LATEST ADDITIONS

My last visit to Planet Halcro transformed my audio life. All but the newest readers will recall that the Australian <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/683">dm58 power amplifier was <I>Stereophile</I>'s <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/724/index2.html">Amplification Component of the Year</A> and overall <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/724/index8.html">Component of the Year</A> for 2002. To this day, I have yet to hear any amplifier that equals the dm58's combination of complete neutrality, harmonic generosity, lightning reflexes, and a sense of boundless power that is difficult to describe. Though some others have come close, the dm58 shines as a singular beacon of excellence among power amplifiers.

In mid-April, Texas Instruments and Intel announced developments likely to improve the experience for many music fans in the near future. TI announced the industry's highest performance four-channel audio digital&ndash;analog converter (DAC), and Intel released the final v1.0 specification for "Intel High Definition Audio."

Once upon a time, business competitors relied on the quality of their products and services to hang onto their shares of the market. That's the myth, at least. Increasingly, it seems they rely on regulatory and judicial intervention to stay afloat.

New Zealand's <A HREF="http://www.perreaux.com">Perreaux Industries</A> began creating audio products 30 years ago, starting with the GS 2002 integrated transistor amplifier in 1974, and landed in the US in 1980 with the PMF 2150 amplifier. <A HREF="http://www.perreaux.com/backcat.php">Dozens</A&gt; of new audio products have been developed since then, many of them groundbreaking, and the latest designs are again available in the American market.

<I>Qu&#233;bec Audio & Video</I>, Canada's premier home entertainment magazine, is hosting its fourth annual contest held in conjunction with the <A HREF="http://www.he2004.com">Home Entertainment 2004 Show</A>, scheduled to take place May 20&ndash;23, 2004 in New York City.

It was 20 years ago that I began audio reviewing as a second career. It was also 20 years ago that I made my first very expensive audio purchase: a pair of Infinity RS-1b speakers. The RS-1b was a landmark speaker in its day, and very costly for the time at $5500/pair. (I think my dentist has just spent more than that on a TV.) In retrospect, the RS-1b was an extraordinary value. With four large towers, more than 30 drivers, and a servo network and a passive crossover, the Infinity RS-1b resolved a significant amount of detail, was capable of large dynamic swings, had pinpoint image specificity on a wide, deep soundstage, and was capable of reproducing a convincing bottom octave in the right room when paired with the right associated equipment. Its main weaknesses were a relative lack of coherence due to its use of three different types of drivers to cover the various frequency ranges, and both the midrange/tweeter towers and woofer columns were picky about amplifier matching.

Unless you've been on active duty in the Middle East, you're aware that Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is back in business. During <I>Stereophile</I>'s Home Entertainment 2003 show in San Francisco last June, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround">Kal Rubinson</A> and I played hookey to visit MoFi mastering engineer Paul Stubblebine's recording studio, at 1340 Mission Street. As we sat spellbound, Paul played the original four-track, &#189;", 1-mil master tape of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota Orchestra's legendary 1974 recording of Ravel's <I>Bol&#233;ro</I> and <I>Daphnis et Chlo&#233;</I> (footnote 1). Stubblebine fed the four discrete channels from the specially modified ReVox reel-to-reel deck to a modern surround system. The master tape produced the cleanest, purest sound I had heard in a long time.