LATEST ADDITIONS

More than a decade ago, I bought a new pair of speakers and sought to find the most suitable cables for them. After auditioning a number of borrowed sets, I enlisted my daughter to confirm my selection. She grew up in a household where there was always good music playing on good equipment, but had no active interest in either. To placate Dad, she listened to a few of her own recordings with each of the various cables and then, lo and behold, reached the same conclusion I had. In fact, she described the differences almost exactly as I would have. I was ecstatic. Not only did it confirm my opinions about the cables, but it confirmed to me that any motivated listener can hear what golden-ear audiophiles obsess about. As I tried to express my joy to her, she left the room with this parting shot: "Yes, of course, but who cares?"

My first exposure to Burmester electronics was some years back at a New York Hi-Fi Show, where they were powering a pair of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/207">B&W 801</A>s and impressed the hell out of me. But Burmester's distribution seemed sporadic and the prices beyond my consideration, so I put them out of my mind.

"Sam, HELP!!!! Wife wants stereo out of the living room, converting spare bedroom for my stuff."

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group announced a massive "restructuring" of its operations on March 22. The chain will close 49 stores, including all operations in California, New York, Alabama, and Tennessee, and trim its workforce by 20%. The chain's remaining 104 stores will be remodeled to conform to the chain's current "CE playground" theme.

In a move some industry analysts characterized as "an uncertain experiment that could backfire," Circuit City Stores, Inc, the nation's second-largest electronics retailer, laid off 3400 employees, about 8% of the company's workforce, on March 28 because they earned too much money. Company spokesperson Bill Cimino told <I>Bloomberg.com</I> that the jobs that were eliminated were paying "well above" market rates, adding that the fired employees can re-apply for their jobs at lower pay after a 10-week delay. Cimino declined to give the wages of either the fired employees or the wages being given to new hires. He said it would vary "depending on the market."

I got wishbone in my pocket
<BR>
I got a rabbit's foot 'round my wrist
<BR>
You know I'd have all the things these lucky charms could bring
<BR>
If you'd give me just one sweet kiss, rowr, rowr, rowr
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Baby, I ain't askin' much of you
<BR>
Just a big-a big-a hunk o' love will do.

Bagheera tires of Huckleberry's theatrics.