News

Flat frequency reponse in an audio component is good, right? Well, maybe not always, explains J. Gordon Holt in Down With Flat! JGH: "Many times in past years I have been impressed by the incredible flatness of the measured high-end response of some speakers. . . . In every such case, I have been equally amazed at how positively awful those loudspeakers sounded—so tipped-up at the high end that I could not enjoy listening to them."

Next up is Michael Fremer's review, from June 1999, of the Sonus Faber Amati Homage loudspeaker. Fremer claims that this design is Sonus Faber designer Franco Serblin's moment of truth: "The finished product is simply one of the most stunning-looking large loudspeakers ever built by anyone. Upright caskets, refrigerators on spikes, Robbie the Robot—all those big speakers look silly next to the Amati," says Fremer. But how does it sound? Fremer reveals all.

And finally, another review from the pages of Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, this time of the Pioneer Elite DV-09 DVD player. Tom Norton writes: "The instant you take it out of the box, you know that the DV-09 is no ordinary player." Did he like the machine? "The less expensive players simply aren't as good as this one, and there's nothing better—in some respects, nothing as good—for even a great deal more money."