LATEST ADDITIONS

In last week's "Soapbox," reader Mark Gdovin discussed a great bargain CD player he had found. What's the best bargain component you've discovered?

No, folks, vinyl is not dead. And even though my colleague Mikey Fremer is beginning to sound like a broken record, the little guy is right: when it comes to the sound on offer, CD still doesn't come close. There are more turntables, phono cartridges, and tonearms on the market today than ever before. Moreover, with companies like Classic Records, Analogue Productions, and Mosaic offering a steady stream of ultra-high-quality reissues, there seems to be an increasing supply of quality vinyl at reasonable prices.

Canadian electronics manufacturer Bryston Limited has been producing consumer and professional amplifiers since 1974 [see Robert Deutsch's interview elsewhere in this issue—Ed.]. Bryston amps are engineered to be physically and electrically rugged, to meet the stringent demands of professionals, many of whom leave their studio amplifiers turned on for years. While chassis had to be light instead of the audiophile massiveness found in some high-end consumer amplifiers, studio engineers and concert pros continued to favor Bryston amps, which easily passed the "steel toe" test. The 4B, for example, became a standard amplifier for recording engineers and touring musicians.

"Wanted: Linn Axis turntable or similar, 555-1234."

On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer (MGM), agreeing that peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as StreamCast Networks and Grokster could be held responsible (<I>read:</I> be sued) if they encouraged their users to infringe copyrights. This will return the "MGM <I>vs</I> Grokster" case to a lower court, where it will be determined whether or not the P2P companies encouraged their users to violate copyright laws.

Some like to think that ads corrupt an audio magazine, while others trust the editor and find ads a great source of information on new products and dealers. Do you find ads in audio magazines useful?

A company other than ProAc best describes the Future One: "And now for something completely different!" Of course, <I>that</I> was a company of British comedians. There's nothing funny about the talented British speaker designer Stuart Tyler's latest effort, but there <I>is</I> something odd: Tyler is reputed to have said of the Future One, "This is the loudspeaker I have always wanted to build."