Pronouns Aid Brain Function
Self would have never guessed that.
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What audio format did you spend the most money on in the last few months? Why?
CD sales are clearly in a slump, SACD and DVD-A are down for the count, a few downloads are just starting to sound decent (Linn for example), and the LP keeps chugging along. What audio format did you spend the most money on in the last few months? Why?
The Fifth Element #43
My "Musical Cultural Literacy for Americans" write-in competition seems to have been a smashing success. I received 65 entries, and only a very few missed the mark. A few more were obvious, so-so, or lacking in passion. Many were good. But a score or more were of enviably high quality. Choosing the top 12 was tough. At the end, who won a prize and who did not was entirely my own subjective decision. The winning entries are posted in full on <I>Stereophile</I>'s website as an <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/407fifth/index3.html">append…; to my <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/407fifth">April column</A>. Here are the points I made online in announcing the results:
Woodside SC26 preamplifier
I had been sent a sample of the Woodside SC26 tube preamplifier during my June 1994 review of Woodside's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/694wood">MA50 monoblock amplifier</A> (Vol.17 No.6). Although I used a number of preamplifiers during that review, I was most impressed with the MA50s' spacious, three-dimensional soundstage when driven by the SC26. At the time, I had an impression that the SC26's sonics combined a midrange richness with a good dynamic range. Although I had to return the Woodside MA50s to the importer after I reviewed them, I continued listening to the SC26.
Woodside MA50 Renaissance monoblock power amplifier
Brian Tucker, the US Quad importer, introduced me to the Woodside MA50 tube amplifiers and their manufacturer, John Widgery, during the 1992 Summer CES. Tucker's combination of Woodside MA50 tube amplifiers and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/416">Quad ESL-63 USA Monitor</A>s sounded unusually neutral, dynamic, and detailed. This was good news; back in 1987, Dick Olsher (Vol.10 No.6, pp.104–5) was unable to recommend an earlier Woodside-manufactured amplifier, the Radford STA 25 Renaissance. Brian mentioned that the MA50's design is a much-improved version of that earlier Radford model. Time for another review.
Mark Levinson No.23.5 power amplifier
<I>"A high-quality amplifier must be capable of passing rigid laboratory measurements, meet all listening requirements, and be simple and straightforward in design in the interest of minimizing performance degradation..."</I>—Cdr. Charles W. Harrison Jr., <I>Audio</I>, January 1956 (footnote 1)
Return of the Son of Web Radio
Digital Music Association (DiMA) and Sound Exchange (SX) announced on August 23 that they had reached an agreement to "cap the Internet radio '$500 per channel minimum royalty' at $50,000 per service, signaling the start of productive negotiations and bringing resolutions to three important music industry issues," according to DiMA's press release.
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Tweeter Twists in the Wind
It has been a fraught week for Tweeter Newco LLC, the A/V specialty chain acquired by Shultze Asset Management in July. On August 17, the company trimmed its corporate staff by "half," approximately 80 staffers at the home office in Canton, MA. It was the second corporate re-structuring since January, when 20% of the corporate staff was laid off.
Microphone Placement Tip
<I>Hint to recording engineers:</I> Anna Netrebko gives it to you in the second sentence of graf 8.
Modern Art
"I'm an abstract expression," Huckleberry boasts. "Bold, vivid, active—wait, what was that middle thing again?"
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