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High-end audio is notorious for being a fussy pursuit. But has the perception matched your reality?

On August 25 and 26, John Atkinson and Wes Phillips were in Salina, Kansas. They were recording what will be <I>Stereophile</I>'s first jazz album, at the deconsecrated downtown church Chad Kassem of <A HREF="http://www.acousticsounds.com">Acoustic Sounds</A> has transformed into Blue Heaven Studios. The band, led by acoustic bass guitarist Jerome Harris, featured alto saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, trombonist Art Baron, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and percussionist Billy Drummond. Over the two days, the quintet recorded a striking set of original compositions by Harris, as well as a superb tribute to Duke Ellington in one of the great bandleader's signature tunes, "The Mooche."

The Library of Congress has honored American composer, conductor, writer, and teacher Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) with an online preview <A HREF="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lbhtml/lbhome.html">exhibit</A&gt; from The Leonard Bernstein Collection, one of the largest special collections in the Library's Music Division.

CD audio recorders are becoming affordable and more available. <A HREF="http://www.philips.com/">Philips</A>&#039; CDR880 (reviewed by Wes Phillips in the current issue of <i>Stereophile</i>) will be in dealers' showrooms soon at a suggested retail price of $649. <A HREF="http://pioneerelectronics.com/">Pioneer</A&gt; will also have an inexpensive recorder on the market---the PD-R555RW, which will reportedly sell for $599. These two---and others that will no doubt follow---are welcome relief from the four-figure machines that have dominated the recordable audio CD niche.

The Model R107 represents the flagship of KEF's Reference Series, and is second only to the Professional Series KM-1 in KEF's product line. Anatomically, the 107 resembles a person. Beneath a decorative "hat," there's a special head assembly akin to the head on the old Model R105. This head assembly contains the brains of the 107, namely a T33 ferrofluid-cooled tweeter and an improved version of the classic B110 midrange driver, featuring a better voice-coil and a new polypropylene cone. The nerve center is also here, in the form of two passive dividing networks and load-impedance equalizing network. Level equalization of the drivers is performed actively within the KUBE, the second brain of the 107&mdash;about which you'll hear more shortly.

Following the highly successful release of three Beatles outtakes sets a few years back, <A HREF="http://www.capitolrecords.com/">Capitol Records</A> announced last week that another set of unreleased recordings, this time from former Beatle John Lennon, will hit stores November 3. The four-disc set will include over 100 home recordings, studio outtakes, and other works never released in public. Titled <I>The John Lennon Anthology</I>, the set was put together with help from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and their son Sean Lennon. Also included will be 60 pages of notes, including art, writings, and photos.

Hachette Filipacchi Magazines (HFM) announced last week that two of its titles, <I>Stereo Review</I> and <I>Video</I> magazines, would be merged to form a new magazine titled <I>Stereo Review's Sound & Vision</I>. According to the statement, the new title will be launched in February 1999, with the premiere issue to coincide with next year's Consumer Electronics Show.