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Everyone wants something different from a loudspeaker. Some people value midrange neutrality above all, while others will sacrifice some of that accuracy to get extended lows or a speaker that will play immensely loud with only a few watts of power. Some want stereo imaging that is sufficiently delicate, stable, and accurate that the speakers open a transparent window on the recording's original performing space. Some will sacrifice all of the above to get a speaker whose "jump factor" can jerk zombies out of their stupor. And there are those who are prepared to lose just a little bit of everything in order to have a speaker that may not excel in any of these areas, but communicates what they want from their music in the most effective overall manner.

Sort of like a drunk wandering around the East Village in search of companionship or something, I stumbled upon <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97dec/vinyl.htm">this outstanding article</a> by <i>Stereophile</i>’s former senior contributing editor, Jonathan Scull. The piece, “All Sales Are Vinyl,” which appeared in the December 1997 issue of <i>The Atlantic Monthly</i>, takes the reader on a brisk tour of Greenwich Village record shops. Though many of the shops mentioned are long gone, others such as A-1, the Jazz Record Center, Academy Records, and Other Music are still going strong, and Jonathan’s writing is at its best. Not only does he capture the joy of the vinyl hunt, he illuminates this unreal city, and does so with his unique, charming wit&#151his comic timing is brilliant.

Well, I just got off the phone with Steve Daniels of The Sound Organisation, US importer for Rega, and while I don’t have a ton of information on Rega’s new RP-1 turntable, I do have some good news:

Today is my 10th anniversary with <i>Stereophile</i>. Hmm…on the way home today, maybe I’ll buy myself a nice beer. Or a record…

I have an <A HREF= http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/arts/music/08jazz.html? >article</A> in the Arts & Leisure section of this past Sunday’s <I>New York Times</I> about vinyl reissues of Blue Note jazz albums mastered at 45 rpm.

A clever engineer with an interest in home audio says that the real obstacle to high-fidelity sound is the adverse and unpredictable way in which speakers interact with most domestic rooms. To address that need, he brings to market a loudspeaker that disperses sound in a new and original way. Controversy ensues. Controversy endures.

Otto von Bismarck (1815&#150;1898), the Prime Minister of Prussia who brought about the unification of Germany, was not a nice man. But he was no dummy, either. One of his most prophetic remarks was in response to a journalist's question about what Bismarck thought to be the single most decisive factor in modern history: "The fact that the North Americans speak English."