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Several writers take turns with the Apogee">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/848/">Apogee Duetta II loudspeaker, beginning with Alvin Gold in 1986. Anthony H. Cordesman exclaims, "The Duetta II breaks so much new ground, and is so obviously a superb speaker system, that it simply would not be fair to you readers to put off reporting on this speaker until the next issue."

San Francisco, CA—May 2003—The Home Entertainment 2003 Show and Primedia are giving away a full home theater system valued at $15,000!

Sirius">http://www.siriusradio.com">Sirius Satellite Radio may be positioned to make the next great leap forward. In mid-May, Kenwoodhttp://www.kenwoodusa.com">Kenwood; and Audiovoxhttp://www.audiovox.com">Audiovox; announced the first transportable receivers, which will let Sirius listeners enjoy the service wherever they go—home, office, boat, beach, etc—not only in the comfort of their cars.

Robert Deutsch warms up the Audiopax">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/843/">Audiopax Model Eighty Eight monoblock power amplifier to hear what famed Brazilian designer Eduardo de Lima has to offer. Deutsch notes, "The Audiopax Model Eighty Eight represents the latest refinement of de Lima's thinking about power amplifiers."

Napster may rise from the dead and live again, this time as a commercial venture.

The Home Entertainment Show highlights the best of the best in home entertainment. With over 250 exhibitors, 80 demonstration rooms, an exciting live music program, and in-depth seminars, it is the largest and most comprehensive event of its kind! Learn the latest about HDTV, SACD, DVD-Audio, DVD, surround sound, two-channel audio, and more. http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com/exhiblist.html" TARGET=NEW>Click here for a list of exhibitors.

Retail sales of recorded music in the United Kingdom sagged by an unprecedented 13% in the first three months of 2003, according to figures released May 14 by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). British music fans spent £216 million ($351 million) in the first quarter of this year, compared to £249 million ($404.6 million) in the same period a year ago. In unit sales, albums in the UK declined only 4.8% to 44 million, but prices dropped 9.4%. UK album sales totaled £200 million ($324.9 million); singles were off 42%, accounting for only £16.2 million ($26.3 million).

The June issue of Stereophile, which hits newsstands this week, spills some ink on the 30th-anniversary reissue of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as a two-layer Super Audio CD (Capitol CDP 582136 2). Jon Iverson nominated the disc as June's "Recording of the Month," while I mentioned it in my "As We See It" column. This "fully loaded" SACD includes both multichannel and two-channel mixes encoded with the DSD system on a high-rez SACD layer and a two-channel "Red Book" transfer (16-bit word length, 44.1kHz sampling) on its CD layer.

Audiophiles will get a rare opportunity to discover the similarities and differences between SACD reproduction and the real thing at this year's Home">http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">Home Entertainment 2003 show in San Francisco. Diversity">http://www.diversityrecords.net">Diversity Records, Ltd. has announced it will record two performances by its artists at HE2003 on June 7 (1–4:30pm).

Satellite radio services appear to be gaining sufficient market momentum to get them over the startup hump.