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Reader T. Bloom asks: "Do you tend towards bass frequency-response accuracy, or would you prefer either a little more or a little less bass than measures flat in your listening room?" In other words, how much bass is enough?

It's Friday evening. I would like to be at home, sitting on the orange couch, a beer in my hand, the light rain tapping against my windows, listening to Grails' <i>Doomsdayer's Holiday</i>. Sounds bleak, doesn't it? But Grails are really kind of perfect for this sort of warm, rainy autumn night, with their dark mix of Eastern psychedelia, folk, metal, and free-jazz ramblings. Beautifully recorded, too, with heart-jolting impact and sweet, sweet dynamic range.

Thursday, December 4: <i><b>The Sound Experience</i></b> (233 South Federal Highway, Boca Raton, FL) will celebrate their official grand opening with a listening party. Michael Fremer is the guest of honor and will give an analog clinic. RSVP: (561) 391-7868. For more info, visit <a href="http://www.thesndexp.com/">The Sound Experience</a>.

<i>Jimmy Boyd's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Columbia, 10" (MJV 152).</i>

Here's how God makes audiophiles: He starts with several million blank brain cells, then programs each one, individually, to function as either a love for one single aspect of music reproduction or a hatred for another. There are over a thousand such cells&#151;far too many to list here&#151;but theologians and audio reviewers have worked together to compile this list of the Top 20, which, just like real life, contains a little more love than hate:

The year’s not quite over, but it’s a safe bet that Sonny Rollins’ <I>Road Shows Vol. 1</I> (on his own Doxy label) will be the best jazz album of 2008 and rank among the best of the decade.

It isn't enough to say that engineer <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/404listening">Denis N. Morecroft</A> is one of contemporary audio's few visionaries: He's one of a <I>very</I> few mature designers whose passion for doing things a certain way hasn't abandoned him in the least, and whose well-argued convictions seem stronger than ever. Thus, as others cave in to commerce&#151;the tube-amp designer who offers a solid-state product just to help his dealers fill a price niche, the source-component manufacturer who rails against digital audio one day and starts cranking out CD players the next&#151;DNM Design remains the likeliest of all modern companies to stay its course.