LATEST ADDITIONS

These speakers inadvertently managed to put me in a good mood even before I listened to them, because of a dumb little gaffe committed by Thiel's packing department. Each speaker came with an Owner's Information sheet, which is nice. Each sheet included Unpacking (and Repacking) Instructions, which is nicer. But each sheet came packed <I>inside</I> the carton, underneath the speaker, where it was not accessible until after the speaker was dumped out of the box, which is pretty silly!

Yesterday's episode of Sunday Morning on CBS included a segment with Herbie Hancock, whose <i><a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/101507jazz/">River: The Joni Letters</a></i> won two big prizes at the 50th annual <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/musicroom/robertbaird/021108/">Grammy Awards</a>: Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

A study published in the open source science journal <I>PLoS One</I> investigates the neural processes of jazz improvisation. Johns Hopkins neuroscientists put piano players in a fMRI scanner with a special keyboard and asked them to perform different five-finger exercises: play a scale, play a melody, and improvise on either the scale or the melody.

Sometimes we fall in love with the idea or potential of a product, only to be disappointed with the real thing. Have you ever had your audiophile heart broken?

I believe <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/232">Ken Kantor</A> said it first: a couple of years ago, in his September 1990 interview with Robert Harley (Vol.13 No.9), he remarked that "there's no reason why a two-way 6" loudspeaker can't be the equal of almost the best speaker out there from a certain frequency point upward, with the possible exception of dynamic range." When I read those words, they rang true. If you put to one side the need to reproduce low bass frequencies and can accept less-than-live playback levels, a small speaker can be as good as the best, and allow its owner to enjoy the benefits of its size&mdash;visual appeal, ease of placement in the room, and the often excellent imaging afforded by the use of a small front baffle.

I sat at the bar and ordered a Brooklyn Winter.

I loved the way the band worked together&#151how each member lifted every other, and how each member excelled during solos&#151but I was most impressed by the locked-in rhythm section, and especially Pedro Martinez on congas. His hands turned into light, racing across the conga heads, speeding away from everything else&#151the stage, the room, the cold night&#151while remaining right on time.