LATEST ADDITIONS

Until the Recording Industry Association of America hit the headlines in recent years with its antipiracy campaign, the initials RIAA meant one thing to seasoned audiophiles: the vinyl-disc equalization characteristic introduced in the 1950s to standardize what had previously been an anarchy of different EQs. Three decades later, as CD gained ascendance, a large proportion of audiophiles still knew what RIAA equalization was, and a good number of them had some idea or better of what the RIAA EQ curve looked like, and why it was applied.

It is just about as beautiful a day as you can imagine. You can see both the sun and the moon in this clear, blue sky. It is the kind of day that you hope for throughout the cold, winter months.

"Dinner's fried chicken, honey."

Okay, so I'm outside the hotel, attempting to take a photograph of the show banner, but it's far too dark to capture adequately. After a few failed attempts, I give up, and decide to go for a quick walk. It's not too cold and I'm not too tired, and I may not have another chance at this.

<I>Stereophile</I> will be reporting live from the 2009 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal.

I've been enthusiastically tracking the development of Bel Canto's class-D amplifiers, from their original <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/442">TriPath-based models</A> to their <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/1106mitr">more recent designs</A> based on Bang &amp; Olufsen's ICEpower modules. With each step, Bel Canto has improved their amps' sound quality and reliability.

In your opinion, who has been the most influential person in the history of high-end audio? Was it an engineer or inventor? An audio retailer? How about a reviewer or public relations person?