Silicon Valley, Jan. 28---John Sunier, host of the nationally syndicated radio program <A HREF="http://www.btown.com/audio.html"><I>Audiophile Audition</I></A>, and I were here last night at Cogswell College for an Audio Engineering Society-hosted lecture and demonstration by <A HREF="http://www.medianix.com">MedianiX</A&gt;. The Mountain View-based semiconductor company has pioneered a "virtual multi-axis" ("VMAx") surround-sound technology using only one pair of closely spaced loudspeakers.

Attention all you amateur speaker designers furiously creating the world's next revolutionary crossover or cabinet design in your garage: <A HREF="http://www.iserv.net/~meniscus">Meniscus Audio</A>, a manufacturer of loudspeakers that sells directly to consumers through mail-order marketing programs, has announced a loudspeaker design contest that offers the winner the opportunity to have his or her design developed for distribution as a kit. First- and second-place prizes will also be awarded.

B<i>illboard Magazine</i> announced an agreement this week with Liquid Audio, a developer of secure music-delivery systems on the Internet, to make <i>Billboard</i>'s extensive database of album reviews and audio previews available through <A HREF=" http://www.billboard.com/">Billboard Online</A>. The audio portion will be provided in <A HREF=" http://www.liquidaudio.com/">Liquid Audio</A> format by the Music Previews Network, the company that provides Music Previews for Billboard Online.

In a covert sting operation launched by <I>Stereofool</I>'s competitor, <I>Big iF</I> magazine, 24-bit/96kHz tapes have just surfaced revealing a conversation <I>Stereofool</I> editor Acker Johnson (AJ) had with a local dealer in used audio equipment.

The dirty little secret about consumer CD recorders has recently been getting out: In order to record on one of the new "inexpensive" consumer CD machines from such manufacturers as Pioneer or Philips, you have to purchase special "consumer audio" CD-Rs that can cost three to four times as much as the same CD-R formatted for use with a professional or computer-based CD recorder.

It gets tougher every year to cover a show like the CES. Dropping in on most of the high-end audio rooms at the Alexis Park isn't so bad---the hard part is getting to all the various splinter exhibits scattered around Las Vegas within the allotted four days.

The <A HREF="http://www.pbs.org">Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)</A> and <A HREF="http://www.warnerbros.com/">Warner Bros. Records</A> announced January 8 that they have entered into a five-year record and television program funding partnership. The arrangement launches the PBS Records label, a new venture that will fuel the production of PBS performance programs and companion recordings. In addition, PBS Records will present music soundtracks from major PBS nonfiction series.

This is a somewhat different twist on other "Recommended Recordings" lists you may have read. Rather than a selection of all-time (or year's) best recorded performances---which are common enough---or a list of audiophile reference recordings---common enough in the audiophile press, at any rate, and a good thing, too---this is a list of stereo recordings that are both musically <I>and</I> sonically impeccable---in other words, the best, the tops, to die for---each item briefly described in a hundred or so words (except for JA, LA, and JGH, whose couplets runneth over).