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Kal Rubinson gets right to the point: "I am biased: On very little evidence, I remain convinced that, in the near future, high-quality music reproduction will be multichannel." The Meridian">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/201/">Meridian Digital Theatre surround-sound music system is therefore a product that puts Kal's vision to the test. Kal details the system, which consists of two DSP6000 front L/R speakers, one DSP6000C center-channel speaker, two DSP5000 speakers used for surround, the Reference 800 DVD/CD player, and the Reference 861 System Controller. But does the Meridian system live up to his expectations regarding the potential of surround-sound for music?
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Markus Sauer is in a ponderous audio mood: "When several listeners each play music they like on the system, their reaction should be more uniform. But it isn't. What irks me is that, while we seem to be able to agree pretty well on how a system sounds, there seems to be no consistency of emotional reaction to this sound . . . " Sauer works through this troubling aspect of being an audiophile in "God">http://www.stereophile.com//features/203/">God is in the Nuances." "This journal has seen a number of thoughtful ruminations on what it is that attracts us to music or to a given audio component, and how we should describe that attraction." Now it's Sauer's turn.
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How many of you out there know what a Nuvistor is? Michael Fremer takes a look at this unique device and its application in the Musical">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/205/">Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power amplifier. "Enclosing its vacuum in metal rather than glass, the Nuvistor was designed as a long-lived, highly linear device with low heat, low microphony, and low noise—all of which it needed to have any hope of competing in the brave new solid-state world emerging when RCA introduced it in the 1960s." Musical Fidelity decided to use the Nuvistor in a limited-run amplifier, and therein lies an interesting tale, which Michael skillfully uncovers.
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Wes Phillips writes: "If, as some would have it, Audiophilia nervosa is like the dark night of reason, then certain audio epiphanies must necessarily stand out from a distance, like a grove of trees 20 miles away thrown into stark relief by prairie lightning." In his review of the B&W">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/207/">B&W Nautilus 801 loudspeaker, WP recounts that "the B&W Nautilus 801 has the stuff to keep me in fireplace fantasies throughout my dotage, and probably well into my (hyper)active middle age to boot."
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In his essay "Let's">http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/208/">Let's Face the Music and Dance," John Marks, founder of John Marks Records, asks: "Does high-end audio have a future?" Of course it does, he says. But will it be one worth the price? Marks writes, "for most of its potential consumers, high-end audio is now a matter of sharply diminishing economic returns. A large incremental expenditure guarantees only a relatively modest, even marginal improvement in sound quality." How to forge ahead anyway? Marks offers his advice to our "dysfunctional" audio family.
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Regardless of what the skeptics claim, Jonathan Scull is a firm believer in resonance-control devices. For "Fine">http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/210/">"Fine Tunes" #15, Scull investigates some products he has found useful. "Pssst," Scull whispers. "Hey you. Yeah, you . . . we know you're a tweaker. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You just wanna make it better, right? Even as everyone around you wants to know when enough's enough already."
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For "Fine">http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/212/">"Fine Tunes" #16, Jonathan Scull offers sage advice on handling the often ephemeral problem of microphonics in audio systems. "So here I am expounding on the tendency of audio components—especially tubes, capacitors, and resistors—to become microphonic, and you're wondering how you can find out if there's any of that shakin' goin' on in your system. And you want to do it easily and for next to nothing," he sez. The solutions await.
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For "Fine">http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/214/">"Fine Tunes" #17, Jonathan Scull presents readers with the ultimate bachelor-pad mod for speaker stands: shiny black trash bags. More important, Scull investigates why we even try these things in the first place.
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Jonathan Scull has seen the future of audiophile proselytizing and aches to spread the word. In "Fine">http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/217/">"Fine Tunes" #18, J-10 shares the new tweak-audio mantra, and more.
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After the bungled launch last year of DVD-Audio, where is a digital audiophile to turn? John Atklinson provides some answers in "Talkin'">http://www.stereophile.com//asweseeit/219/">Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution," from the April 2000 Stereophile. "So while the DVD Forum argues about increasingly arcane aspects of the DVD-Audio medium, and John Lennon's record-industry 'men in suits' retreat further into their lawyer-built fortresses, I have bypassed all they have to offer . . . "