After a four-year hiatus, the <A HREF="http://www.vsac2008.com">Vacuum State of the Art Conference and Show</A> has been resurrected. Scheduled for next weekend, May 24&ndash;26, at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver, Washington, just across the river from Portland, Oregon, VSAC owes its renewal to audio enthusiasts and software company owners Carolyn S. and Michael Kilfoil, who have taken over from founders Dan and Eileen Schmalle.

Some of the old audio names, such as Eico and Pilot, are gone. Others&mdash;Fisher, AR, KLH, H.H. Scott, etc.&mdash;have been rendered meaningless by corporate mergers and acquisitions. Yet more than 50 years after their founding, McIntosh and Marantz, arguably the two most prestigious names in American high-quality audio electronics, survive. The products they make today are probably closer in spirit to their original classics of half a century ago than at any time since the early 1970s.

Some of the old audio names, such as Eico and Pilot, are gone. Others&mdash;Fisher, AR, KLH, H.H. Scott, etc.&mdash;have been rendered meaningless by corporate mergers and acquisitions. Yet more than 50 years after their founding, McIntosh and Marantz, arguably the two most prestigious names in American high-quality audio electronics, survive. The products they make today are probably closer in spirit to their original classics of half a century ago than at any time since the early 1970s.

Some of the old audio names, such as Eico and Pilot, are gone. Others&mdash;Fisher, AR, KLH, H.H. Scott, etc.&mdash;have been rendered meaningless by corporate mergers and acquisitions. Yet more than 50 years after their founding, McIntosh and Marantz, arguably the two most prestigious names in American high-quality audio electronics, survive. The products they make today are probably closer in spirit to their original classics of half a century ago than at any time since the early 1970s.

Some of the old audio names, such as Eico and Pilot, are gone. Others&mdash;Fisher, AR, KLH, H.H. Scott, etc.&mdash;have been rendered meaningless by corporate mergers and acquisitions. Yet more than 50 years after their founding, McIntosh and Marantz, arguably the two most prestigious names in American high-quality audio electronics, survive. The products they make today are probably closer in spirit to their original classics of half a century ago than at any time since the early 1970s.

Some of the old audio names, such as Eico and Pilot, are gone. Others&mdash;Fisher, AR, KLH, H.H. Scott, etc.&mdash;have been rendered meaningless by corporate mergers and acquisitions. Yet more than 50 years after their founding, McIntosh and Marantz, arguably the two most prestigious names in American high-quality audio electronics, survive. The products they make today are probably closer in spirit to their original classics of half a century ago than at any time since the early 1970s.