LATEST ADDITIONS

I never "got" the spurs with which Jimmie Lee Robinson provided a percussive accompaniment to his singing and guitar playing, but I became a fan of Jimmie Lee's when I saw him perform on two successive nights at <A HREF="http://www.acousticsounds.com">Acoustic Sounds</A>' first blues festival in Salina, Kansas in September 1998. His subsequent live appearances at Consumer Electronics Shows and at HI-FI '99, Home Entertainment 2001, and HE2002 on behalf of Acoustic Sounds' associated <A HREF="http://www.analogueproductions.com">APO label</A>, were highlights of those events. (I took the accompanying photo at Jimmie Lee's May 31 <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">HE2002</A&gt; gig in New York with harmonica player Wild Child Butler.)

With this review I conclude an audiophile's progression through the price/performance ratios of three very musical solid-state integrated amplifiers: the NAD C370 ($699, reviewed in January 2002), the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/516/">Arcam DiVA A85</A> ($1499, February 2002), and now the Simaudio Moon i-5 ($2595). In the process I was fascinated to hear how each amp recommended itself to its targeted price point. Likewise, it was most instructive to hear how they spread their compromises around. With a rough doubling of suggested retail price from the NAD to the Arcam, there was a degree of sonic refinement introduced. However, the leap in improved sound from the Arcam to the Simaudio was more significant. And in quantifying the benefits another $1000 worth of enhancements can confer, I discovered what constitute real high-end bona fides.

<B>THE BAND: <I>The Last Waltz</I></B><BR> Warner Bros./Rhino Entertainment R2 78278 (4 CDs). 1978/2002. Robbie Robertson, prod.; Rob Fraboni, John Simon, co-prods.; Larry Samuels, exec. prod.; Terry Becker, Tim Kramer, Elliot Mazer, Wayne Neuendorf, Ed Anderson, Neil Brody, engs. AAD? TT: 4:10:16<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>****?</B>

Of the small number of times I have been totally swept away by listening to recorded music, a significant proportion have involved loudspeakers from Wilson Audio Specialties. It was my experience of their X-1/Grand SLAMM in the listening rooms of reviewer Martin Colloms, then-retailer Peter McGrath, designer Dan D'Agostino of Krell, and manufacturer Madrigal Audio Labs, that led me to name it my "Editor's Choice" for 1995 and join my vote with those of the <I>Stereophile</I> scribes to make it the magazine's "Loudspeaker of the Year." I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/470/">my December 2001 "As We See It"</A> about how a cross-country road trip had begun with a listen to the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/465/">Cantus CD</A> on the Wilson WAMMs in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/478/">their designer's</A> Utah listening room. And, as I wrote in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/557/">my April column</A>, auditioning Peter McGrath's 24-bit <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/461/">Nagra-D</A&gt; master tapes on Wilson MAXXes in the Halcro room was, for me, the highlight of the 2002 CES.

Although I was trying to earn a living playing in rock bands in the early 1970s, I occasionally used to drag my Fender bass over to a school canteen in the next town for an after-hours session with what used to be called a "rehearsal band." (I have no idea what the derivation of that name is, except that, with the exception of a couple of veterans of the Ted Heath Orchestra, we were certainly in need of all the rehearsal we could get.) I would set up my Marshall stack the other side of the drummer from the pianist and sit behind a set of trumpet players, a brace of trombonists, and a scrum of players of the common saxophone flavors&mdash;a couple of altos, three or four tenors, and a baritone wielded by a gentleman with the magnificent moniker of Albert Bags. We played Glenn Miller and Woody Herman charts, and, on one memorable night, a Stan Kenton arrangement. Our technical chops didn't match our musical ambitions, but the feeling that welled up inside us when we all reached the final measure at the same time couldn't be beat.

Roger A. Modjeski's RAM Labs and Music Reference electronics now have a home on the Internet.

The music industry is reportedly preparing to open a new front in its war on piracy.