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At any real high end hi-fi event, there'll be great music, and Stereo Exchange's Spring Fever was no exception. Lori Lieberman dusted off her classic, "Killing Me Softly," and brought down the house.

Finally, any real high end hi-fi event will also have booze. On this occasion, Stereo Exchange's jovial staff members, Nelson and Tim, were happy to serve.

I've been chipping away for some time at the task of trying to put together a music lover's stereo system for about half the money of my last such effort: $2500 to $3750 now, <I>vs</I> around $7500 back in 2005. My timing was good: CD and DVD receivers are a hot product category, with several attractive new entries at various prices.

I now pronounce this Sonic Youth Month. It will be good. To celebrate the release of their new album, <i>The Eternal</i>, the band visited their old friend, Jools Holland. Here they are, the greatest band of all time, performing "What We Know."

Francois Caron of <a href="http://thecanadianpublic.com/">the Canadian Public</a>, Canada's national public access television station, has done a wonderful job of piecing together highlights of the recent <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/">Salon Son & Image</a>.

Yesterday's New York Post ran <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/04272009/business/best_buy_turning_the_tabl… brief story</a> on Best Buy's decision to stock vinyl LPs.

I hope all you dudes are enjoying the same sort of sweaty sweet record-breaking weather we're experiencing here in NYC this week (until tomorrow when it gets cold again).