Why the Hell Not?
Texas' political scene is clearly crazy—which is just one more reason why Kinky Friedman might make the perfect Texas governor. The state has clearly elected clowns before, why not try a pro?
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Semper Dowland; Semper Sting
Sting's recording of Dowland lute songs has certainly generated a lot of hooey—ranging from accusations of Sting making commercial move (yeah, recording a disc of lute songs is <I>sooo</I> calculated to run up the charts) to complaints about Sting's "inauthentic" performance.
Björk 'er, Danno
My gosh, Björk's new video is just lovely. How many levels of recursion can you spot?
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If you had to choose, which do you prefer: delayed Show coverage in the print magazine or live website Show coverage?
Until 2006, <I>Stereophile</I> covered audio Shows in the print magazine, usually between three and five months after the event. In 2006, its Show coverage was published almost entirely on this website, live during the Shows. (See, for example, our <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2006/">report from this weekend's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.</A>) Do you appreciate this change in policy and if you had to choose, which do you prefer: delayed coverage in the print magazine or live website coverage?
Amplifier Enlightenment
As mentioned in the <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2006/102006welcome/">introductory post</A> to this blog, Peter "PJay" Smith (above), Bob Cordell, and Darren Kuzma presented gratis "Amplifier and Loudspeaker Listening and Measurement" clinics throughout the show. One of the clinics, which I was unable to attend, interpreted amplifier measurement data supplied by <I>Stereophile</I>'s John Atkinson.
New Sutherlands
My <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2006/102206acoustic/">photo of the system</A> in the Acoustic Sounds room featured the Manley Labs Snapper monoblock amplifiers. This was the system front-end, comprising (from top to bottom): Funk Firm Vector Turntable with MK3 tonearm and Lyra Dorian phono cartridge; Sutherland Direct Line Stage; Sutherland's new battery-powered Ph3D phono preamp; and Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One 5.0 power transformer. Rack is the Symposium Acoustics Isis.
Sprays, Sprays, and More Sprays
Somewhere on the 5th floor, around the corner and through the woods on the way to Grandma’s house, I discovered a lovely woman distributing CD Clarity, a water-based, non-toxic spray said to clean, protect, and restore CDs and DVDs. ("Reduce background noise, improve tracking and enhance musical balance, while cleaning and protecting discs from future scratches," says the label). Developed by the late Dave Herren of Oregon, CD Clarity joins an assortment of highly touted treatments, some of which include products from Walker Audio, Jena Labs, Audiotop, Classic Records, and Optrix. Add to that batch Nordost’s Eco3 static inhibitor, which can be sprayed on the label side of CDs.
Nordost: Promise Fulfilled
I began my Sunday in the Nordost room on the Tower mezzanine. Familiar with the sound of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cables/1101nordost/">Nordost Valhalla</A> interconnects, speaker cables, and power cables in my reference system, as well as the benefits of the Nordost Thor power distribution center that I have for review in another publication (and will not be returning), I was wondering how they would sound powering completely different components.
Logitech Acquires Slim Devices
Logitech International, the Swiss computer'n'communications peripherals manufacturer, announced on October 19 that it had acquired Slim Devices, Inc., the home-network-music-systems pioneer that manufactures the <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/906slim/">Squeezebox</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/073106transporter/">Transporter</A>.
Twelve Inducted into Consumer Electronic Hall of Fame
On October 19, 2006, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) honored the latest 12 members of the CEA Hall of Fame at its awards dinner at the San Francisco CEA Industry Forum.