Last summer, John Atkinson and I were playing a jazz gig poolside at my local club, and during a break we began discussing equipment. As JA adjusted his microphones and I became increasingly nervous about the running, jumping kids splashing chlorinated water on his <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/461">Nagra digital recorder</A>, he asked me if I'd like to review the Z1 loudspeaker from BG Corp. "It's an interesting little bookshelf speaker featuring a ribbon tweeter." Hmm&mdash;an affordable bookshelf speaker matching a ribbon tweeter to a dynamic woofer? <I>Very</I> interesting. "Sounds good," said I, and resumed my ivory duties.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

At the extreme high end&mdash;Halcro, VTL, Boulder, etc.&mdash;reviewers gush about a lack of character. If you're paying $20,000, you want a preamplifier or power amp to disappear. At those price points we also want extreme, unfatiguing resolution, and noise that's well below what most people would consider audible. But at those prices, an <I>absence</I> of character is definitely something most people aspire to.

The good news: Domestic audio has survived its first half century and continues to live above ground. The bad news: At an age when most hobbies can enjoy the luxury of splintering into smaller factions that hate each other with impunity, ours isn't big enough. There are too few audiophiles on Earth to indulge that kind of specialization, let alone support the very different magazines that would ensue&mdash;so we'll never get to enjoy such promising titles as <I>Liberal Tube Lover</I> (not that I didn't try), <I>The Elderly Skeptic</I>, or, of particular interest, <I>Cable Hating for People Who are Barely Audiophiles in the First Place</I>.

The good news: Domestic audio has survived its first half century and continues to live above ground. The bad news: At an age when most hobbies can enjoy the luxury of splintering into smaller factions that hate each other with impunity, ours isn't big enough. There are too few audiophiles on Earth to indulge that kind of specialization, let alone support the very different magazines that would ensue&mdash;so we'll never get to enjoy such promising titles as <I>Liberal Tube Lover</I> (not that I didn't try), <I>The Elderly Skeptic</I>, or, of particular interest, <I>Cable Hating for People Who are Barely Audiophiles in the First Place</I>.