One memorable afternoon during HI-FI '97, Kathleen and my pudgy little self were hustling down the crowded corridors of San Francisco's venerable St. Francis Hotel, trying to make the Nagra press event. The Nagra suite was crowded with buzzing journalists, their anticipation palpable&mdash;the new Nagra PL-P preamplifier was about to enjoy its official debut. Suddenly the door to the demo room flew open. The vacuum created by the stampeding hordes nearly sucked the <I>hors d'oeuvres</I> off the table.

One memorable afternoon during HI-FI '97, Kathleen and my pudgy little self were hustling down the crowded corridors of San Francisco's venerable St. Francis Hotel, trying to make the Nagra press event. The Nagra suite was crowded with buzzing journalists, their anticipation palpable&mdash;the new Nagra PL-P preamplifier was about to enjoy its official debut. Suddenly the door to the demo room flew open. The vacuum created by the stampeding hordes nearly sucked the <I>hors d'oeuvres</I> off the table.

Loudspeaker manufacturer Polk Audio announced on December 31 that it had acquired an interest in <A HREF="http://www.gen-tech.com">Genesis Technologies</A>, manufacturer of both loudspeakers and digital products. Not only did Polk invest $500,000 in Genesis convertible preferred securities, it also obtained a three-year option to purchase the Colorado-based high-end audio company, which is led by three industry veterans: Arnie Nudell (co-founder of Infinity), Paul McGowan (co-founder of PS Audio), and Mark S. Schifter (co-founder of Audio Alchemy).

Operating at the fringes of the audio world, binaural recordings have continued to maintain a hardcore group of advocates. Creating a convincing three-dimensional surround effect using only a two-channel source, binaural technology is especially impressive with headphones.

"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."

"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."

"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."

"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."

"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."

"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."