A key benefit of working with <I>Stereophile</I> is enjoying the expertise of fellow audio nerds. After the HI-FI Show just held in Los Angeles, Jonathan Scull and Kathleen Benveniste spent a week riding up the California Coast and paid us each a visit.

The <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association</A>'s recently released <A HREF="http://www.cemacity.org/gazette/files/cempub.htm"><I>U.S. Consumer Electronics Industry Today</I></A> indicates a healthy glow on the cheeks of specialty audio. US exports of component audio products amounted to $2.12 billion in 1997, an increase of 12% over the previous year's total of $1.89 billion. 1997's total represents a 25% increase over 1995, when almost $1.7 billion in separate audio products went out of the country. The figures are compiled by CEMA from US Department of Commerce figures.

In a move that acknowledges the increasing convergence of consumer electronics and computer technology, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com"&gt; Sony Electronics</A> has reorganized its US sales and marketing structure, and will emphasize digital performance in its new line of products. Foremost among these developments is Sony's recent announcement that its new line of audio and video products will prominently feature its VAIO personal computers. The notebook computers have editing features for video and motion-picture technology, and are quite popular in Japan, where around 100,000 have been sold.

In a dark, smoky office, a desk lamp beams a cone of light onto papers, books, pipes, and notepads. A theoretical physicist hunches over his desk, half-illuminated, visualizing the world inside his equations.

In a dark, smoky office, a desk lamp beams a cone of light onto papers, books, pipes, and notepads. A theoretical physicist hunches over his desk, half-illuminated, visualizing the world inside his equations.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.xingtech.com">Xing Technology Corporation</A> announced its sponsorship of the <A HREF="http://www.mp3.com/conference/">First Annual MP3 Summit</A>. In a statement, the company urged music-industry executives to discuss copyright issues, technical standards, and music distribution, and to participate in developing the future of MP3.

In a move that is likely to push record labels into the uncharted territory of direct sales, <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com">BMG</A&gt; has announced its intention to add in-house sales to its network of music sites. "BMG will be moving in the fall to its own fulfillment capability because of the demands of consumers," said senior vice president Scott Dinsdale at the Business Online 98 conference in San Francisco last week.

It's no secret that <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com">Dolby Laboratories</A> doesn't aim its audio compression technologies at the high-end consumer audio market. After all, Dolby excels at finding ways to get maximum performance out of limited-bandwidth environments such as the audio cassette, or the space alloted for 5.1-channel soundtracks on DVDs.

Following a recent announcement of "diminished expectations" for the near future (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10194/">previous story</A>) and a shakeup of upper management---in which Consumer Group marketing honcho Tom Jacoby was put out to pasture and audio guru Floyd Toole was promoted to senior vice president of acoustic and transducer engineering---<A HREF="http://www.harman.com">Harman International Industries</A> has put the finishing touches on a new 10,000-square-foot audio laboratory. At company headquarters in Northridge, CA, north of Los Angeles, the laboratory includes a 10,000-cubic-foot anechoic chamber for testing and measuring loudspeakers, and a multichannel room with computer-controlled, hydraulically operated platforms for positioning front left, center, and right speakers (a reviewer's dream!).