LATEST ADDITIONS

On Sunday, December 1, 2002, we celebrated five years of uninterrupted webcasting, our website having emerged from the Internet darkness on December 1, 1997 to become, at least in my eyes, an institution. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that "an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man," and www.stereophile.com is definitely the shadow of erstwhile high-end audio retailer Jon Iverson.

Paul Bolin reviews the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/719/">EgglestonWorks Andra II loudspeaker</A>, noting, "It's always tough to follow an award-winning act." Bolin listens carefully to determine if "the lofty ambitions of the Andra II project" have made significant and meaningful improvements to the original design.

I first heard Eugene Gigout's pipe-organ masterpiece, the <I>Grand Chorus in Dialogue</I>, in the Smetana Concert Hall of Prague's Municipal House (Obecnim Dome) on a Saturday evening before the 2002 flood. I recall seeing the delicate, youthful Michele Hradecka sway from side to side to reach the pedals. In response, a massive wall of deep organ chords shook the hall, the magical acoustic blending the delicate, extended highs with the thunderous bass. But this memory mixed the music with the beauty of Prague's soaring church spires, brilliant red terracotta roofs, and lavish palaces.

I first met NHT co-founder <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/232/">Ken Kantor</A> in 1975 when we were both undergraduates at MIT. Kantor was sponsoring an extracurricular class entitled "Musical Ideas." The concept was to stick a dozen or so musicians in a classroom for free improvisation and hope to create music &#224; la Miles Davis' <I>Bitches Brew</I>. The result was a mess; although talented guitarist Kantor meant well, there was no common vision or consistency of musical talent. Nevertheless, I had a blast trying to simulate a tamboura drone with a Hohner Clavinet, phase shifter, and volume pedal.

We've all got a disc or two that we keep playing over and over, whether for system testing or the sheer love of the music. Which disc does it for you, and how many times have you listened to it?

<A HREF="http://www.cirruslogic.com">Cirrus Logic</A> has become the latest chipmaker to license audio watermarking technology from San Diego&ndash;based <A HREF="http://www.verance.com">Verance Corporation</A>. Cirrus will integrate Verance copy-prevention and copy-tracking technology in "a new line of high-performance chipsets for DVD devices," according to a November 20 announcement. Cirrus Logic's entry into the DVD-A arena may help boost market acceptance of the DVD-A format, executives conjectured.

Disc piracy is a profitable but increasingly risky business, with bootlegging-related shootings and armed robberies on the rise. Modern pirates have begun to imitate their sea-going ancestors, using force to acquire assets and territory.