LATEST ADDITIONS

Like the Reference Studio/60, which was <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/1204paradigm">enthusiasti… reviewed</A> in the December 2004 issue by Kalman Rubinson, Paradigm's floorstanding Reference Studio/100 is now available in a v.3 version. The '100 is the flagship model in the Canadian manufacturer's Reference line. Its earlier incarnations, the original Studio/100 and the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/252/">Studio/100 v.2</A>, were reviewed by Tom Norton and Robert Deutsch in the August 1997 and June 2000 issues of <I>Stereophile</I>, respectively, and both writers were well impressed at how much sound quality could be wrought from this competitively priced speaker design. Bob Deutsch, in particular, referred to the v.2 as a "a serious high-end contender, and a formidable one for just about any speaker in its price range and even well above."

Experienced reviewers know that shows are the wrong environments for critical audiophile listening. Convention centers&mdash;especially the one at Las Vegas&mdash;are huge, cavernous airplane hangers, not the intimate listening rooms reviewers thrive in. Extraneous sounds from subwoofer blasts and the constantly milling crowds leak in to sully the music. Booths set up by manufacturers on the show floor have very thin, flexible walls, and no bass treatment.

It's a common audiophile failing to remember the past as being much better than it actually was. (Though, of course, some things <I>were</I> better.) I remember the first time I heard a pair of Acoustic Research LST loudspeakers, in 1974 or thereabouts. Compared with the Wharfedales I used in my own system and the various Goodmans, Celestions, and home-brews I heard at friends' homes, the sound of classical orchestral recordings on the ARs was about as close to the real thing as I could imagine. And the AR ads reinforced my experience, telling me that musicians such as Herbert von Karajan also used LSTs. I never heard those speakers again, but occasionally I wonder how they would hold up today (footnote 1).

Xd on its way: <A HREF="http://www.nht-hifi.com">NHT</A&gt; has begun shipping its Xd DEQX Calibrated DSP speaker systems to dealers, according to an announcement made January 24 by parent company the Rockford Home Group. A high-tech twist on the old satellite-and-subwoofer scheme, the Xd consists of a pair of two-way acoustic satellite speakers; an XdW bass module with two opposing 10" drivers powered by an internal PowerPhysics 500W amplifier; and an XdA outboard processor/amplifier that includes a DEQX-calibrated DSP engine and four PowerPhysics One-Cycle Sound amps.

The record industry's favorite nonconformist, DualDisc, is getting a modest boost in February and March. Despite hand-wringing and compatibility warnings from scores of manufacturers, all of the major record labels say they plan to release some of the two-faced discs in coming weeks.

<I>What has happened will happen again, and what has been done will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun.</I>&mdash;Ecclesiastes 1:9

First Watt isn't a real company, and the F1 power amplifier isn't a real product. Consequently, this isn't a real review.