LATEST ADDITIONS

Every audiophile is born sometime, somewhere. My audio birth happened on a family visit to my Uncle John's house, when he played Information Society's "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" through his brand-new Klipsch Heresy IIs. Uncle John did three things at this listening session that turned 12-year-old me into the audiophile I am today: he played music I liked, he played it really loud, and afterward, he took the time to explain how his system worked and why it sounded so good. His Klipsches were powered by Nelson Pass–influenced Nakamichi gear—I'd never before heard speakers play music with such ease or such startling dynamics. I was immediately hooked. In many ways, nothing I've heard since that day has impressed me as much, or been as revelatory of what home audio can do. That single experience set me on a path of caring about re-creating musical performances in my own home.

JBL was founded 60 years ago, by Jim Lansing. Its history has been amply detailed in the book <I>The JBL Story: 60 Years of Audio Innovation</I>, by the late <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/052107eargle">John Eargle</A>'s (JBL Professional, 2006). Although it is primarily known for its pro-audio loudspeakers, the Californian company has offered a steady stream of high-performance domestic loudspeakers to the home market, including the 1971 Paragon, the L100 bookshelf speaker, and the JBL 250Ti floorstander, all of which remained in JBL's catalog for 20 years. In 1990, JBL produced the Project K2 S9500 flagship speaker for the Japanese high-end market. The K2 Project culminated in the $60,000/pair <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2007/010907mikeyjbl">DD55000 Everest system</A>, with its cross-firing asymmetric horns, and the subject of this review, the Synthesis 1400 Array BG, was a spin-off from the K2 project. It features horn-loaded midrange and tweeters to attain a flat response out to a claimed 48kHz.

We've got the new HRT Music Streamer Pro USB DAC in for review at <I>Stereophile</I>. We always try to find helpful tracks for putting a product through its paces during our listening sessions. What music selections would you like to see used for this review?

Now that audio technology seems to be on the verge of being able to do anything asked of it, it seems only fitting to wonder about what we should be asking it to do. We probably all agree that high fidelity should yield a felicitous reproduction of music, but felicitous to what? Should a system give an accurate replica of what is on the disc, or of the original musical sounds?

I had an experience at last summer's CES in Chicago that bordered on the religious. I heard the legendary $42,000 Wilson WAMM system.

I…uh, I…I just don’t know what to say, but I’m definitely making this my new theme song.

Some risky business is going on at the Blue Note, the posh jazz club on West 3rd Street in Manhattan.