LATEST ADDITIONS

The October 2009 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. I hope you will enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together. It was a lot of work, but it was also incredibly satisfying. The front cover is, in my opinion, our best and boldest of the year, which is appropriate because this issue not only includes our popular "Recommended Components" list but also pays tribute to <i>Stereophile</i>'s founder, J. Gordon Holt, who passed away <a href="http://stereophile.com/news/j_gordon_holt/">in July</a>. It is indeed a special issue.

Thirsty for some new music? I have a hard time understanding people when they say they have nothing new to listen to. It seems like everyone's making complete albums available for easy streaming these days. Here are a few I've just sort of stumbled upon over the last couple of days:

It seems as if I came of audiophile age in the George Kaye era. The first <I>truly</I> high-end system I ever heard contained a pair of Julius Futterman OTL monoblocks that Kaye had "finished" after Futterman's death in 1979 (footnote 1). In the mid-1980s, I owned both an New York Audio Labs (NYAL) Superit phono section and a Moscode 300 amplifier&#151;two lovely examples of high-value high-end. Both components were far from perfect, but they were <I>fun</I>&#151;and, unlike most of the other components that were then highly regarded by magazines and listeners, I could afford them.

<B>Willie Nelson: <I>American Classic</I></B><BR>
Blue Note 5099926719726 (CD). 2009. Tommy LiPuma, prod.; Al Schmitt, Steve Genewick, engs. AAD? TT: 45:33<BR>
Performance ****&#189;<BR>
Sonics ****

<I>And every time, this thought hit me: It wasn't a record she was handling. It was a fragile soul inside a glass bottle.</I>&#151;From <I>South of the Border, West of the Sun</I>, by Haruki Murakami

To celebrate the release of jazz group Attention Screen's new <I>Stereophile</I> CD, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/ilive_at_ottosi_a_new_stereophile_jazz_… at Otto's Shrunken Head</I></A>, we are having a release party at New York's <A HREF="http://www.ottosshrunkenhead.com/">Otto's Shrunken Head Tiki Bar</A> next Thursday from 7pm to 9pm. All are invited, admission is free, Attention Screen will be playing two sets, and the first 50 to arrive will get a free CD!

Emerging technology was also a theme at this CEDIA, even apart from the various 3D video schemes. RoomEQ is, of course, not a new concept and Audyssey treated us to an introduction and demonstration of their new Subwoofer Equalizer that uses the AudysseyPro software and of DSX, their technology for adding additional channels (for width and height) to the standard 5.1 and 7.1 configurations. I have a Subwoofer Equalizer in house now and hope to report on it shortly. In addition, DSX has made its appearance in a new generation of preamp-processors (and AVRs) from Denon, Onkyo, and Integra, so I am planning on experimenting with that, as well, using one of the new Integra processors, the all-inclusive DHC 80.1 ($2300).