LATEST ADDITIONS

Trying to convince your friends you're a time traveler? Folllow these, ahem, timely tips.

All we really want to hear from our systems is the music, but sometimes there is still a little unwanted noise tagging along for the ride. Do you have any humms, buzzes, or other unwanted noises emanating from your audio system? What do you do about it?

Oh boy! This was one of my most eagerly anticipated auditions. At my first demonstration of an OLS loudspeaker system several years ago, I was bowled over not only by the demo, but also by the idea that OLS's Kharma line was topped by the $1,000,000 Grand Enigma system!

What makes a phono cartridge worth $3500 or $4000? Pride of ownership? Snob appeal? Sound? Tracking ability? Exotic materials? Styling? Labor cost for skilled artisans? Special ether? Cool wooden box? All of the above?

Small enough to fit in a shoebox, these little darlings from England almost manage to redefine the state of the art in very compact monitor design (footnote 1). Here's a speaker that isn't as neutral as the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/361">BBC LS3/5a</A> compact monitor, but that does manage to equal or exceed that venerable design in most respects.

In the last issue we published a rather enthusiastic "Quickie" report on a small, $190/pair speaker system from a new company—the FMI Model 80. It was virtually devoid of low end, even as a stereo pair (pairing effectively doubles bass output), and slightly rough as well as a shade soft at the high end, but it had a quality of "aliveness" to it that almost defied belief. Was it a breakthrough in design? A new transducing principle? No, it was neither. In fact, the Model 80 looks like any one of those hundreds of little bookshelf systems that clutter, the pages of Stereo Review's "Hi-Fi Directory" in tedious profusion.

Billy Preston, the keyboard player, singer, and songwriter frequently credited as "the fifth Beatle," died June 6 in Scottsdale, AZ from respiratory complications from improperly treated pericarditas he experienced in an LA hospital visit on November 21, 2005.

On June 6, as we traveled back from <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2006/">HE 2006</A>, we received near simultaneous press releases from Genesis Advanced Technologies and Arnie Nudell describing the same event.

Love,<br>
Remember when we first met &#151; standing at the bar, admiring <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/121905thejukebox/">the jukebox's warm glow</a>? How I somehow got around to telling you about that <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/106con/index.html">$90,000 turntable</a>? It almost seems silly now. The small talk of first meetings often does, I suppose, seem silly. But not ours. Nothing "silly" about it. And nothing small. I don't know what made me think I should mention it &#151; this silly turntable &#151; but, a day later, you'd call and leave a message saying you'd like to hear more. "Fascinating," was the word you used.

Myrna Blyth has a sweet reminiscence of the Beatles on the occasion of Sir Paul's 64th birthday.