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Art loudspeakers, made in Scotland, paired up German-manufactured audio components from AcousticPlan and a line transformer from Japan to make their joint US debut at the 2007 RMAF. In two adjacent rooms, I heard two different Art models. As depicted in the photo with Art's Derek Dunlap, I first auditioned the art Stiletto 6 loudspeaker ($5000/pair), mated with AcousticPlan's Sitar hybrid-design integrated amp ($7500, complete with external power supply), Audio Technic line transformer from Japan (also debuting), and Cary Audio CD player. The Stiletto, a vented two-way made from birch plywood without use of MDF, measures 88.5dB sensitivity and has a fairly linear frequency response that starts at the mid '30s. It features a SEAS 6" coated-paper driver and a 1" soft-dome tweeter equipped with a proprietary horn to create a delightfully open soundstage. I was quite impressed with this system, which produced very warm, rich sounds that belied the speaker's diminutive size.

Sean O'Hagan asks, "where are the heirs to awkward buggers like Robert Wyatt?"

By blimp, of course.

You can do it with <a href="http://www.converse.com/index.asp?bhcp=1#home_red_2007">Chuck Taylors</a>, you can do it with <a href="http://www.miniusa.com/#/build/configurator/mini-m">Mini Coopers</a>, you can do it with <a href="http://www.cobworks.com/workshops.htm">Cob Houses</a>, and now you can even do it with <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/101507martinlogan/">loudspeakers</a&gt;. MartinLogan, ever fashion conscious, has launched a Custom Shop, allowing music lovers to style their own loudspeakers.

On the eve of the film's UK release, Neil Gaiman muses on how he came to write <I>Stardust</I>.

This Gay Talese <I>Esquire</I> profile of the chairman of the board is frequently cited as the best celebrity portrait ever published. I don't know about that&mdash;I'd rate both Wolcott Gibbs' <I>New Yorker</I> deconstruction of Henry Robinson Luce and Lillian Ross' Hemingway profile just as highly.

Ray Kimber of Kimber Kable strongly believes that audiophiles need to be exposed to live music. He arranged for one of the ensembles he records with his Isomike system, the Fry Street Quartet, to perform a series of concerts at RMAF. After the players finished a Haydn Quartet in the Marriott's lobby, the audience went into the Kimber listening room across the corridor to hear the same piece on Ray's $500k reference surround system, described <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2007/101307isomike/">earlier in the blog</A>.