LATEST ADDITIONS

With the popularity of home-theater systems, subwoofers have proliferated. Because multichannel AV receivers are designed to provide a properly filtered, line-level subwoofer, or low-frequency effects (LFE) signal, many subs no longer come with built-in high- and low-pass filters for insertion into two-channel audio systems. However, the PB13-Ultra subwoofer from SV Sound does include these, which is what piqued my interest in it. After Ed Mullen, SV Sound's director of sales, assured me that the PB13-Ultra was capable of reproducing solid 20Hz organ-pedal notes in my listening room, I asked for one to review.

<I>Snobbery is a disease of the imagination.</I>&#151;Peter Straub, "Little Red's Tango"

Silently, unbeknownst to many out there (not that you should know&#151but the thoughts are on constant repeat in my head&#151thus I think the world knows):

I've been building a hi-fi system.

Fans of the Fiery Furnaces will be happy to know that the band is releasing a collection of live material. Charmingly titled <i>Remember</i>, the album brings together songs from the entire Fiery Furnaces catalog, digging way back to 2005 and even including tracks from last year's <i>Widow City</i>. With 51 tracks in all, <i>Remember</i> will be available as a triple-LP gatefold, and will include a coupon for free MP3 download. Pretty artwork, too.

Clearly many of you are spending bucks on your turntables these days. How about vinyl records to feed them? Have you spent any money on vinyl LPs in the last 12 months? What did you buy?

Let's do the <I>It's a Wonderful Life</I> exercise, shall we? Imagine what popular music would sound like today without Jerry Wexler. Aretha Franklin would have never returned to her gospel roots, Ray Charles would have continued imitating Charles Brown and Nat Cole, Stax would have been a tiny regional record label, and denatured white covers of R&B songs would dominate the charts. In fact, the music we know today as rhythm and blues would still be called "race music"&#151;Wexler having coined R&B while working at <I>Billboard</I> in 1949.

But before heading over, Kimmy and I just wanted to sit down and watch a couple episodes of our favorite show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. We got distracted though, as is always the case with my blog entries, where plans change due to interest in more exciting forms of clarity, a better understanding of the world. By this, I'm talking about the new Vizio television my roommate Jason bought. (Hold your horses now! Don't get so riled up. I know this isn't a Home Theater blog, but I'm getting somewhere, kinda.)