Red Rose Music founder and CEO Mark Levinson may have lost the rights to use his own name, but not the good timing that helped make him a successful businessman and an accomplished bass player. (According to his online bio, Levinson has sat in with the likes of John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett.)

<B>RAE & CHRISTIAN: <I>Sleepwalking</I></B><BR> GrandCentral/Studio K7 K7096CD (CD). 2001. Steve Christian, prod., eng.; Mark Rae, prod.; Rick Cowling, Graham Harwood, Howard Payne, Dejuana "DK" Richardson, Philippe Simonin, Eric Steinen, engs.; Mike Ball, Chris Owen, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 47:05<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****</B>

"Larry&mdash;if I'd told you 10 years ago that McIntosh would be heavily into tubes in the 21st century, what would you have said?"

"Larry&mdash;if I'd told you 10 years ago that McIntosh would be heavily into tubes in the 21st century, what would you have said?"

"Larry&mdash;if I'd told you 10 years ago that McIntosh would be heavily into tubes in the 21st century, what would you have said?"

"Larry&mdash;if I'd told you 10 years ago that McIntosh would be heavily into tubes in the 21st century, what would you have said?"

The packed house that was Home Entertainment Expo 2001 on Saturday thinned to a manageable level on Sunday the 13th, allowing most of the <I>Stereophile</I> crew ample opportunity to visit all the displays they had missed the previous two days. Toward the 6 o'clock closing time folks were still wandering the halls, and talking amicably and enthusiastically with friends they see once or twice a year. There is always a great deal of continuity in these shows, not only in the products, but also in the people.

Chip Stern provides us with a mini-review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/346/">Sony SCD-777ES </A>. Find out why this SACD player prompted him to exclaim: "At $2500, the SCD-777ES is not merely a Class A component, it's a steal."

Will audio dealers be interested in selling a product that's been available so far only via mail-order? <A HREF="http://www.audioadvisor.com">Audio Advisor</A> thinks so, and has created a new distribution company, WS Distributing, to begin selling the Musical Fidelity product line through "qualified" high-end audio dealers in the USA beginning May 21. Musical Fidelity has been available through retailers in Europe and Asia for years, but in the US, only from AA's catalog and website sales.