LATEST ADDITIONS

In a moment, I will resume my ongoing quest to put together a music lover's stereo system for about half the cost of my last such effort (see my columns in the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/1005fifth">October</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/1205fifth">December</A&gt; 2005 issues): $3750 rather than $7500. But first I want to urge everyone who hasn't already done so to check out <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/208fifth/index3.html">the results</A> of the Five Great Art Songs of the Rock Era write-in competition announced in my February 2008 column. The winning entries are great&#151;really thought-provoking. Indeed, some of the lists, plus an unaccountably belated recollection, prompted me to put together my own alternate list. This list doesn't invalidate or replace my original one, but it benefited from the energy all the entrants (thanks, everyone) put into theirs. Here goes:

You'd think that setting up a pair of loudspeakers would be a piece of cake: Stick 'em where they look good, and be done with it. It <i>can</i> be as simple as that, but to get the <i>best</i> sound from your speakers, you'll have to do a bit more work.

We're lucky. There's always an enormous amount of great live music to be enjoyed in New York City, but this week is especially crammed with sound. The CMJ Music Marathon is here. As I type, our very own Mikey Fremer is moderating a discussion titled "Hi Fidelity for the Future." Panelists include NYU professor Jim Anderson; David Chesky of Chesky Records and <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/052008hdtracks/index.html">HDTracks.com…;; <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11283/index.html">D&M Holdings</a>' Jeffrey Cowan; and <a href="http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/">the Audiophiliac</a>, Steve Guttenberg.

Toward the end of the 1992 Summer CES in Chicago, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/66">J. Gordon Holt</A> ambled into Audio Influx's demonstration room. He was curious about which <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/592rotm">PDQ Bach CD</A> we were playing, as a fitting end to the show. We chatted about PDQ Bach live concerts and the grand-spoof entrances made by Professor Peter Schickele. Suddenly he said, "You know, these speakers sound real," going on to mention that he hadn't heard many real-sounding systems. I told JGH that most of what I heard at shows and in dealer showrooms nowadays was <I>sur</I>realistic sound.

John Marks ponders the deeper depths of audiophile hell with the following question: If you had to spend eternity listening to only one song or one piece of music, what would it be?

The best, most enduring audio products have in their favor more than great sound: They have some sense of history as well. Particularly good examples abound from the British companies Spendor, Rogers, and Harbeth, some of whose products were actually commissioned into being by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Better that, I suppose, than existing to fill a price point.

These are the first interconnects and speaker cables I have reviewed for <I>Stereophile</I>. Each of us has his little niche, and editor John Atkinson likes us to play in the sandboxes we most enjoy. For me, that has usually meant inexpensive speakers and expensive tube electronics. But there's another reason I've tended to shy away from cables.