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Reviewing a vacuum-tube power amplifier is like having your pants pulled down in front of a large crowd of people. I don't know how else to describe the feeling of spending a month or two luxuriating in fabulous sound, then writing a glowing review, then receiving a copy of the review as it will appear in the magazine, complete with John Atkinson's assessment of the amp's test-bench performance, which is usually miserable.

Reader Gerald Neily wants to get very specific about your audiophile priorities. What do you focus on the most when evaluating and/or tweaking an audio system?

There are probably only a handful of recorded works which could successfully survive the transition from the original two-channel release to a 5.1 surround remix. Queen's 1975 release <I>A Night At The Opera</I> is certainly one of them, and, in fact, the recording was originally scheduled to hit the streets <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11174/">last November</A> as a 5.1 DVD-Audio disc from <A HREF="http://www.dtsonline.com">DTS Entertainment</A>.

As normally conceived, loudspeakers use electrodynamic forces to control the movements of their diaphragms, which in turn move air. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. has come up with an interesting twist on this principle, one in which air pressure itself ("aerodynamic-drive technology") is used to control the diaphragm. The result is a transparent panel speaker called the "Sound Window," announced by the Japanese industrial giant March 27.

Following the tragic events of September 11 last year, <A HREF="http://www.audioasylum.com">Audio Asylum</A> and <A HREF="http://www.audiogon.com">Audiogon</A&gt; co-sponsored a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11141/">charity auction</A> of audio equipment to benefit the NY Firefighters' Fund and other related charities. Manufacturers, dealers, magazine writers and editors, and audiophiles donated equipment, recordings, and memorabilia for sale, and as <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11159/">reported on this website</A>, the auction ultimately raised almost $175,000 for 9/11-related charities.

Say "Type A" to a group of psychologists and they immediately think "hard-driving, workaholic executive." Speak the same phrase among audiophiles, and the late Peter Snell's (1946-1984) flagship loudspeaker comes to mind. The model reviewed here is the seventh iteration of Snell Acoustics' Type A, and this is the 12th published review of the product in American audio magazines. (The last one published in <I>Stereophile</I> was in March 1996, Vol.19 No.3, of the Type A Reference.)

"Hi, Jonathan," Bob Matthews began his e-mail to "Fine Tunes" (matthewsr@hqamc-exchg.army.mil). "I enjoy reading your column every month, and enjoy hearing from other people about some of their cheap tweaks!"