LATEST ADDITIONS

We are saddened to learn of the passing, on December 13, of audio writer Ann Turner. Ann, who was diagnosed earlier in the year as suffering from clear cell carcinoma, was a stalwart of high-end audio magazine <I>The Abso!ute Sound</I>---Editor Harry Pearson tells me he used to refer to her as "the Aquarian War God," a phrase she liked. She was also the inspiration and the driving force behind that publication's web site, <A HREF="http://www.theabsolutesound.com"><I>The Abso!ute Sound</I></A>.

Our question about <I>Stereophile</I>'s equipment reviews two weeks back generated hundreds of responses. Let's dig a little deeper: Other than equipment and music reviews, what do you find most useful or enjoyable in the magazine?

Time to yank out the old oxygen-free crystal interconnects and gaze into audio's future for 1999. Now that www.stereophile.com has a year under its online belt, we should be able to read the sonic omens with greater resolution, or at least confine our mistakes to minor stumbles. First, we'll see how our <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10067/">prognostications for 1998</A> panned out, and spin them a little to tune in 1999. We'll add reader predictions at the bottom. Got your own predictions? <A HREF="mailto:jiverson@stereophile.com">Send 'em in</A>!

Branding was once reserved for cowhide and breakfast cereals, but changes in the retailing landscape have fostered new approaches for everything from running shoes (Niketown) to cartoon-character merchandise (Disney and Warner Bros. stores) to clothes (Gap, etc.). In the audio market, Bose stores are now common sites in shopping malls, but few higher-ticket companies have taken the brand-store plunge.

What a year. <I>Stereophile</I>.com ran hundreds of stories in 1998, covering events big and small in the intersecting realms of business, publishing, technology, and music---with some irresistible oddities thrown in here and there as journalistic spice. It's overwhelming to look back over <I>Stereophile</I>'s first full year of online publishing and see exactly how much has happened. We've gone far, and sometimes wide, to bring you the news from an audiophile perspective.

We thought Audio Research's previous-model SP-2C (footnote 1) was excellent, but this is even better—the closest thing available, in fact, to the ideal straight wire with gain. Our sample had a minor glitch—there was a slight "plop" if you rotated the tone controls rapidly—but we could find nothing else about it to criticize. Currently, by far the best preamplifier than money can buy. And would you believe it uses tubes (at reduced heater voltage, for extended life and cooler operation)!

Danger! Fragile Ego Territory! Vote for your favorite <I>Stereofool</I>!