LATEST ADDITIONS

Recent moves by record labels to add restricted-use technology to their compact disc releases has raised the ire of many a consumer, leading some to call for boycotts or worse (see this week's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/soapbox.shtml">Soapbox</A&gt;). Late last year the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11221/">issued a statement</A> saying that the major labels have gone too far in restricting consumers' "fair use" of copyrighted material.

After more than ten years in development, <A HREF="http://www.siriusradio.com">Sirius Satellite Radio</A> announced last week that it will be officially launching its service with two events in Jackson, Mississippi beginning February 13. Sirius' competitor XM Satellite radio was able to get its service up and running <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11148/">last September</A>.

Henry Kloss, whose prolific hi-fi design and manufacturing career spanned a half century, died of a subdural hematoma on January 31, three weeks before his 73rd birthday.

The results from last week's survey clearly indicate that the room is the biggest problem for most audiophiles. What, if anything, have you done to correct sonic problems in your listening room?

I haven't been shy in these pages regarding my love for the Mission 731i loudspeaker (reviewed in November 1996, Vol.19 No.11). It quickly became my reference standard for an entry-level audiophile speaker. Subsequent to my review, Mission significantly improved the speaker by introducing a silk-dome tweeter (see Follow-Up in April 1998, Vol.12 No.4). I bought three pairs: one for my home recording studio, one for my faux outdoor summer-home system (guest bedroom windowsills, pointing outward), and one for portable use to drag to friends' parties when their sound systems are not up to snuff.

In the fall of 1999, a couple of Canadian high-end audio companies got together to pool resources with the idea that two heads were better than one when it came to certain new products. <A HREF="http://www.simaudio.com">Simaudio</A&gt; of Boucherville, Quebec and <A HREF="http://www.magnumdynalab.com">Magnum Dynalab</A> of Brampton, Ontario formed a strategic alliance with the purpose of sharing various technologies to further enhance each company's product lines.

Jonathan Scull found himself in awe of the beautiful and ingenious construction lavished on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/505/">Boulder 1012 D/A preamplifier</A>. "Its design and build qualities are icons to elegant engineering know-how. No screws show on the rectangular box . . .", J-10 enthuses. And as Scull finds, this D/A preamp combines both beauty and brains to create sheer audio pleasure.