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In his <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//thefifthelement/358/">The Fifth Element #2</A>, John Marks discusses in detail how to use common household items to render some audiophile magic. Marks explains, Aall you need is a very long piece of string, a tape measure, two bits of masking tape, a quantity of small self-adhesive removable note papers, and later, perhaps, a trip to the fabric store."

The first fiscal quarter was a slow one for major electronics retailers. Eden Prairie, MN&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.bestbuy.com">Best Buy</A> reported a 3.1% drop in comparable-store sales, attributing the slowdown to diminished demand for personal computers. That figure is for stores open a year or longer; Best Buy's total sales for the quarter rose 25% to $3.69 billion from $2.96 billion, thanks to 11 new stores and the addition of the Musicland Group of music stores, which Best Buy acquired earlier this year. Although demand for hardware such as digital cameras, DVD players, and high-definition television sets was "brisk," the market for music CDs lagged more than 6% from last year, company officials explained.

From the vantage point of a devout music lover, two-channel audio is more satisfying and more inclusive than ever these days. In terms of resolution, clarity, linearity, transparency, soundstaging, frequency extension, and sheer performance value, aspiring audiophiles have never had it so good.

Separate preamplifiers and power amplifiers have long been considered standard audiophile fare, but sometimes the economy and convenience of an integrated amp can't be beat. Have you ever used one?

One of the more interesting displays at Home Entertainment 2001 was a small booth belonging to West Hollywood, CA&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.aix.com/new">AIX Media Group</A>, which was manned by company president Mark Waldrep. At the show, Waldrep <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11035/">discussed his work</A> in creating DVD-Audio recordings with multiple perspectives, selectable by the listener via remote control.

In <I>1984</I>, George Orwell's chilling tale of life in a totalitarian society, good citizens are expected to master the art of "doublethink," the ability to embrace two contradictory ideas at the same time. As evidenced by legal actions undertaken by their organization in late May, executives of the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> would make excellent role models in an Orwellian state.

As John Atkinson points out in his "As We See It" from last month, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/355/">Trumpets to the Back of Me?</A>, there appears to be a long, hard road ahead for audiophiles as record labels struggle to make something out of the multi-channel future. As JA puts it, "The last thing I want is to have trumpets and drums attacking me from behind, yet almost without exception, that is what record producers seem to feel is an essential part of the DVD-Audio and SACD experiences."