John Robinson Pierce, a wide-ranging engineer, inventor, writer, and psychoacoustics researcher, died April 2 at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia. Pierce was 92.

Following the tragic events of September 11 last year, <A HREF="http://www.audioasylum.com">Audio Asylum</A> and <A HREF="http://www.audiogon.com">Audiogon</A&gt; co-sponsored a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11141/">charity auction</A> of audio equipment to benefit the NY Firefighters' Fund and other related charities. Manufacturers, dealers, magazine writers and editors, and audiophiles donated equipment, recordings, and memorabilia for sale, and as <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11159/">reported on this website</A>, the auction ultimately raised almost $175,000 for 9/11-related charities.

As normally conceived, loudspeakers use electrodynamic forces to control the movements of their diaphragms, which in turn move air. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. has come up with an interesting twist on this principle, one in which air pressure itself ("aerodynamic-drive technology") is used to control the diaphragm. The result is a transparent panel speaker called the "Sound Window," announced by the Japanese industrial giant March 27.

"No doubt about it&mdash;Linn's top-of-the-line <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/555/">Komri loudspeaker</A> is a queer-lookin' duck," says Jonathan Scull as he set up a pair in his listening lair. The claimed frequency response for the Komri extends out to 40kHz. "Why even <I>bother</I> going out that high, where even the most beautiful of women cannot hear?" J-10 explains why.

There are probably only a handful of recorded works which could successfully survive the transition from the original two-channel release to a 5.1 surround remix. Queen's 1975 release <I>A Night At The Opera</I> is certainly one of them, and, in fact, the recording was originally scheduled to hit the streets <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11174/">last November</A> as a 5.1 DVD-Audio disc from <A HREF="http://www.dtsonline.com">DTS Entertainment</A>.

Sometimes, taking what looks like the easy route turns out to be a bust. The line for cabs outside the Alexis Park Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, home of the high-end audio exhibits at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, must have been at least 50 people long. So much for the post-9/11 forecasts of doom that had preceded the convention: last fall's Comdex may have been a bust, but the official <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">CES visitor count</A> of 100,307, if a little lower than the past two years' attendances, still seemed respectable (and surpassed 1999's total of 97,370).

Sometimes, taking what looks like the easy route turns out to be a bust. The line for cabs outside the Alexis Park Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, home of the high-end audio exhibits at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, must have been at least 50 people long. So much for the post-9/11 forecasts of doom that had preceded the convention: last fall's Comdex may have been a bust, but the official <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">CES visitor count</A> of 100,307, if a little lower than the past two years' attendances, still seemed respectable (and surpassed 1999's total of 97,370).

No doubt about it&mdash;Linn's top-of-the-line Komri loudspeaker is a queer-lookin' duck. It's a large, boxy thing, fairly deep, and weighing a hefty 176 lbs, including the base. Whew. I'll put it this way: rap your knuckles, break your hand.

No doubt about it&mdash;Linn's top-of-the-line Komri loudspeaker is a queer-lookin' duck. It's a large, boxy thing, fairly deep, and weighing a hefty 176 lbs, including the base. Whew. I'll put it this way: rap your knuckles, break your hand.

No doubt about it&mdash;Linn's top-of-the-line Komri loudspeaker is a queer-lookin' duck. It's a large, boxy thing, fairly deep, and weighing a hefty 176 lbs, including the base. Whew. I'll put it this way: rap your knuckles, break your hand.