Klaus Heymann has some surprising news. During an in-person chat in the lobby of San Francisco's Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the founder of the label that turned the classical-music recording industry on its ear revealed that, in the US, classical-music sales for the labels that Naxos distributes are stable.

Today Klipsch announced the launch of their new Synergy Series loudspeakers. If recent reviews by Wes Phillips (of <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/audaciousaudio/klipsch_palladium_p-39f_louds… $20,000/pair P-39F</a>) and Erick Lichte (of <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/klipsch_palladium_p-17b_lo… $4000/pair P-17B</a>) can offer any indication of what to expect from this new Synergy line, we are in for a treat.

The September 2010 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. The cover shows an extreme close-up of the Audio Research VSi60 integrated amplifier, highlighting its beautiful tubes. I was very impressed by this amplifier’s looks, as well as what I (perhaps fancifully) perceived to be its contributions to a very fine <i>system</i> <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2009/audio_research_vsi60/">at the 2009 SSI</a>, so I was happy to learn we’d be featuring the VSi60 on our cover.