LATEST ADDITIONS

Silicon Valley, Jan. 28---John Sunier, host of the nationally syndicated radio program <A HREF="http://www.btown.com/audio.html"><I>Audiophile Audition</I></A>, and I were here last night at Cogswell College for an Audio Engineering Society-hosted lecture and demonstration by <A HREF="http://www.medianix.com">MedianiX</A&gt;. The Mountain View-based semiconductor company has pioneered a "virtual multi-axis" ("VMAx") surround-sound technology using only one pair of closely spaced loudspeakers.

Conventional wisdom has always held that a pair of speakers can make the biggest difference in how a system sounds. But these days other components may be equally or more important, depending on the situation.

In a covert sting operation launched by <I>Stereofool</I>'s competitor, <I>Big iF</I> magazine, 24-bit/96kHz tapes have just surfaced revealing a conversation <I>Stereofool</I> editor Acker Johnson (AJ) had with a local dealer in used audio equipment.

The dirty little secret about consumer CD recorders has recently been getting out: In order to record on one of the new "inexpensive" consumer CD machines from such manufacturers as Pioneer or Philips, you have to purchase special "consumer audio" CD-Rs that can cost three to four times as much as the same CD-R formatted for use with a professional or computer-based CD recorder.

It's not easy being an audiophile. Once you finally get that perfect (or near-perfect) pair of speakers, you've got to find a good location for them in your room, along with your other furniture. Did you build your room around your stereo, or do you prefer your stereo to fit into your mixed-use room?

It gets tougher every year to cover a show like the CES. Dropping in on most of the high-end audio rooms at the Alexis Park isn't so bad---the hard part is getting to all the various splinter exhibits scattered around Las Vegas within the allotted four days.

This is a somewhat different twist on other "Recommended Recordings" lists you may have read. Rather than a selection of all-time (or year's) best recorded performances---which are common enough---or a list of audiophile reference recordings---common enough in the audiophile press, at any rate, and a good thing, too---this is a list of stereo recordings that are both musically <I>and</I> sonically impeccable---in other words, the best, the tops, to die for---each item briefly described in a hundred or so words (except for JA, LA, and JGH, whose couplets runneth over).