LATEST ADDITIONS

Polk Audio is the Rodney Dangerfield of high-end audio. Why <I>does</I> this conscientious, innovative, and well-organized company garner no respect from hard-to-please audiophiles?

When it's time to audition that new preamp, living in the big city with plenty of audio stores can be an advantage. But sometimes, no matter where you live, finding the products you want to consider before purchase can be a challenge.

Jonathan Scull takes a gander at the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/454/">dCS Purcell D/D converter</A>, and tries to make sonic sense out of the merits of upsampling. Scull writes, "So while the true differences between upsampling and oversampling remain murky, my pleasant mission is to report on the sound of the Purcell and compare it to the latest version of the pro-audio version, the 972."

Record label attempts at restricting the potential uses of their CDs have hit another bump in the antipiracy road. Music label BMG had announced earlier this year that it would try to find ways to restrict its CDs, in an effort to stem piracy and the trading of MP3 files. But those plans appear to have backfired, so far.

Citing poor sales in North and South America, <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com">EMI</A&gt; reported that it lost $77.6 million during the first six months of its business year, ended September 30, compared to a loss of $44.3 million for the same period last year.

Class&#233;'s Mike Viglas watched the audiophile skies, scratched his chin, and thought about his business. As he gazed, it occurred to him that if everyone in audio was moving downmarket to invade <I>his</I> territory, why not take his company and head <I>up</I>market? Thus was born Class&#233;'s much-lauded Omega series.

Nestled south of the North Downs in England's southeast, the Kentish dormitory town of Sevenoaks is about as sleepy a place as you can imagine. Yet 20 years ago, in the unlikely circumstances of the back room of a Sevenoaks pub, I witnessed the world of consumer loudspeakers changing. Meridian's Steve Hopkins was showing a pair of the company's active M2 loudspeakers connected directly to a 101 preamplifier.