I first met NHT co-founder <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/232/">Ken Kantor</A> in 1975 when we were both undergraduates at MIT. Kantor was sponsoring an extracurricular class entitled "Musical Ideas." The concept was to stick a dozen or so musicians in a classroom for free improvisation and hope to create music &#224; la Miles Davis' <I>Bitches Brew</I>. The result was a mess; although talented guitarist Kantor meant well, there was no common vision or consistency of musical talent. Nevertheless, I had a blast trying to simulate a tamboura drone with a Hohner Clavinet, phase shifter, and volume pedal.

I first met NHT co-founder <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/232/">Ken Kantor</A> in 1975 when we were both undergraduates at MIT. Kantor was sponsoring an extracurricular class entitled "Musical Ideas." The concept was to stick a dozen or so musicians in a classroom for free improvisation and hope to create music &#224; la Miles Davis' <I>Bitches Brew</I>. The result was a mess; although talented guitarist Kantor meant well, there was no common vision or consistency of musical talent. Nevertheless, I had a blast trying to simulate a tamboura drone with a Hohner Clavinet, phase shifter, and volume pedal.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

It's always tough to follow an award-winning act. Wes Phillips raved about the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/237/">original EgglestonWorks Andra</A> back in October 1997, and it was subsequently dubbed <I>Stereophile</I>'s Speaker of the Year for 1997. The Andra won many other plaudits, and found its way into a number of top-shelf recording studios as the monitor of choice. Such a reputation for excellence is the stuff most speaker designers dream of. It also imposes the burden of expectation&mdash;the "new and improved" version of such a knockout product had better be good, or else.

I first heard Eugene Gigout's pipe-organ masterpiece, the <I>Grand Chorus in Dialogue</I>, in the Smetana Concert Hall of Prague's Municipal House (Obecnim Dome) on a Saturday evening before the 2002 flood. I recall seeing the delicate, youthful Michele Hradecka sway from side to side to reach the pedals. In response, a massive wall of deep organ chords shook the hall, the magical acoustic blending the delicate, extended highs with the thunderous bass. But this memory mixed the music with the beauty of Prague's soaring church spires, brilliant red terracotta roofs, and lavish palaces.