LATEST ADDITIONS

California company Now Hear This (NHT), which has been around since 1986, has always taken a no-nonsense route based on good engineering principles and innovative thinking. Two of their strikingly good ideas were the use of side-firing woofers, and integrating an active subwoofer with a pair of small monitor speakers. Both philosophies culminated in the Xd series of DSP-EQ'd active loudspeakers, which I had the pleasure of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1105nht">reviewing</A&gt; in the November 2005 issue. My first reaction to the concept was "Why hasn't anyone done this before?" The results completely justified an approach that, I believe, points loudspeaker design in a new direction.

Thiel Audio, headed up by <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/221">Jim Thiel</A> (President and chief designer) and Kathy Gornik (Marketing Director), sets itself apart from other speaker manufacturers not only by making what I feel to be almost uniformly excellent products, but also by serving as a kind of hallmark for the good dealer: Although not all good dealers sell Thiel, just about every Thiel dealer is a good one. This comes about because, in spite of just about uniformly positive reviews and excellent customer relations, Thiel (primarily in the person of Ms. Gornik) has insisted on limited distribution through retailers they know will give their product a good demonstration. There are a few other such companies performing this hallmark function, though only Mark Levinson Audio Systems readily comes to mind. Most other successful companies prefer as wide a geographical distribution as possible, in spite of the occasional necessary compromises in dealer quality.

This product is a pre-trol. What, you may well ask, is a "pre-trol?" Well, Threshold Corp. calls its FET-10 a preamplifier, but it isn't, really. In fact, it isn't an It at all; it's a Them. Only half of Them is a preamp, and you can buy each half separately. If that sounds a little confusing, maybe it's because some of the old, familiar language of audio is starting to lose its relevance.

At <I>On an Overgrown Path</I>, blogger Pliable ruminates on the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the glorious music the order has inspired.
There's Poulenc's searing, glorious opera, of course, but did you know the sisters commissioned a piece by Handel?

You either loved Molly Ivins&mdash;well, I should probably just stop there. If you loved the written word and valued wit as much as spleen, you just did love Molly. I'll miss her.

Huckleberry reminds me that I don't have the big ears in this household. Plus, <I>his</I> swivel.

Bagheera is feeling royally cranky.