LATEST ADDITIONS

Back in the Spring of 1988, I was sent a pair of diminutive two-way speakers that totally redefined for me what miniature loudspeakers were supposed to be about. That model, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/526">Acoustic Energy's AE1</A>, may have offered short measure in the low-bass department, but its apparently effortless dynamics, musically natural balance, and tangible imaging made it a winner. It also broke the mold of modern audiophile speaker design by featuring a 4.5" woofer with a metal cone just 3.5" in diameter. (Various companies have experimented with metal-cone drive-units in the past, only Ohm and pro-sound company Hartke having had any previous commercial success, though Monitor Audio now also offers a range of speakers with metal-cone woofers, their Studio line.) Since that time, Acoustic Energy has tried to produce a full-range speaker that built on the success of the AE1, but with only limited success, in my opinion. While their AE2 added a second identical woofer, and offered useful increases in bass extension and dynamic range, I felt it to be too colored in the midrange to be a real audiophile contender (see Vol.13 No.2, February 1990, p.134.)

<B>TAKE 6: <I>He Is Christmas</I></B><BR>
Reprise 26665-2 (CD only). Take 6, prods.; Robert Charles, Mike McCarthy, Warren Peterson, engs. DDD. TT: 35:34

I plugged in the little guy, and his little tube started to smile a low, warm orange. While he heated up, I walked over to my record collection. I needed a reference: Where Have I Known You Before by Return to Forever, one of my favorite albums of all time. I plugged my Grado SR60s into the VP129's headphone jack.

Ariel's two new favorite toys&#151one found in the garbage, and one bought with his hard-earned cash: The <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/like_an_old_friend/">Sony CFM-10 Radio Cassette-Corder</a> and the Bellari VP129, one-tube wonder.

Whenever an audio high-ender thinks about tubes, he usually thinks about Audio Research. This is only natural, because Audio Research Corporation was almost single-handedly responsible for saving tubes from oblivion in the early '70s when everyone else switched to solid-state. But ARC was soon joined in its heroic endeavor by an upstart company called Conrad-Johnson, which entered the fray in 1977 with its PV-1 preamp, priced at an affordable (even then) $500.

I don't have to tell you that LP covers are cool. Right? You're already very much aware of all the bold colors and furious fonts and completely outrageous concepts. Photo editors back in the day must have had mad freedom. <i>Alright, cats, here's the plan: We're going to start with a gorilla. He's dressed in a tux. Give the gorilla a gigantic banana. But it's not really a banana. The gorilla will peel the banana to reveal an extremely voluptuous bartender. In one hand, she'll have a tray of martinis, while, with her other hand, she'll be lighting the gorilla's giant cigar. Dig?</i>

The oppressive heat shook hands with the violent rain, and I couldn't summon the drive to do much of anything at all. Rather than wilt, I decided to visit Tunes and dirty my fingertips with some old vinyl. Outside, the day danced furiously back and forth, the rain so hard at times that drops fell from cracks in the ceiling to land among the album stacks. I waited it out.