It may surprise some readers to learn that all of the contributors to <I>Stereophile</I> do not get the chance to hear, at our leisure and in familiar circumstances, everything that passes through the magazine's portals. Not that we wouldn't like to, but there just isn't time. Nor are the logistics always right. I was therefore probably as intrigued as the average reader by LA's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/689mirage">glowing report</A> on the $5000/pair Mirage M-1 in the June 1989 issue. The M-1s had been on the market long enough for me to have heard them on several occasions, of course, but generally at shows and not under the best of conditions. I did get to hear them briefly at LA's later that same summer, but the hustle and bustle of a <I>Stereophile</I> Writers' Conference party isn't the optimum place for value judgments.

It may surprise some readers to learn that all of the contributors to <I>Stereophile</I> do not get the chance to hear, at our leisure and in familiar circumstances, everything that passes through the magazine's portals. Not that we wouldn't like to, but there just isn't time. Nor are the logistics always right. I was therefore probably as intrigued as the average reader by LA's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/689mirage">glowing report</A> on the $5000/pair Mirage M-1 in the June 1989 issue. The M-1s had been on the market long enough for me to have heard them on several occasions, of course, but generally at shows and not under the best of conditions. I did get to hear them briefly at LA's later that same summer, but the hustle and bustle of a <I>Stereophile</I> Writers' Conference party isn't the optimum place for value judgments.

It may surprise some readers to learn that all of the contributors to <I>Stereophile</I> do not get the chance to hear, at our leisure and in familiar circumstances, everything that passes through the magazine's portals. Not that we wouldn't like to, but there just isn't time. Nor are the logistics always right. I was therefore probably as intrigued as the average reader by LA's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/689mirage">glowing report</A> on the $5000/pair Mirage M-1 in the June 1989 issue. The M-1s had been on the market long enough for me to have heard them on several occasions, of course, but generally at shows and not under the best of conditions. I did get to hear them briefly at LA's later that same summer, but the hustle and bustle of a <I>Stereophile</I> Writers' Conference party isn't the optimum place for value judgments.

It may surprise some readers to learn that all of the contributors to <I>Stereophile</I> do not get the chance to hear, at our leisure and in familiar circumstances, everything that passes through the magazine's portals. Not that we wouldn't like to, but there just isn't time. Nor are the logistics always right. I was therefore probably as intrigued as the average reader by LA's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/689mirage">glowing report</A> on the $5000/pair Mirage M-1 in the June 1989 issue. The M-1s had been on the market long enough for me to have heard them on several occasions, of course, but generally at shows and not under the best of conditions. I did get to hear them briefly at LA's later that same summer, but the hustle and bustle of a <I>Stereophile</I> Writers' Conference party isn't the optimum place for value judgments.

Going from being an audio hobbyist to a professional reviewer is like passing kidney stones in an emergency room staffed with <I>Playboy</I> bunnies: Not only can you <I>not</I> have what you want, but you don't even want it anymore. In fact, you begin to consciously associate desire with a blinding pain in your crotch.

Going from being an audio hobbyist to a professional reviewer is like passing kidney stones in an emergency room staffed with <I>Playboy</I> bunnies: Not only can you <I>not</I> have what you want, but you don't even want it anymore. In fact, you begin to consciously associate desire with a blinding pain in your crotch.