Having lost lots of sleep since first reading this letter to the editor in the March issue, I feel I have no recourse but to turn to the rest of you for guidance. It appears that audiophiles, at least those of us frequenting this forum, are, "..a grumpy bunch of folks." Oh me, oh my, what can we do to shed that mantle and become enthusiastic so we can get a better grade in plays-well-with-others? Where can we find some of that positive energy which will make technology companies like us as much as they like the iPod and home theater crowd? This is no trivial request.

Zoot Sims - "A Summer Thing"

Zoot Sims, tenor sax
Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar
Milt Hinton, bass
Buddy Rich, drums

My first introduction to this artist a few years back, this is an emmensly enjoyable CD and I feel I probably got very lucky finding it in some bargain bin. I love his smooth, warm, affectionate and seemingly effortless melodic mastery. Some googling reveals he played with just about everyone at one time or another and was quite a comical personality as well. The accompaning personnel on this disc ain't too shabby either. Highly recommended.

Hi everyone

I have a cyrus CD8X running with NAIM NAC 102 and 2 x NAP 90/3, and PMC GB1 speakers. (I love my PMC speakers).

I'm struggling to love my Cyrus mainly because string sounds can be so glassy and tough. It can be amazing at times but its very inconsistent, showing up some CDs very badly. Having bi-amped my speakers things have improved a little.

I know that I could look at other lists, etc., but I wanted to generate some opinions here. How about listing what you consider essential Miles Davis albums? Of course, Kind of Blue generally is on everyone's list and that's a given, but what other albums do you consider essential? Also, what do you consider "for fanatics only"?