LATEST ADDITIONS

John Atkinson and I recently spent a few hours talking to cable manufacturer <A HREF="http://www.tributariescable.com/">Tributaries</A>&#039; president and founder, Joe Perfito. Perfito had come to NYC to meet the press and introduce his company's newest cable families, the high-end Series 7 and the higher-end Series 9. "The Series 9 cables are the best cables we know how to make," Perfito told us. "The interconnects are hand-made of 20AWF solid OFHC signal conductor and a 1.25% silver-plated 46-strand 20AWG OFHC return conductor. We use an LDPE dielectric and an OFHC copper-braided shield <I>and</I> a double-sided copper foil secondary shield for 100% freedom from interference. The conductors are double-soldered to the solid brass connectors, then pressure welded&mdash;they will <I>not</I> let go of one another."

"No, the Dynaudio Confidence C1 isn't a <I>small</I> loudspeaker, but it is a stand-mounted two-way monitor." I was struggling to explain to Fred Kaplan what I was working on for this month's deadline.

Readers often ask how I choose components for review. My method is simple: Ninety percent of what I review is gear that has impressed me at one of our Home Entertainment Shows, or new designs from manufacturers whose products I've liked in the past. The remainder are assigned by John Atkinson.

<B>BOB MARLEY: <I>Exodus: 30th Anniversary Edition</I></B><BR>
Island 314 586 408-2 (CD). 2007. Bob Marley & the Wailers, prods.; Karl Pitterson, eng.; Guy Bidmead, Terry Barham, asst. engs.; Chris Blackwell, Aston Barrett, Karl Pitterson, mix. AAD? TT: 37:18<BR>
Performance *****<BR>
Sonics *****

It’s a mystery how Carla Bley’s new CD, <I>The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu</I> (ECM), achieves its greatness. Even the word seems too freighted for music so minimal. A scale segues into a simple melody, followed by a straight harmony, some swishes on snare and hi-hat, a bass line that follows an equally simple counterpoint. Yet some quirky gravity holds these strands in magical equipoise, like a Calder mobile.

Huckleberry doesn't care what I call it, that mouse thing is only interesting when <I>I</I> want to use it.

Making sense of dating&mdash;sort of.