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Any audiophile who stumbles onto one of the more cantankerous audio newsgroups ("wreck audio opinion," anyone?) may wonder what has happened to the modern breed of audiophiles. One suspects that religious wars pale when compared to how some audio pundits jostle against each other! But over the years, there has <I>always</I> been a wide variety of opinion. For a perspective written decades ago that still holds true today, we present J. Gordon Holt's classic "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/104/">Why Hi-Fi Experts Disagree</A>."

History teaches us that the full flowering of any social phenomenon takes place after the seeds of its destruction have been sown. That tourist magnet, London's Buckingham Palace, for example, was built decades after the English Revolution and the Restoration had redefined the role of the British monarchy as being merely titular, and made the elected Parliament the real seat of power.

Okay, let's return to the power grid. In the February installment of "Fine Tunes", we learned that typical domestic 110V AC supplies are derived from that 220V transformer out on the pole. The center-tap 110V supply is unbalanced, but if you take 220V service, you're getting balanced power. One thing you can do is take 220V down to 110V with a step-down transformer. George Cardas swears by it. He's also experimenting with a Statpower Technologies Prosine 1000 Full Square Wave Converter hooked to a big mutha battery to power his front-end components.

We get requests all the time from readers who want to know what audio components others have purchased. What we're looking for is a description of what loudspeaker products you own and why you like them. Here goes . . .

Holding his thumb and forefinger together to reveal barely a sliver of light, <A HREF="mailto:calish@ix.netcom.com">Chris English</A> said, "This close. We're this close." He wasn't talking about how far apart we were sitting, but about how close <A HREF="http://www.threshold.com/">Threshold</A&gt; is to being back in business after an <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10096/">attempted restructuring</A> last year did not work out.

Last week, in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//reference/101/">Book Review: <I>High Fidelity Audio/Video Systems: A Critical Guide for Owners</I></A>, we ran Corey Greenberg's scathing review of an audio book that misses the mark by a wide margin. This week, in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//reference/102/">Book Review: <I>The Complete Guide to High-End Audio</I></A>, we examine a book written by erstwhile <I>Stereophile</I> consulting technical editor Robert Harley. He does not emerge unscathed!

Last week, the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> released its annual demographic survey of 3051 music purchasers in the United States. "Several interesting profiles emerged in 1998, including the boom in R&B and Gospel, as well as the sharp decline in Rock sales," said Hilary Rosen, RIAA president and CEO. "Demographic shifts also continued, with women outbuying men for the second year, and a drop in purchases among 15-to-29-year-olds, contrasted by significant growth among those age 35 and older." Last month, the RIAA released its annual year-end shipments statistics, which revealed the size of the domestic sound-recording industry in 1998 to be $13.7 billion.