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Renowned Canadian pianist Robert Silverman will be signing copies of his
<I>Stereophile</I> CDs at noon on Saturday May 22 at Home Entertainment
2004. Recorded in audiophile sound quality by <I>Stereophile</I> editor
John Atkinson, Robert's recordings include <A
HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/315"><I>Concert</I></A&gt;,
live performances of works by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, and Schubert; <A
HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/131"><I>Sonata</I></A&gt;,
featuring Frans Liszt's heroic B-minor Sonata; and the <A
HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/298">complete Beethoven
Sonatas</A>.

Today marked the opening of Home Entertainment 2004 East, held at Manhattan's Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue in Midtown. By long tradition, the first press conference in The Home Entertainment Show's busy press day has always been occupied by Sony and this year was no different. As we entered the Sony Suite, we were greeted by a wall display of over 2000 SACD titles&mdash;surely enough to be considered a down-payment on the critical mass that will be necessary for any high-rez format to survive. But any hopes that Sony would address SACD were quickly dashed in the press conference itself, which was primarily devoted to news of Sony's new broadband "location free" video systems, which allow consumers to carry 12.1" or 7" LCD video tablets anywhere they might wish to access their home-entertainment options. The data transfer is accomplished through the dual-band IEEE 802.11a/11g protocol. The 12" LF-X1 will retail for $1500 and the 7" widescreen LF-X5 will go for $1000.

The sales picture has improved for Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, but not the bottom line. The Canton, MA&ndash;based retailer reported a 4% increase in sales for the second quarter ended March 31, with comparable store results up 3%. The increase lifted Tweeter's total revenue to $189.3 million, but the company reported an operating loss of $4.6 million, almost twice the $2.5 million loss posted in the same period the previous year.

"Is there anything genuinely new under the audio sun?" asks Michael Fremer as he describes the technology behind the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/504ta">T+A V10 integrated amplifier</A>. "For the most part, industry cynics say 'No,'" MF remarks, "claiming that most new amplifier designs merely rehash well-worn circuits. [But] T+A developed a new circuit for the V10 that it calls the SPPP, for 'Single Primary Push-Pull.'"

Sorting through the rooms of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), we'll often discover interesting companies only to find that they are not yet represented in the US. Such has been the case with <A HREF="http://www.cyrus.co.uk/">Cyrus Electronics</A>, which has always intrigued us with its compact products and modern design sensibility in the tradition of a Linn or Meridian.

The CD-303/200 is a stout, handsome unit with a thick front panel of black-anodized aluminum (silver is also available) and a beefy, epoxy-coated aluminum chassis. Even the remote control&mdash;a heavy aluminum unit with multi-function, backlit buttons&mdash;screams "Quality!" Curiously, however, the remote is clad in chrome plate, rather than brushed aluminum or anodized black to match the player. The coup de grace is the CD-303/200's transport mechanism, a Philips CDM12, which is good enough as is; Cary addition of a thick, machined drawer warmed this metallurgist's heart.

Without having intended to, I seem to have collected several "statement" products. I've already reported on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/781">Weiss Medea</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/204theta">Theta Digital Generation VIII</A> digital-to-analog converters. I saw and expressed interest in the Nagra DAC at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, when prototypes of it were shown along with a forthcoming multichannel version, the Nagra Digital Audio Processor (DAP). The two units are based on the same chassis and interface, the DAP including additional modules and processing.