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News recently coming out of Cambridge, England promises yet another new revolutionary loudspeaker technology following in the footsteps of <A HREF="http://www.nxt.co.uk/">NXT</A>'s flat-panel speakers and <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com/">ATC</A>'s <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com/HTML/whitepaper.html">HyperSonic Sound</A> and <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com/RELEASES/pr020998.html">Stratified Field Technology</A>. Engineering consultant Tony Hooley heads up a team of researchers who have created what they hope will be a breakthrough in small, lightweight, highly accurate-sounding arrays of digitally driven pressure transducers.

The Silverdale by the Bay Resort Hotel in Silverdale, WA, will be the site of the second annual Vacuum State of the Art Conference, scheduled for August 21-24. The conference will feature new and vintage equipment, tube electronics seminars, a used-gear swap meet, and demonstrations of audio creations by both amateur and professional designers.

<B>DAVE ALVIN: <I>Blackjack David</I></B><BR> Hightone HCD 8091 (CD). 1998. Greg Leisz, prod.; Paul duGre, Dave Ahlert, engs. ADD? TT: 50:24<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>

Frequently a hot topic in the hallowed pages of <I>Stereophile</I>, DVD-Audio will be among the agenda items at the third US DVD Conference on October 1-2, 1998, in San Francisco. Presented by the <A HREF="http://www.dvdforum.org/">DVD Forum</A>, the international association working to develop universal DVD formats, the event will take place at the Grand Peninsula Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency SF Airport.

The intentional deafening of monkeys by researchers at the <A HREF="http://www.ucsf.edu/">University of California, San Francisco</A> has provoked a strongly worded protest by Paul McCartney. In a letter dated July 6, McCartney complained to UCSF Chancellor Michael Bishop that "there can be no excuse for inflicting such misery" on animals used in such experiments. The letter was the latest salvo fired in a controversy going back to early February.

It is often claimed that high-end audio is a rich person's pursuit, while others feel that prices are secondary to careful selection and the right attitude.

The process becomes the product: in an announcement tinged with shades of <A HREF="http://www.spinaltap.com/"><I>This Is Spinal Tap</I></A>, the band LIVE says it will be recording its next album under the scrutiny of a live internet camera. The webcast, which began July 17, is available on LIVE's <A HREF="http://www.friendsoflive.com">website</A&gt; 24 hours a day, offering fans and the simply curious an "unblinking" glimpse of the creation of their new album, from "start to finish."