Well, ladies and gents, it's been a long year. As I write this, on an unusually humid and hazy October morning, I'm still feeling the lingering effects of my beloved Mets' sudden and tragic collapse from the top of the National League East. I sat there, at Flushing Meadows' Shea Stadium, covered in peanut shells and with tears in my hazel eyes as the scoreboard went cruelly blank and Coldplay's "The Scientist" wept over the stadium loudspeakers. It was brutal.

Well, ladies and gents, it's been a long year. As I write this, on an unusually humid and hazy October morning, I'm still feeling the lingering effects of my beloved Mets' sudden and tragic collapse from the top of the National League East. I sat there, at Flushing Meadows' Shea Stadium, covered in peanut shells and with tears in my hazel eyes as the scoreboard went cruelly blank and Coldplay's "The Scientist" wept over the stadium loudspeakers. It was brutal.

Well, ladies and gents, it's been a long year. As I write this, on an unusually humid and hazy October morning, I'm still feeling the lingering effects of my beloved Mets' sudden and tragic collapse from the top of the National League East. I sat there, at Flushing Meadows' Shea Stadium, covered in peanut shells and with tears in my hazel eyes as the scoreboard went cruelly blank and Coldplay's "The Scientist" wept over the stadium loudspeakers. It was brutal.

"Why can't I just buy . . . a <I>bicycle</I>?"

"Why can't I just buy . . . a <I>bicycle</I>?"

"Why can't I just buy . . . a <I>bicycle</I>?"

Back in October 2001, when Larry Greenhill <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/700">told us</A> about the Sony TA-P9000ES multichannel preamplifier, it seemed the best thing since sliced bread. This affordable ($700) analog controller had two six-channel inputs, a six-channel bypass input, level controls for all channels, and a stereo bypass input. For those of us just dipping our toes into multichannel, it was welcome. Though no longer manufactured, the Sony is still a unique component, and one highly prized in the second-hand market. The TA-P9000ES was not, however, the answer to <I>all</I> our prayers&mdash;made to complement a digital processor, it basically has only two 5.1-channel inputs, if the TA-P9000ES is used independently.

Back in October 2001, when Larry Greenhill <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/700">told us</A> about the Sony TA-P9000ES multichannel preamplifier, it seemed the best thing since sliced bread. This affordable ($700) analog controller had two six-channel inputs, a six-channel bypass input, level controls for all channels, and a stereo bypass input. For those of us just dipping our toes into multichannel, it was welcome. Though no longer manufactured, the Sony is still a unique component, and one highly prized in the second-hand market. The TA-P9000ES was not, however, the answer to <I>all</I> our prayers&mdash;made to complement a digital processor, it basically has only two 5.1-channel inputs, if the TA-P9000ES is used independently.

Back in October 2001, when Larry Greenhill <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/700">told us</A> about the Sony TA-P9000ES multichannel preamplifier, it seemed the best thing since sliced bread. This affordable ($700) analog controller had two six-channel inputs, a six-channel bypass input, level controls for all channels, and a stereo bypass input. For those of us just dipping our toes into multichannel, it was welcome. Though no longer manufactured, the Sony is still a unique component, and one highly prized in the second-hand market. The TA-P9000ES was not, however, the answer to <I>all</I> our prayers&mdash;made to complement a digital processor, it basically has only two 5.1-channel inputs, if the TA-P9000ES is used independently.

Back in October 2001, when Larry Greenhill <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/700">told us</A> about the Sony TA-P9000ES multichannel preamplifier, it seemed the best thing since sliced bread. This affordable ($700) analog controller had two six-channel inputs, a six-channel bypass input, level controls for all channels, and a stereo bypass input. For those of us just dipping our toes into multichannel, it was welcome. Though no longer manufactured, the Sony is still a unique component, and one highly prized in the second-hand market. The TA-P9000ES was not, however, the answer to <I>all</I> our prayers&mdash;made to complement a digital processor, it basically has only two 5.1-channel inputs, if the TA-P9000ES is used independently.