LATEST ADDITIONS

It's a common audiophile failing to remember the past as being much better than it actually was. (Though, of course, some things <I>were</I> better.) I remember the first time I heard a pair of Acoustic Research LST loudspeakers, in 1974 or thereabouts. Compared with the Wharfedales I used in my own system and the various Goodmans, Celestions, and home-brews I heard at friends' homes, the sound of classical orchestral recordings on the ARs was about as close to the real thing as I could imagine. And the AR ads reinforced my experience, telling me that musicians such as Herbert von Karajan also used LSTs. I never heard those speakers again, but occasionally I wonder how they would hold up today (footnote 1).

Media conglomerates have long hedged their bets by consulting demographics experts and marketing gurus. Now, music executives have real science to bolster their sometimes unreliable instincts about what will succeed and what will fail. It's an audio analysis program called Hit Song Science (HSS).

Xd on its way: <A HREF="http://www.nht-hifi.com">NHT</A&gt; has begun shipping its Xd DEQX Calibrated DSP speaker systems to dealers, according to an announcement made January 24 by parent company the Rockford Home Group. A high-tech twist on the old satellite-and-subwoofer scheme, the Xd consists of a pair of two-way acoustic satellite speakers; an XdW bass module with two opposing 10" drivers powered by an internal PowerPhysics 500W amplifier; and an XdA outboard processor/amplifier that includes a DEQX-calibrated DSP engine and four PowerPhysics One-Cycle Sound amps.

In the February issue, <I>Stereophile</I> scribes pen their <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/records2die4/">Records 2 Die 4</A>. Now it's your turn: give us the one or two discs that topped your list in 2004.

<I>What has happened will happen again, and what has been done will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun.</I>&mdash;Ecclesiastes 1:9

Pick an expletive&mdash;one you would normally use to express deep intellectual frustration&mdash;but don't vocalize it. Hold it in reserve for a few minutes, letting it simmer to concentrate its intensity. I'll tell you when to let rip.

Powell calls it quits: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Michael Powell has announced his departure from the regulatory agency. Powell will leave his post by March of this year, according to an announcement made January 21. The son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Michael Powell was appointed an FCC commissioner by then-President Clinton in 1997 and appointed chairman by President Bush in 2001.