Dense, compact, and built to run <B>O</B>-rings around the competition, SME's flagship turntable makes every other design I've encountered&mdash;with the possible exception of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//analogsourcereviews/258/">Rockport's System III Sirius</A>&mdash;look almost homemade. I don't mean to insult the many fine, well-engineered designs out there, but I've seen nothing else to compare with SME's tank-like approach to spinning a record. Comparing the Model 30/2 to a tank isn't exactly fair: the machining is done to higher than mil-spec tolerances. I don't think anyone else building turntables today is <I>capable</I> of this level of construction quality, never mind design ingenuity and fit'n'finish.

Dense, compact, and built to run <B>O</B>-rings around the competition, SME's flagship turntable makes every other design I've encountered&mdash;with the possible exception of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//analogsourcereviews/258/">Rockport's System III Sirius</A>&mdash;look almost homemade. I don't mean to insult the many fine, well-engineered designs out there, but I've seen nothing else to compare with SME's tank-like approach to spinning a record. Comparing the Model 30/2 to a tank isn't exactly fair: the machining is done to higher than mil-spec tolerances. I don't think anyone else building turntables today is <I>capable</I> of this level of construction quality, never mind design ingenuity and fit'n'finish.

Dense, compact, and built to run <B>O</B>-rings around the competition, SME's flagship turntable makes every other design I've encountered&mdash;with the possible exception of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//analogsourcereviews/258/">Rockport's System III Sirius</A>&mdash;look almost homemade. I don't mean to insult the many fine, well-engineered designs out there, but I've seen nothing else to compare with SME's tank-like approach to spinning a record. Comparing the Model 30/2 to a tank isn't exactly fair: the machining is done to higher than mil-spec tolerances. I don't think anyone else building turntables today is <I>capable</I> of this level of construction quality, never mind design ingenuity and fit'n'finish.

Combine the challenge of establishing a start-up with the launch of an entirely new consumer electronics market and you've got the recipe for a highly volatile and explosive brew. But news of a successful $1.2 billion re-capitalization announced last week indicates that three-year old digital radio pioneer <A HREF="http://www.sirius.com">Sirius</A&gt; will likely remain intact&mdash;at least for now.

Wiz stores sold: Cablevision Systems has made good on its promise to exit the consumer electronics retail business. On March 6, the Bethpage, NY&ndash;based cable giant announced the sale of its 17 remaining Nobody Beats The Wiz stores to GBO Electronics Acquisition LLC in a stock transaction, effective immediately. GBO will assume The Wiz's assets and debt, according to a Cablevision statement.

In some ways, entrepreneurs resemble the folks who fix your roof: When they see a hole somewhere, their job is to find a way to fill it. Long-time high-end audio veterans Mel and Howard Schilling and Doug Goldberg say they have spotted a hole in the audio market and are getting ready to launch a new company to fill it.

Audiophiles constantly seek the next level in musical realism, as any reader of this website would acknowledge. The world at large, however, can't get enough of low-fidelity audio, as evidenced by the continuing popularity of the MP3 format.

Universal Music Group (UMG) may go on the auction block to help bail out debt-ridden Vivendi Universal. On March 6, Vivendi announced a record loss of $25.4 billion (&euro;23.3 billion) for the 2002 fiscal year. The biggest loss in French corporate history followed a staggering $14.9 billion (&euro;13.6 billion) loss for 2001.

Dick Olsher and various other writers take a spin with the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/789/">Apogee Stage loudspeaker</A>, whose "resemblance to the rest of the Apogee family is unmistakable" in spite of its small size. But the real story is that, "surprisingly, the sound quality does not take a back seat to its more expensive relatives."