The <A HREF="http://www.hovlandcompany.com">Hovland Company</A> is no more. Less than 10 full years after its incorporation, the manufacturer of highly coveted Hovland Musicap propylene-film and aluminum-foil capacitors and visually striking electronic components has dismissed its staff and closed the doors of its manufacturing facility and headquarters in Los Angeles.

The sky over Madison Avenue is a sliver of summer blue. Steam sighs and whirls up and out from the old street like a thin white curtain in the wind. A few things, quickly, then:

<I>I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems scary and weird. It'll happen to you.</I>&#151;Abraham Simpson

<I>I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems scary and weird. It'll happen to you.</I>&#151;Abraham Simpson

When I was a kid, I saw the Marlon Brando remake of <I>Mutiny on the Bounty</I>. I'm sure you know the story&#151;lots of bad-guy/good-guy tension between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian. There's also an overlay of class conflict, but with a twist: The up-and-comer is the sadist, while it's the aristocrat who is nature's nobleman.

When I was a kid, I saw the Marlon Brando remake of <I>Mutiny on the Bounty</I>. I'm sure you know the story&#151;lots of bad-guy/good-guy tension between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian. There's also an overlay of class conflict, but with a twist: The up-and-comer is the sadist, while it's the aristocrat who is nature's nobleman.

When I was a kid, I saw the Marlon Brando remake of <I>Mutiny on the Bounty</I>. I'm sure you know the story&#151;lots of bad-guy/good-guy tension between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian. There's also an overlay of class conflict, but with a twist: The up-and-comer is the sadist, while it's the aristocrat who is nature's nobleman.

Two years ago, I embarked on a series of reviews of mostly state-of-the-art, mostly full-range floorstanding speakers: the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1207sonus">Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa</A> (December 2007), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/208kef">KEF Reference 207/2</A> (February 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/408psb">PSB Synchrony One</A> (April 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/508mag">Magico V3</A> (May 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/708ava">Avalon NP Evolution 2.0</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/708ava/index1.html">Epos M16i</A> (July 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/808eso">Esoteric MG-20</A> (August 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/dynaudio_sapphire_loudspea… Sapphire</A> (January 2009), and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/608revel/index6.html">Revel Ultima Salon2</A> (March 2009). I had intended to intersperse those reports with coverage of some high-performance minispeakers, but for various reasons that never happened, so in the next few issues I'll be making up that lost ground, beginning with a promising contender from the UK, the Spendor SA1.

Two years ago, I embarked on a series of reviews of mostly state-of-the-art, mostly full-range floorstanding speakers: the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1207sonus">Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa</A> (December 2007), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/208kef">KEF Reference 207/2</A> (February 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/408psb">PSB Synchrony One</A> (April 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/508mag">Magico V3</A> (May 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/708ava">Avalon NP Evolution 2.0</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/708ava/index1.html">Epos M16i</A> (July 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/808eso">Esoteric MG-20</A> (August 2008), <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/dynaudio_sapphire_loudspea… Sapphire</A> (January 2009), and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/608revel/index6.html">Revel Ultima Salon2</A> (March 2009). I had intended to intersperse those reports with coverage of some high-performance minispeakers, but for various reasons that never happened, so in the next few issues I'll be making up that lost ground, beginning with a promising contender from the UK, the Spendor SA1.