LATEST ADDITIONS

<I>Peter Madnick, alchemist:</I> Designer Peter Madnick is bringing new life to a classic audio marque with his new Alchemy² line of components. The reference, for audiophiles with short memories, is to the now defunct Audio Alchemy line, for which he designed so many products. Alchemy² employs Madnick's original engineering staff and has established a goal to "address the enthusiast market with cool little boxes designed to solve problems and enhance system enjoyment." That sounds familiar.

To an outsider, it might have appeared as though we were mimicking each other's movements. Perhaps it even seemed as though a mirror had been magically raised upwards alongside my body to reflect my motions and thoughts and buying habits.

Although some won't openly admit it, plenty of audiophiles with nice systems also own iPods. And they are not alone. According to figures recently revealed by the <A HREF="http://www.CE.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A>, more than 152 million Americans, representing 70% of the total US adult population, own some kind of portable entertainment device.

English loudspeaker manufacturer Monitor Audio has mined a rich vein with their exclusive 6&#189;" metal-cone driver, which covers a range from the bass to the midrange. MA designs using this drive-unit have fared well in these pages, ranging from the Monitor Audio Studio 6 minimonitor (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/910">reviewed by JA</A> in February '94, Vol.17 No.2) to the floorstanding Studio 20 (reviewed by RH in December '91, Vol.14 No.12, and by ST in April '92, Vol.15 No.4).

Loudspeaker manufacturer Boston Acoustics made its name&mdash;and its fortune&mdash;building high-performance but low-cost speakers. Indeed, I recently set up a modest system for my mother-in-law that was based on Boston's classic A-40&mdash;a two-way design that sold for just $160/pair back in 1986&mdash;and was very pleasantly surprised at the quality these little speakers offered. Back in the early '90s, however, the Massachusetts-based company announced that they were taking a step into the High End with a new loudspeaker line, the Lynnfields (see Thomas J. Norton's interview with Boston's Andy Kotsatos elsewhere in this issue). These were designed by expatriate British engineer Phil Jones, previously responsible for the impressive Acoustic Energy speakers.

Epiphanies only come when you stop looking for them, and <I>mine</I> came in a room full of preschoolers watching cartoons at a Pizza Hut. I was taking my little nieces Alix (4) and Casey (1) out for dinner, and the last thing on my mind was <I>audio</I>; we wanted to PARTY! So my girlfriend Dara and I bundled them up in their car-seats and we high-tailed it over to the Hut, with visions of continuous-loop Tom'n'Jerry and cheap buffet pizza dancing in our heads.

I’ve had this headache for two years now.