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There is a sweet spot in any manufacturer's lineup where minimum price and maximum performance meet. More expensive products in the line may offer higher fidelity, but the cost may not be commensurate with the improvement. For instance, VPI's HRX and Super Scoutmaster turntables cost more than their standard Scoutmaster model, and they perform better—but for my money, the sweet spot of VPI's line is the standard Scoutmaster, with or without such options as the outer clamp and Signature tonearm.

Each time I attend <I>Stereophile</I>'s annual Home Entertainment Show, I look forward to two things. The first is the opportunity to <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/060406reina/">perform</A&gt; classic and original jazz music with <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/060406rayjazzed/">John Atkinson</A> and <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/060406perkins/">Immedia's Allen Perkins</A>. The second is to seek out the most exciting new, affordable speakers to review over the following year. Both buttons were pressed for me quite admirably during HE2005 at the New York Hilton, but this time it was not an affordable speaker that most impressed me.

Jeff's last link of the day&mdash;he can take the afternoon off.

Heck, I find something that works, I stick with it.

Mozart performing in Vienna, Bob Dylan at Newport, the Beatles at the Cavern Club, Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club . . . . If you could travel in time to attend any musical performance in history, what would it be?

Answer: You have to "attend" to an object for it to actually register. Jeff Wong sends along a couple of links on "change blindness." Click on the external link for the article and then click <A HREF="http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~rensink/flicker/download/index.html">here</A&gt; for the examples.

I was saddened to hear of the untimely death of David Smith, vice-president of audio engineering and R&D at Sony Music Studios in New York. David, who was 55, died Saturday June 17, at the home of his mother on Long Island.