Manufacturers and retailers don't expect an upswing in electronics sales next year. That's the consensus of members polled by the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A>, published in mid-October.

In <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?1758">other news</A> this week, the music business is in a tailspin, and searching for ways to save itself. The National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM) has just published its chairman's message, with several clues about what consumers may see from the industry in the coming months.

A drop-off in business these days seems to produce one inevitable consequence: a cutback in jobs.

From the October issue, John Atkinson gets acquainted with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?942">Morel Octwin 5.2M loudspeaker</A>, noting, "Once you become accustomed to its admittedly weird looks, it is actually visually appealing and has a small footprint in the listening room." But there's something about the Morel's sound that causes JA to raise an eyebrow.

Music industry executives may have a special dread of this year's Halloween festivities.

Only a few short years ago, Napster quickly took root to show the world how Internet-based audio file-trading was where music distribution's future growth might run wild. But the record labels would have none of it and just as swiftly took a legal chainsaw to Napster's trunk, laying it waste and leaving plenty of room for Kazaa and other unsanctioned services to sprout like weeds.

Paul Bolin takes a spin with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/938/">Vacuum Tube Logic TL-7.5 Reference line preamplifier</A>, observing, "For some reason, the light has never shone quite as brightly on VTL's front-end electronics, perhaps in part because it's been so long since the company attempted a headline-grabbing, all-out assault on the state of that art."

The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster ride for CD copy-restriction developer SunnComm. The company was riding high in early September when it was <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11734/">announced</A&gt; that BMG and Arista had chosen its MediaMax CD-3 Technology to restrict how discs are used.