Tony, a mechanic friend of mine, once ran down for me his "national characteristics" theory of automobile engineering. Germans, he said, love precision engineering but don't take repair into account, so their engines are always placed in wells so perfectly proportioned that skinned knuckles are inevitable. British cars, he said, are marketed to a nation of tinkerers, hence the existence of dual carburetors. And Italian cars? "Well, let's just say they all resemble espresso makers." <I>He</I> said it&mdash;and he <I>was</I> the proverbial Fiat mechanic named Tony.

Tony, a mechanic friend of mine, once ran down for me his "national characteristics" theory of automobile engineering. Germans, he said, love precision engineering but don't take repair into account, so their engines are always placed in wells so perfectly proportioned that skinned knuckles are inevitable. British cars, he said, are marketed to a nation of tinkerers, hence the existence of dual carburetors. And Italian cars? "Well, let's just say they all resemble espresso makers." <I>He</I> said it&mdash;and he <I>was</I> the proverbial Fiat mechanic named Tony.

All right, it's time for a pop quiz in Loudspeaker Design 101. Answer the following, and justify your answer.

All right, it's time for a pop quiz in Loudspeaker Design 101. Answer the following, and justify your answer.

All right, it's time for a pop quiz in Loudspeaker Design 101. Answer the following, and justify your answer.

All right, it's time for a pop quiz in Loudspeaker Design 101. Answer the following, and justify your answer.

All right, it's time for a pop quiz in Loudspeaker Design 101. Answer the following, and justify your answer.

Back in 1992, <I>Stereophile</I> got into the business of concert promotion when it booked Canadian pianist Robert Silverman for two evenings of recitals in order to record his performances for a live double CD, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/315"><I>Concert</I></A&gt; (STPH005-2). We don't believe in rushing to repeat a success, so 15 years later, on February 10, we're promoting another concert, this time featuring <A HREF="http://www.myspace.com/attentionscreen">Attention Screen</A>, the quartet led by <I>Stereophile</I> reviewer and jazz pianist Bob Reina.

Harmonia Mundi, one of the world's leading independent classical music labels, has finally taken the downloading plunge. In an agreement with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA), the world's largest distributor of digital music content, announced on January 24 at the annual music conference of the Marche International De l'Edition Musicale (MIDEM) in Cannes, Harmonia Mundi will make available its entire catalogue of early music and contemporary recordings to hundreds of digital music outlets around the world. IODA will also handle digital distribution of HM's catalogue within France, where Harmonia Mundi is headquartered. A separate agreement with Apple's iTunes makes all Harmonia Mundi titles available on that site as well. Also available are the classical, world, and jazz titles from the more than 30 independent labels that Harmonia Mundi distributes in many parts of the world.