"You certainly love weird music!" my wife yelled from the kitchen. This just reconfirmed my suspicion that reviewing subwoofers is a lonely job that brings no respect. What's so weird about the droning of Tibetan temple horns accompanied by the chants of Tibetan Gyuto monks, all framed by a powerful synthesizer in Philip Glass's soundtrack to <I>Kundun</I> (CD, Nonesuch 79460-2)? What's so strange about the karate-like cries of the drummers in the Kromata Percussion ensemble as they smash away at their timpani and gongs in Yoshihisa Taira's <I>Hierophonie V</I> (CD, BIS CD-232)? What's so odd about the shuddering majesty of 25Hz notes played by Harry Partch's one-of-a-kind Eroica Marimba, heard on his <I>Delusion of the Fury</I> (LP, Columbia M2 30576)? Why would any spouse object to the primitive, driving synthesizer growls and screams from Morton Subotnick's <I>The Wild Bull</I> (LP, Nonesuch H-71208)?

April Music's high-end audio products should soon be available to music lovers throughout the US, thanks to a distribution agreement with Bertrand Audio Imports announced August 11.

We've been hearing about it for years, but high-definition radio may finally be on its way. Feeling competitive pressure from satellite operations XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, US broadcasters are making what appear to be sincere efforts to upgrade their service by moving from analog to digital.

Received wisdom has it that putting all your eggs in one basket isn't a good business plan, but that's exactly what Roxio, Inc. intends to do with its Napster online music service.

Audiophiles and music lovers enamored of the legendary Mercury Living Presence series of recordings will have plenty to celebrate with a recent announcement from Universal Music Group (UMG).

Paul Bolin notes, "Bankers and doctors bought McIntosh, not 'serious' audiophiles. So ran the conventional wisdom." While reviewing the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/804mcintosh">McIntosh MC501 monoblock power amplifier</A>, PB discovers that conventional wisdom can be anything but wise.

The music industry is clearly redoubling its efforts to market DVD-Audio, with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/080904dualdisc/">proposed launch</A> of the DualDisc format. Adding either video content or high-rez audio or both to a standard CD looks to be <I>the</I> new strategy for adding value&mdash;an acknowledgement that just offering non&ndash;CD-compatible high-rez audio is not enough.

<B>K.D. LANG: <I>Hymns of the 49th Parallel</I></B><BR>
Nonesuch 79847-2 (CD). 2004. k.d. lang, Ben Mink, prods.; David Leonard, John Morrical, engs. AAD? TT: 47:24<BR>
Performance <B>****&#189;</B><BR>
Sonics <B>****</B>

<I>Stereophile</I> is devoted to getting the best sound from a home audio system. But as I have <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/533">written before</A>, audiophiles don't have access to an <I>absolute</I> sound, only to what has been captured in the pits or grooves of their discs, which is itself the result of a creative process. The playing back and the making of recordings are therefore two sides of the same coin. This is why I get actively involved in recording projects and why I publish articles about those projects, the most recent of which appears on p.50. "<A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicrecordings/804k622">Project K622</A>" describes the making of a new recording of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (work number 622 in the K&#246;chel catalog of Mozart's compositions, hence the article's title), which is being released both on hybrid SACD and on 180gm vinyl. (You can buy both from our secure "<A HREF="https://secure.stereophile.com/stereophile/recordings.shtml">Recordings…; page.)