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Accidents and disasters have no sense of good timing, and when they strike have a way of fouling even the most promising love affairs. Case in point: loudspeaker manufacturer Von">http://www.vonschweikert.com/">Von Schweikert Research and the small town of Watertown (pop. 30,000) in northern New York, about three hours' drive from Toronto.

Last week, in Book">http://www.stereophile.com//reference/101/">Book Review: High Fidelity Audio/Video Systems: A Critical Guide for Owners, we ran Corey Greenberg's scathing review of an audio book that misses the mark by a wide margin. This week, in Book">http://www.stereophile.com//reference/102/">Book Review: The Complete Guide to High-End Audio, we examine a book written by erstwhile Stereophile consulting technical editor Robert Harley. He does not emerge unscathed!

Last week, the Recording">http://www.riaa.com">Recording Industry Association of America released its annual demographic survey of 3051 music purchasers in the United States. "Several interesting profiles emerged in 1998, including the boom in R&B and Gospel, as well as the sharp decline in Rock sales," said Hilary Rosen, RIAA president and CEO. "Demographic shifts also continued, with women outbuying men for the second year, and a drop in purchases among 15-to-29-year-olds, contrasted by significant growth among those age 35 and older." Last month, the RIAA released its annual year-end shipments statistics, which revealed the size of the domestic sound-recording industry in 1998 to be $13.7 billion.

Myles Astor, publisher of Ultimate">http://www.ultimateaudio.com/">Ultimate Audio, recently announced that former Stereophile contributing editor Jack English has joined his publication as a senior editor.