Angus McKenzie was a wholly remarkable individual. One of British hi-fi’s legends, he was the country's leading equipment reviewer for more than a decade, but that was only one of several careers and passions he pursued with repeated and conspicuous success, despite losing his sight completely at the age of 26.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

It used to be that, when I sat down to write the introduction to <I>Stereophile</I>'s ever-popular annual "Records To Die For" feature, it quickly became an exercise in racking my meager brain for jokes about "dying for" records. But being funny, in print or otherwise, is tremendously difficult. I'm sure Groucho had a much more apropos, not to mention funny, quip about the trials of being humorous&mdash;but, as with the aforementioned jokes, I can't seem to think of it right now.

Having just spent the last four days at the 2004 Audio Engineering Society conference in San Francisco, I was struck by the sunny enthusiasm shared by many industry professionals for 5.1-channel surround-sound music.