LATEST ADDITIONS

Low-rez formats, high-rez formats, media servers, satellite radio, more vinyl, iTunes, <I>etc</I>. What do you think was the most important audio issue or event last year?

With the new power and furniture arrangements in my multichannel room, I've begun to reexamine all the other things that affect system performance, including power conditioning and signal cables. However, I could not get my wife to accept the presence in that room of an <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/904music/index1.html">ASC Sub Trap</A>, which lifted my <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/955">Paradigm Servo-15</A> subwoofer to eye level. Not that I protested the Trap's departure all that much&mdash;at that height, Trap and sub partly blocked direct radiation from my rear left speaker. But I felt its absence immediately, as my system returned to the usual somewhat boomy, overly punchy bass. The ASC left me with the determination to deal with room problems, particularly in the bass.

When <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/232">Ken Kantor</A> helped to found Now Hear This, Inc. (most commonly referred to by its initials, NHT) in 1986, he brought with him a wealth of design and production experience learned from stints with NAD and Acoustic Research. He also brought a desire to build and market products that a wide range of people could afford. NHT began by producing small, two-way designs distinguished by the angled front baffle which remains the company's trademark. The latter is no gimmick, but was designed to optimize the loudspeakers' radiation pattern, a matter of keen interest to Kantor ever since his undergraduate thesis work at MIT. This interest continued at AR, where he was responsible for the MGC-1 loudspeaker&mdash;probably his best known pre-NHT loudspeaker design.

Jim Fosgate fits the category of Classic American Inventor to a T. This softspoken, quietly intense man has earned 18 patents and founded three successful electronics companies. In the late 1970s, he pulled out of the car audio business to follow his quadraphonic bliss, and designed the Fosgate Tate 101, arguably the finest quad decoder of the era. He also created the best-selling matrix surround processor of all time, Dolby's Pro Logic II, and in 2003 won an Emmy for the Development of Surround Sound for Television. He now serves as a senior executive consultant for Fosgate Audionics, a division of the Rockford Corporation.

Audiophiles everywhere were saddened to learn of the death of Frederick Fennell on December 7. He was 90, which made him only a few years senior to the process of electrical recording&mdash;an art form in which he made quite an impact.

<A HREF="http://www.meridian.co.uk">Meridian Audio Ltd.</A> is the latest electronics maker to weigh in on the continuing DualDisc controversy.

One of the drawbacks of the new DualDiscs released by the major labels to date is a lack of consistency when it comes to portability&mdash;the ability to easily transfer the music to any device the listener prefers, such as an iPod, media server, PC, or MP3 player, or to make a back-up CD for car use.