LATEST ADDITIONS

<B>Kevin Hayes: </B>Valve Amplification Company arose out of my dissatisfaction with the stereo gear I could buy. I've been an audiophile since before I knew what the word meant, going back to the mid-'70s. I had an epiphany when I first heard a piece of old tubed gear, a Fisher X101, that simply <I>blew away</I> a highly touted receiver that I happened to own. It was a 25W integrated amplifier, using 7591s on the output, and except for sustained organ-pedal notes, it was far better than what I had at that time.

<I>I love the sound of glowing glass,<BR> especially when I'm lonely.<BR> I love the nuances of emotion.<BR> It's nothing new, nothing new,<BR> The sound of glowing glass...</I> (with apologies to Nick Lowe)

When <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/66/">J. Gordon Holt</A> founded <I>Stereophile</I> in 1962, it was very much the outsider. Compared with the mass-market magazine of which he had been Technical Editor, <I>High Fidelity</I>, Gordon's <I>Stereophile</I> was the very model of an "underground" publication, with a publication schedule as irregular as its production values were inconsistent. Its writing was from the heart, however.

At the 1994 Summer CES, I was sitting in ProAc's room listening to Vangelis's <I>Blade Runner</I> score, when a couple of guys walked in carrying a shiny black board. "This is pretty interesting stuff," one of them said. "Want to hear it?"

What a thankless task! No, <I>not</I> reviewing audio equipment (though the case could be made). I'm talking about preamplification in the digital age: who needs it? The EAD DSP 9000 MK3 digital processor I'm using includes an ingenious full-resolution digital-domain volume control accessible by remote control.

Following my review of two high-performance minimonitors last November (footnote 1), I received a letter asking why I recommended a stand-mounted speaker at all when it was possible to buy a floorstanding design with more bass for the same amount of money. Furthermore, the correspondent went on, when you consider that the minimonitor sitting on its stand occupies as much floorspace as the floorstander, it's hard to see why a market for minimonitors exists at all.

In the audio field, the British have traditionally thought "small," scoring hits both with their compact loudspeakers and with medium-priced amplifiers. The continued growth of the audiophile speaker market in the US, however, which favors larger loudspeakers, has at the same time stimulated the research and design of more powerful, excellent quality amplifiers. In their turn, these have placed increased demands on the speakers they drive.