LATEST ADDITIONS

Within a few years of entering the US market, Australian audio manufacturer Bruce Halcro Candy cemented his place in audio history by designing a amplifier that Paul Bolin said (<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/683">in the October 2002 <I>Stereophile</I></A>) "could well justify the creation of a 'Class A+' amplifier category in 'Recommended Components'," and the low distortion characteristics of which prompted editor John Atkinson, a man who has elevated the craft of understatement to a high art, to reach for the word <I>astonishing</I>. That was the Halcro dm58 monoblock ($29,990/pair), which has only recently been superseded by the Halcro dm78.

There are components that stick in a reviewer's memory long after they have been crated up and entrusted to the tender mercies of UPS. When I reviewed the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/305dcs">Verona Master Clock</A> from English company dCS in March 2005, the sound it allowed the combination of a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/814">dCS Verdi</A> transport, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/454">Purcell</A&gt; upsampler, and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/259">Elgar Plus</A> D/A processor to achieve from SACD was the best I had heard from my system&mdash;better, even, than I remember getting from the EMM Labs SACD transport and processor I had borrowed for a weekend a few months earlier. But at what price? The stack of four dCS components adds up to a cool $45k&mdash;"Yes, the complete dCS system is hip," I wrote in the conclusion to my review. "But $45k's worth of hip? That's a question <I>I</I> can't answer, I'm afraid, what with school fees and mortgages and taxes." The megabux dCS stack thus had to go back to the distributor at the end of the review period.

Getting a name check from the mainstream press can be a good thing. But as Wes Phillips wrote in his <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/wesphillips">blog</A&gt; on February 5, "to paraphrase Mason Williams on winning an Emmy Award, 'It's like being kissed by a girl with bad breath&mdash;you appreciate the honor, but...'"

Michael Fremer has a problem.

Always remember, cookies are a sometimes food.

Maybe Bill Swanson was the first CEO to use the "How You Treat Your Waitron" metric, but I learned it from a date about 20 years ago in Oregon. It <I>is</I> a good rule of thumb, however. Also, note Swanson's other "Unwritten" rules on the left&mdash;it's a good list.

Searchable lyric base of RT's recordings. Hours of mindless fun.