LATEST ADDITIONS

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Two music-industry giants---<A HREF="http://www.bmg.com/">Bertelsmann Music Group</A> and Seagram Ltd.'s <A HREF="http://www.unistudios.com/">Universal Music</A>---have agreed to pool their resources in a joint Internet venture. <A HREF="http://www.getmusic.com/">GetMusic</A&gt;, as the website will be known, will sell compact discs in direct competition against traditional retailers, other Internet music services, and mail-order music clubs.

As first reported April 8 in <A HREF="http://www.eetimes.com"><I>EETimes</I></A&gt;, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A&gt; has made known its plans for the first generation of Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) players, to be released in Japan this May. For the last several months, Sony has been suggesting that the SACD format would be going head to head with the competing DVD-Audio format, despite overtures from the DVD-Audio Working Group to join in a single all-encompassing specification.

A surreal event took place at the 1991 Audio Engineering Society Convention when loudspeaker cables were put on the witness stand. Robert Harley details the amazing event as it unfolded, along with many unexpected twists and turns, in "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/107/">Audio McCarthyism</A>."

S<I>tereophile</I> magazine is pleased to announce that senior contributing editor Jonathan Scull has joined its full-time staff as senior editor. As of April 19, 1999, he will be based at parent company Emap Petersen's office on lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan's Flatiron district.

Nagra's VPA amplification system consists of two slim, handsome monoblock amplifiers intended for vertical placement. They look good adjacent to the speakers. However, two 845 tubes put out a <I>lot</I> of heat, so the amplifier should be at least a foot away from your speakers...unless you're <I>looking</I> for a nice crackle finish.

We got a record number of responses last week when we asked readers to share their loudspeaker preferences. Now tell us what <I>drives</I> those speakers.

Advances in audio reproduction typically proceed with tiny steps that, in time, add up to major systemic improvements. In this industry, quantum leaps in basic technology rarely happen. DiAural Doppler decoding may be one of them.