LATEST ADDITIONS

First up, from the November, 2000 issue, is the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/291/">Hovland HP-100 preamplifier</A>. Michael Fremer writes, "While the HP-100 is Hovland's first publicly traded audio component, it is . . . the fulfillment of what's been Robert Hovland's goal all along: to bring such a product to market. Or so I was told. It's just taken 'some time to get it all right.' Given the company's history of more than 20 years, that sounds like an understatement." Fremer offers his sonic assessment.

A new era in radio will begin on November 30, when a rocket lifts off from the <A HREF="http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/baikonur_cosmodrome_000710.html… Cosmodrome</A> in Kazakhstan carrying a commercial digital radio transponder to a geosynchronous orbit over North America. The satellite, which belongs to <A HREF="http://www.siriusradio.com/detect_flash/index_flash.htm">Sirius Satellite Radio</A>, will eventually beam as many as 100 stations providing "CD-quality" sound to listeners throughout the continent.

In what may be the precursor to a deluge of lawsuits against electronics manufacturers, computer giant <A HREF="http://www.hp.com/">Hewlett-Packard</A&gt; has agreed to pay fees to German music licensing organization <A HREF="http://www.gema.de/eng/index.html">GEMA</A&gt; for revenue supposedly lost to piracy. Hewlett-Packard was targeted by GEMA last May, because the Palo Alto, Calfornia-based company's CD burners dominate the German market, and was originally asked to pay 30 marks ($12.90) for each unit sold in Germany since February, 1998.

There's a whorish aspect to reviewing that some readers and industry critics never tire of mentioning, as if they've stumbled onto some great revelation: that we writers seem to flit from new product to new product, sometimes gushing like cracked fire hydrants over one amplifier one month, only to gush over another amp the following month.

If you search for "DVD-A" on this <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com">website</A&gt;, you can get the whole confusing story of the format, which has been the subject of one of the strangest format launches of recent years: First it's on, then it's off. The watermark is audible. No, it's not. Oops, it <I>is</I>&mdash;back to square one. There's software, there's no software. (There's <I>not</I>&mdash;only one demo disc officially available in September 2000, when I wrote this review!)

New music, or a fresh interpretation of an old classic, is what keeps a music lover's life interesting. What three releases have been in heavy rotation for you recently?

Describing the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/288/">Audio Research Reference Two preamplifier</A>, Michael Fremer writes "Audio Research's first 21st-century, audiophile-quality line-stage preamplifier combines retro-tech vacuum-tube amplification and power-supply circuitry with innovative, remote-controlled gain, balance, tape monitoring, and signal routing. The price is also 21st-century: $9995." Worth every penny? Fremer offers his assessment.