LATEST ADDITIONS

In a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10283/">story last week</A>, we covered the efforts of the <A HREF="http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America</A> (RIAA) to prevent portable MP3 players from entering the market without copy-protection measures in place. On August 16, a federal court entered a temporary restraining order (TRO) to enjoin the distribution and sale of <A HREF="http://www.diamondmm.com/">Diamond Multimedia</A>'s Rio PMP300 portable MP3 recording device.

E<B>ditor's Note:</B>&#160;<I>Lowther horn speakers and their "clubs" have been important to do-it-yourself hi-fi hobbyists in Europe for decades.&#160; A common question from readers in other parts of the world is "What are Lowther speakers, and where can I hear them?" We asked Mr. Doppenberg, of the Lowther Club of Holland, to give us a quick tour of the Lowther story.&#160; For more extensive information, check the links at the end of this piece.</I>

<B>ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE BARB&#200;S: <I>Orchestre National de Barb&#232;s</I></B><BR> Larbi Dida, vocals; Youcef Boukella, vocals, bass; Aziz Sahmaqui, vocals, percussion; Fateh Benlala, vocals, mandolin; Fathilla Ghoggal, Olivier Louvel, guitar; Alain Debiossat, soprano sax; Toufik Mimouni, Jean Baptiste Ferr, keyboards; Ahmed Bensidhoune, bendir, darbouka; Kamel Tenfiche, vocals, percussion; Karim Ziad, karkabous; Michel Petry, drums<BR> Tinder 42853192 (CD). 1998. Tajmaat, Djilali Aichioune, prods.; Luis Saldanha, Antoine Illouz, Delphine Presle, engs. AAD? TT: 78:33<BR> Performance <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>

When I compiled the votes HI-FI '98 attendees had cast for "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10239/">Best Sound at the Show</A>," the ultimate winner was the room and system assembled by Los Angeles retailer Christopher Hansen 2---the latest Evolution 2 version of the mighty Martin-Logan Statement electrostatic speaker system, driven by multiple VTL Wotan two-chassis tube monoblocks. Cabling was Cardas Neutral Reference, and the digital front end was by Wadia---a 270 CD transport and the new 27<I>i</I> digital decoding computer---with some tonal shaping courtesy of a Z-Systems Transparent Tone Control. Component stands were from pARTicular.

A dream I have had since I discovered the pleasures of music is to possess a time machine. Not a fancy one, just a small device that would allow me to escape modern music-making and drop in to hear what must have been some of the greatest musical experiences of all time. Classical music presents no problems: Off to 18th-century Leipzig on Sunday, of course, to hear J.S. Bach play the organ in church, after an early 19th-century Saturday evening spent in Vienna listening to Beethoven improvising at the pianoforte. During the week it would still be Vienna, but forward 80 years or so to hear Brahms premiere one of his chamber works after afternoon cocktails at the Wittgensteins', with perhaps a trip to England's Three Choirs Festival just before the Great War to hear the first performance of Elgar's <I>Dream of Gerontius</I>. And the time machine would have to have transatlantic range&mdash;I couldn't miss Mahler conducting the New York Philharmonic around the same time. But with jazz and rock&mdash;music that is reborn every time in performance to a greater extent than in classical&mdash;there is a bewildering choice of live events from which to choose.

A great audio system is nice, but there's nothing like the real thing to remind us of why we love music.

The development of digital AM-radio technology moved a step closer last month when the <A HREF="http://www.iis.fhg.de/index.html">Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen)</A> (IIS) signed a consortium agreement for the development of digital AM radio with several international radio broadcasters, network operators, and manufacturers.