LATEST ADDITIONS

The April 2010 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. For the cover, we selected the <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/monitor_audio_platinum_200/">Monitor Audio Platinum PL200</a> loudspeaker. Like Bob Deutsch, I was impressed by this speaker when I heard it at the <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/">2009 Salon Son & Image</a>, so I was especially pleased by John Atkinson’s decision to highlight it. Our cover photographer, Eric Swanson, and designer, Natalie Baca, were also pleased by the speaker’s great looks: The fine-furniture finish of its Santos Rosewood cabinet, the silvery ceramic-coated aluminum magnesium drive units, the handsome Strathspey leather front baffle, and, <i>ooh</i>, that sexy rear port (see the extreme close-up on page 109!) all worked to win over our design team.

John Fahey cites Bill Monroe’s “Blue Yodel #7” as the song that changed/destroyed his life. After hearing that song, he knew he had to play guitar.

I assume you’ve been in a situation like this before, too.

And here's one that brightens <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/113005if/">Andrea</a>'s day.

A decade ago, many predicted that amplifiers with switching or class-D output stages would come to dominate high-end audio. In a post–Peak Oil world in which the price of energy would always continue to rise, a class-D amplifier's very high efficiency in converting AC from the wall outlet into speaker-driving power would be a killer benefit. Although a conventional push-pull class-B amplifier has a theoretical efficiency of 78.5%, which would seem usefully high, this efficiency is obtained only at the onset of clipping; the need for the output devices to carry a standing bias current reduces that efficiency considerably, typically to around 50%. Class-A amplifiers are even less efficient, with a maximum of 25%; ie, three times as much power is dissipated by the amplifier as waste heat as is used to drive the loudspeaker (see "Sam's Space" in this issue).

I may have had 4000 LPs and a perfectly wonderful <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/1103linn">Linn LP12</A> turntable, but I could go for weeks on end without listening to a single LP. But I still thought of myself as one of the vinyl faithful, even as I rationalized my digital-centric listening tendencies. I loved analog <I>in theory</I>&#151;I just couldn't bring myself to listen to it all that much.

Corrina sent me a link to this video for "70 Million" by Hold Your Horses, a band I know nothing about. It must have been so much fun to make this.