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A comprehensive set of reviews awaits those interested in learning everything there is to know about the legendary Quad">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/416/">Quad ESL-63 loudspeaker. Writers checking in with analysis, background, and opinion include J. Gordon Holt, Anthony H. Cordesman, Sam Tellig, Martin Colloms, Larry Greenhill, and John Atkinson.

The official launch of XM">www.xmradio.com">XM Satellite Radio was set for September 12. But within hours of the September 11 attack on New York and the Pentagon, XM announced that it would be postponing its debut, which was slated to take place in Washington DC at its headquarters and broadcast studio complex.

The terrorist attack of September 11 will likely worsen an already dark period for American retailers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by more than 14% in the week after the attack, the largest slide since the week of July 21, 1933. In the present circumstances, Americans are generally reticent to spend money, according to many reports, a situation that will affect manufacturers and retailers for months or years to come.

Record producer and Stereophile contributor mailto:jmrcds@jmrcds.com"> John Marks has informed us that classical violinist Arturo Delmoni has agreed to throw his considerable talent behind the Audio">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11141/">Audio Charity Auction, organized in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed more than 6000 people.

Music lovers worldwide are mourning the passing of violinist Isaac Stern, who died of heart failure in a New York hospital Saturday, September 22. Stern was 81.

As a result of the terrorist attacks last week, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) has decided to postpone its AES 111th Convention until November 30. The annual audio event, which was to have been held this week in Manhattan at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, will now be held Friday, November 30–Monday, December 3, 2001. The AES says that the convention will use the same exhibit, demo, and conference space as would have been used next week.

The number of two-channel Super Audio Compact Discs seems to grow by the week. There are now several hundred titles to choose from—and hundreds on the way, with the recent endorsement of the format by major record labels. Even so, there are still very few SACDs that exploit the multichannel capabilities of Direct Stream Digital.