Audio</A>'s <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//accessoryreviews/181/">P300</A&gt; AC regenerator has been very well received by the audiophile community, winning praise (and a <I>Stereophile</I> "Recommended Components" listing) for its ability to lower the noise floor to vanishing levels and to extract unforeseen levels of performance from users' hi-fi systems. Good as it is, the P300 disappointed some because it can't supply enough current for power amps or other juice-hungry gear needing more than its 300W maximum. Some users also complained that despite the sonic improvement offered, the P300 was too bulky for its power rating, ran too hot, and drew too much current when simply idling.

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D&M Takes Another Bite

The streak of acquisitions for <A HREF="http://www.dm-holdings.com">D&M Holdings</A> continues. Last month saw the company <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11595/">pick up</A> its third major consumer electronics brand when McIntosh Laboratory was brought into the fold with Denon and Marantz. Last week, D&M announced that it was successful in a bid to acquire certain assets comprising the digital video recorder and MP3 business units of troubled SONICblue.

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Graham Robin tonearm

The best tonearm I ever heard was a second-generation Mission Mechanic, <I>ca</I> 1986. It was mounted on a Roksan Xerxes turntable, and I spent several happy hours listening to records on that combination (with a low-compliance EMT cartridge) in two very different systems: one with solid-state amplification from DNM and Roksan's own dynamic Darius loudspeakers, and the other&mdash;my home system of the time&mdash;using tube amplification from Conrad-Johnson and a borrowed pair of Stax electrostatic speakers.

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InnerSound Eros Mk.III electrostatic loudspeaker

I was trading e-mails with Roger Sanders, manufacturer of the Eros Mk.III electrostatic (ESL) loudspeakers, when it occurred to me to ask him about his name. I was struck that he had the same last name as Gayle Sanders, president of another American electrostatic speaker company, MartinLogan. Were they related? "No," replied Roger Sanders, "it's simply a coincidence that we have similar names. I've never even met him.

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Apple + Universal?

A month after news of Apple Computer's start-up subscription music service, reports began circulating that the company was negotiating to buy Universal Music Group, the dominant player in the global music market. The rumored buyout, first reported April 10, was variously quoted at $5&ndash;6 billion. The discussions between Apple and UMG may have been blown out of proportion; by April 12 the <I>New York Times</I> was suggesting that Apple might invest in UMG, but was in no position to make an outright acquisition.

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