LATEST ADDITIONS

John Atkinson gets his hands on "the very strange-looking" <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/643/">MBL 111B loudspeaker</A> to determine how "upper-frequency drive-units resembling an array of orange segments" could possibly sound. As JA discovers, thinking different can sometimes be a plus.

Questionable accounting practices were at the heart of the collapse of energy conglomerate Enron and telecommunications giant WorldCom. Apparently, they are also rampant in the music industry&mdash;or at least pervasive enough to command the attention of California state legislators, who have scheduled a second hearing to examine the situation.

Digital satellite radio is one of the most promising entertainment developments since the invention of the DVD. It's also a high-risk venture for investors.

I have always had an affection for speakers designed and manufactured by the Canadian conglomerate Audio Products International Corp. (API), which markets speaker designs under the names Mirage, Energy, Sound Dynamics, and Athena. In fact, it was 20 years ago that API created the first budget speaker that caught my attention, the Mirage 350. At the time, the 350 was the only speaker I'd heard that cost less than $300/pair. It sounded open, musical, and detailed without seeming bass-shy. (A larger successor, the 460, was for many years my reference home-theater speaker.) Although I've been impressed with many other API designs I've heard over the years at friends' houses, press events, and hi-fi shows, it had been more than a decade since I'd formally reviewed an API product.

Antares is a giant red star in the constellation Scorpio. According to Rockport Technologies' Andy Payor, the $41,500/pair Antares loudspeaker is the "ultimate" reasonably sized, full-range loudspeaker, and is built to a standard "unequaled in the industry." Rockport's $73,750 <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//analogsourcereviews/258/">System III Sirius turntable</A> came with equally boastful claims that turned out to be anything but hyperbole. Has Rockport done it again with the Antares?

It was almost five years ago that I first spent some serious auditioning time with an omnidirectional two-piece speaker from German manufacturer MBL: the four-way MBL 111. When I reviewed the 111 in the April 1998 Stereophile, I had been extremely impressed with the speaker's stereo imaging, which was superbly stable and well-defined, with images that floated completely free of the speaker positions. The tonal balance was also excellent, with a rich midrange, superbly clean highs, and extended lows. "This Radialstrahler is one of the best tweeters I have experienced," I wrote. In fact, the 111 was let down only by bass frequencies that tended to lag behind the music slightly.

Last week we singled out DVD-Audio, which clearly has left readers wondering, when it comes to promotion. This week we get to see if SACD has done any better. Has SACD been marketed properly?