LATEST ADDITIONS

"The victor belongs to the spoils."&#151;F. Scott Fitzgerald, <I>The Beautiful and the Damned</I>, 1922

This dude, <a href="http://poptartssucktoasted.blogspot.com/2009/11/live-review-fucked-up-b… Duffy</a>, does a good job of detailing last night’s Fucked Up show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in charming Fort Greene. On a tree-lined, brownstoned block, in an old and ornate shrine, Fucked Up, joined by New Jersey’s Vivian Girls on backing vocals and Andrew WK on synths, made a scene. I kept a safe distance from the anarchy, up in the urine-scented balcony, with the other parents.

As an equipment reviewer, I find it helpful to talk to audiophiles and music lovers about their systems and upgrade plans. Fortunately, <I>Stereophile</I>'s computer supplier and troubleshooter, Michael Mandel, also happens to be an avid audiophile. I say "fortunately" because I rarely get a chance to talk to people who put down their hard-earned money for hi-fi components. Instead, I usually converse with equipment designers, technicians, and marketing types, hardly people who reflect the buying public. It is thus a valuable education to get feedback from real-world consumers to find out what kind of products they want, their priorities, and how much they're willing to spend for certain levels of performance. They have a view distinctly different from that of the often jaded reviewer who is used to enjoying the best (albeit temporarily) without agonizing over its cost.

<i>Photo: Jayme Thornton</i>

The people at Manhattan high-end audio retailer <A HREF="http://www.stereoexchange.com/">Stereo Exchange</A> know how to throw a party. They proved it back in April with their <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/spring_fever_at_stereo_exchan… Fever event</A>, and they look to surpass the success of that outstanding evening with their 25th Anniversary Celebration, this Thursday, November 5, from 3&#150;9pm.

<i>A gang of Giyas prepare to stick it to a Steinway.</i>

During an Audio Engineering Society meeting where a former colleague of mine was giving an arcane technical discussion of the optical considerations of data retrieval from a Compact Disc, a longtime AES member whispered to me: "What happened to the good old days of AES meetings when we talked about things like tape bias and saturation?"