Say "Type A" to a group of psychologists and they immediately think "hard-driving, workaholic executive." Speak the same phrase among audiophiles, and the late Peter Snell's (1946-1984) flagship loudspeaker comes to mind. The model reviewed here is the seventh iteration of Snell Acoustics' Type A, and this is the 12th published review of the product in American audio magazines. (The last one published in <I>Stereophile</I> was in March 1996, Vol.19 No.3, of the Type A Reference.)

Say "Type A" to a group of psychologists and they immediately think "hard-driving, workaholic executive." Speak the same phrase among audiophiles, and the late Peter Snell's (1946-1984) flagship loudspeaker comes to mind. The model reviewed here is the seventh iteration of Snell Acoustics' Type A, and this is the 12th published review of the product in American audio magazines. (The last one published in <I>Stereophile</I> was in March 1996, Vol.19 No.3, of the Type A Reference.)

You have to wonder what Sony is thinking. The <A HREF="http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/digitalstudio/index.shtml">product copy</A> claims that the new Sony "VAIO Digital Studio" computer is the company's "incredible computing and entertainment hybrid combining television, recording, playback and even music." Oooops. Forget about that music part, especially if you purchase Sony Music's latest Celine Dion CD.

Back in September of 1986, the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/550/">KEF R107 loudspeaker</A> represented the flagship of KEF's much admired Reference Series. Dick Olsher and a variety of other <I>Stereophile</I> scribes profile this important audio achievement over the course of five years, wrapping up with Tom Norton's 1995 review of the R107/2 "Raymond Cooke Signature Edition."

High-end audio and home-theater enthusiasts attending <A HREF="http://www.homeentertainment-expo.com">Home Entertainment 2002</A>, The Hi-Fi and Home Theater Event in New York City on May 31&ndash;June 2, 2002, will have an opportunity to participate in a series of interactive seminars and panel discussions on the latest advances in technology&mdash;all included with the price of admission.

In a never-ending quest to control what it believes is an epidemic of piracy, the music industry in recent years has gone after Internet file-sharing startups, fly-by-night CD duplicators, foreign pirates operating on an industrial scale, college kids with too much time on their hands, and street-corner vendors hawking badly-duped cassettes. At times the anti-piracy campaign has reached the fervor of a witch hunt, with blame laid on the innocent as well as the guilty.

Analog audio electronics are approaching "maturity," a state eventually achieved by most technologies, in which almost all the great discoveries have been made and progress becomes a process of increasingly arcane refinements. Digital audio is in no such danger, as evidenced by three new product announcements made the first week of April.

<A HREF="http://www.madrigal.com">Madrigal</A>'s Proceed line of high-end audio products will be phased out some time later this year, according to an April 3 press release.