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If you're a retailer harboring visions of including Klipsch Audio Technologies' products among the offerings in a deep-discount website, forget it. Likewise, reconsider if you've been tempted to buy Klipsch products at unbelievable prices from such a site. And if you're a Klipsch dealer with some overstock, don't take the bait if someone with a website offers you cash for a bulk deal, don't even think about it—because Klipsch is one company that takes the gray market seriously.

Pundits claim that home theater has taken over the consumer electronics market. We're curious to see what effect it has had on our readers. How would you describe yourself?

One reason I have never felt the need to invest in a high-end home-theater system is that it is all too easy for me to go 'round to Tom Norton's house. As well as contributing the amplifier measurements and the all-too-rare component review for <I>Stereophile</I>, Tom is technical editor of our companion book, <I>Stereophile Guide to Home Theater</I> (footnote 1). As you might expect, he has access to video equipment that the rest of us can only dream about.

Most of us have at least some taste for gear that <I>jumps out</I>&mdash;for audio components whose sonic and musical distinctions are easy to hear from the start. In audio, unlike in the art of music itself, there's nothing wrong with being obvious.

My last visit to Planet Halcro transformed my audio life. All but the newest readers will recall that the Australian <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/683">dm58 power amplifier was <I>Stereophile</I>'s <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/724/index2.html">Amplification Component of the Year</A> and overall <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/724/index8.html">Component of the Year</A> for 2002. To this day, I have yet to hear any amplifier that equals the dm58's combination of complete neutrality, harmonic generosity, lightning reflexes, and a sense of boundless power that is difficult to describe. Though some others have come close, the dm58 shines as a singular beacon of excellence among power amplifiers.

Once upon a time, business competitors relied on the quality of their products and services to hang onto their shares of the market. That's the myth, at least. Increasingly, it seems they rely on regulatory and judicial intervention to stay afloat.

The iPod is making sweet music for Apple Computer, Inc.