LATEST ADDITIONS

With 25 years of experience in sound recording, audio retailing, and loudspeaker design and manufacturing, Ken Kreisel has insightful things to say about just about any audio-related subject. The president of Miller & Kreisel Sound Corp. (M&K), Kreisel pioneered the satellite/subwoofer speaker concept that laid the groundwork for the home theaters of today. M&K's most recent offering&mdash;the S-150THX surround speaker system&mdash;is reviewed in this issue (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/137/">archived article</A>).

In the summer of 1996, <I>SGHT</I> editor Lawrence Ullman made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "Wes," he asked, "how would you like to review M&K's new THX speaker package?"

There has been much argument in audiophile circles about whether an LP or a CD is a more faithful representation of a master tape. Although we recorded Robert Silverman's thrilling performance of the Liszt B-Minor Piano Sonata for <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/131/">CD release</A>, we also had in mind to issue an LP. As the source for both would be the same, the question we can answer is: Will an LP cut straight from a 20-bit master tape via a Class A 20-bit DAC sound closer than a CD noise-shaped to 16 bits from the same 20-bit original?

My name is Wes and I enjoy listening to music on headphones.

<B>THEATER OF VOICES: <I>The Age of Cathedrals</I></B><BR> Paul Elliott, Alan Bennet; Theater of Voices: Neal Rogers, Mark Daniel, Hugh Davies, Tom Hart, Boyd Jarrell; Paul Hillier, dir.<BR> Harmonia Mundi France HMC 907157 (CD only). Robina G. Young, prod.; Craig Silvey, eng. AAD? 1996. TT: 77:18<BR> Performance <B>******</B><BR> Sonics <B>*****</B>

<B><I>The justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men.</I>&mdash;Glenn Gould</B>