LATEST ADDITIONS

Last June, Sennheiser, a multinational manufacturer of microphones, headphones, and wireless technology products, celebrated its 60th anniversary. The company was founded as Wennebostel Laboratories (Labor W) in 1945 by Dr. Fritz Sennheiser and seven other employees of the Institute for Radio Frequency Engineering and Electroacoustics at Hanover Technical University. At the time, as Dr. Sennheiser explained when I visited the company's Wennebostel facility 10 years ago, German radio engineers were prohibited by the occupying Allied forces from constructing communications equipment, so he and his crew needed to find something else they could do. In addition, supply shortages severely restricted the scope of what they might manufacture. Sennheiser determined that they could build test instruments such as millivolt meters from the parts they were able to recover from the Institute and the Allies. Seimens' Hanover branch bought the first samples and the startup company began to supply that firm with more and more complex products.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) maintains a <A HREF="http://www.eff.org">website</A&gt; that we have found invaluable for keeping up with news about technological restrictions to information and fair use. Last week, we were directed to the EFF's new <A HREF="http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/guide/">User's Guide to DRM in Online Music</A>, which we recommend to everyone still undecided about buying into one of the online providers.

<I>Stereophile</I>'s Jon Iverson maintains that blind audio tests can only provide judgment on the listening acuity of those taking the test; not the relative merits of the equipment used in the process. But the subject is still a hot topic in our forums. What do you think?

I have a theory about "showing off" systems. I call it <I>Zen and the Art of Keeping Your Yap Shut</I>. Think about it: what's the first thing that pops into your head when someone tells you how great their system sounds? "Yeah, <I>right!</I>"

Most Stereophile readers are aware by now of why the full-range electrostatic should, in theory, be the ideal transducer. (If you aren't aware, see the accompanying sidebar.) Acoustat was the first manufacturer to design a full-range electrostatic that was so indestructible it came with a lifetime warranty. (MartinLogan is now offering a three-year warranty on their speakers, and is considering going to a lifetime warranty). But Acoustat was never able to solve another problem that has plagued all flat-panel speakers: treble beaming.

Primedia's Home Technology Group has announced that the Home Entertainment Show 2006 will take place at the Sheraton Gateway Hilton in Los Angeles, CA on June 1-4, 2006. Previous successful events were held in Los Angeles in 1992, 1995, and 1998.

Krell, MartinLogan, Class