LATEST ADDITIONS

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.

Though taller, narrower, deeper, more gracefully sculpted, and even more mantis-like than the MAXX Series 2 that I <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/805wilson">reviewed</A&gt; in the August 2005 <I>Stereophile</I>, at first glance the Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX Series 3 seems little more than a minor reworking of its predecessor with a major increase in price: from $44,900 to $68,000 per pair. But first looks can be deceiving. Take a closer, longer gaze&#151;or, better yet, spend some time <I>listening</I> (especially if you've spent time with the MAXX 2)&#151;and you'll quickly realize that while the familiar Wilson design concepts remain in play, the MAXX 3 is <I>far</I> more than a minor reworking of an older model.

<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

Both the vinyl LP and digital CD formats and their players proved fertile ground for audiophile tinkering and paved the way for new companies and technological innovation. Will the era of downloads and streaming also lead to an audiophile resurgence?

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).

Continuing from <A HREF=”http://www.stereophile.com/news/cedia_2009_day_one/”>Day One</A>'s loudspeaker theme, there were several new speakers of some note to be seen and heard at the 2009 CEDIA Expo in Atlanta.