LATEST ADDITIONS

Here's another Stereophile milestone, our second one this year. In August, we celebrated the magazine's 500th issue. This month, we celebrate a number that's smaller but almost as round: our 30th Annual Product of the Year Awards.

Finding fresh approaches to doing business isn't easy, especially in the current climate. But now it's becoming essential. Audio manufacturers, distributors, and dealers must figure out how to attract new customers while continuing to provide service for existing customers. Neither thing is easily accomplished in an era of change. But failure isn't an option. People with something to sell must connect with customers, and vice versa. Access is key.

The Wilson Audio Specialties Alexx V ($135,000–$151,000/pair) is the biggest, heaviest, most expensive loudspeaker I've had in my listening room. It replaces the original Alexx in Wilson's lineup; Michael Fremer reviewed the earlier Alexx, bought it, and owned it until replacing it recently with the Wilson Chronosonic XVX.

J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Christopher Otto & JACK Quartet: rag'sma, R. Strauss: Alpine Symphony and Fairy Tales: Recital Music From Eastern Europe: Music by Prokofiev, Tubin, Körvits, Herdzin, Balsys, Tcherepnine, and Markovitch.

Johnathan Blake: Homeward Bound, Bill Charlap Trio: Street of Dreams, Renee Rosnes: Kinds of Love and Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth.

Two new reissues in Blue Note's Classic Vinyl series—Grant Green's Idle Moments and Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue—capture peaks of jazz guitar's possibilities at a juncture when modernism was primed for a shift to something else. Both albums were recorded in 1963; both sport "the Blue Note sound," which engineer Rudy Van Gelder had refined to its high point. But the two albums lay out very different musical paths.