The March 2009 issue of <i>Stereophile</i> is now on newsstands. I know this because people are <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=60827&an=0… complaining</a> about the $107,000/pair loudspeaker we put on the cover.

The secret to the powerful, effortless performance of the YG Acoustics Anat Reference II Professional loudspeaker is what's inside its mighty cabinet:

<i>Beautiful, beautiful! That's it right there, yes. Wait, no, don't lose that pose. Steady now. Oh, yeah. Yeah! You got it. The camera loves you, baby! Just one more now. One more. Hold it, hold it, yes!</i>

Each month, we send one or two lucky components to our photographer, Eric Swanson, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to be shot for our cover. Because the YG Anat Reference is so dang heavy (440 lbs per channel) and expensive ($107,000/pair), I asked Dick Diamond, YG's director of sales and marketing, if he'd personally deliver the speaker to Eric.

John Atkinson snapped this shot of our hardworking intern, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/arielbitran">Ariel Bitran</a>, during last night's performance at the <a href="http://www.sidewalkmusic.net/">Sidewalk Caf</a>. It's not that this photo was taken on John's phone under poor lighting conditions; Ariel actually <i>looks like this</i> when he plays. The dude is on fire, lit from within like a good single-ended amplifier.

Winter has returned to Cherry Valley, New York, and I'm reminded of a bad habit that I used to conceal: On cold mornings I started my car <I>well</I> before driving off, then actually weighted down the accelerator pedal&#151;with the heavy socket tray from my toolbox&#151;in an effort to keep the idle high, and thus more quickly warm the windshield and the interior. Whether my lazy trick had the desired effect is a matter of some debate, but I wish now that I hadn't been so wasteful and so casually fouled the air.

Winter has returned to Cherry Valley, New York, and I'm reminded of a bad habit that I used to conceal: On cold mornings I started my car <I>well</I> before driving off, then actually weighted down the accelerator pedal&#151;with the heavy socket tray from my toolbox&#151;in an effort to keep the idle high, and thus more quickly warm the windshield and the interior. Whether my lazy trick had the desired effect is a matter of some debate, but I wish now that I hadn't been so wasteful and so casually fouled the air.