At stereophile.com, John Atkinson, Jon Iverson, and I troll the Internet constantly looking for audio-related news, so on November 21,when I spotted an article by <A HREF="http://news.com.com/iTunes+outsells+traditional+music+stores/2100-1027_… Borland</A> about iTunes outselling traditional retail record outlets like Tower and Borders, I passed it on to the other two without even thinking about it.
It's been 10 years since Balanced Audio Technology (BAT) introduced their first products: the VK-5 line-stage preamplifier and the VK-60 power amplifier. (I <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/766">reviewed both</A> in the December 1995 <I>Stereophile</I>, Vol.18 No.12.) The success of these and other BAT products has allowed designer <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/767">Victor Khomenko</A> (the "VK" of the model designations) and partner Steve Bednarski to quit their day jobs at Hewlett-Packard; they were joined by Geoff Poor as a partner to handle the sales end of the enterprise. BAT's current lineup includes several preamps, phono stages, a CD player, and tube as well as solid-state amplifiers. The top of BAT's preamp range is the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/1103bat">VK-51SE</A>, which costs $9000; their top tube power amp is the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/536">VK-150SE monoblock</A> ($17,000/pair); if you want their best phono stage, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/phonopreamps/871">VK-P10</A> will set you back $8000.
Home theater has dramatically influenced the design of aftermarket subwoofers. Multichannel processors automatically provide a properly filtered low-frequency signal to drive a subwoofer, relieving the need for the sub to be shipped with a passive crossover network or an active electronic crossover. When Genelec offered one of their subwoofers for review, I decided it was important to try to evaluate such a product, even if it meant I'd have to scramble around to find a quality external electronic crossover.
<I>"It's rather warm in here."<BR>—violinist Mischa Elman, at Jascha Heifetz's Carnegie Hall debut</I>
In the past few installments of this column I've promised to talk about another subwoofer equalizer system. Now I'm going to pull the old switcheroo and discuss a different subwoofer EQ. The SMS-1 is a new, standalone digital equalizer system from Velodyne, based on the EQ built into their DD-series subwoofers. Larry Greenhill went <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/subwoofers/604velodyne">gaga</A> over the Velodyne DD-18 in the June 2004 <I>Stereophile</I>, particularly because of the ease and sophistication of the EQ system. Apparently, one of the Velodyne sales guys asked the obvious: What about making the EQ available separately for use with other subwoofers?
"You know I <I>hate</I> it when the system's not warmed up!"
Bagheera digs retro-fi.
The Justified Ancients of Mumu tell you how to be on top of the charts.
Ever wonder what the heck that meant? Wonder no more.
Phi is sexy.