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Every once in a while, John Atkinson comes across a speaker that redefines the boundaries of what is possible with the moving-coil loudspeaker approach established 60 years ago by Rice and Kellogg. JA feels that the B&W John Bowers Silver Signature loudspeaker is just such a product, and puts it through its paces to reveal its significant virtues and minor faults.

Kalman Rubinson gives a long listen to the 1998 Stereophile Editor's Choice winner, the Z-Systems rdp-1 digital preamplifier. Like many audiophiles, Kal eschewed tone controls in favor of the purist approach—until he met the rdp-1. As he puts it: "Now, the time has come for DSP to give the audiophile some powerful tools to tailor frequency response and to correct faults in the recording."

John Atkinson points out that "a much-touted benefit of DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD is that these new media can store digital audio data extending one or more octaves higher in frequency response than the capabilities of the CD." But is this a difference that makes a difference? Atkinson examines the mounting pile of data in What's Going On Up There? Is there recorded life above 20k? The answer may surprise you.

Larry Greenhill writes: "I can't resist reading about a company's flagship loudspeaker—the price-no-object product that embodies the most advanced ideas from a company's research and design department . . . The cost? Don't ask." Six years in development, the Dynaudio Evidence loudspeaker is just such a cutting-edge product. So, Greenhill explains, "when the opportunity arose to review the Evidence, the flagship speaker from Danish company Dynaudio, I eagerly agreed." His verdict awaits.

First up, from the November, 2000 issue, is the Hovland HP-100 preamplifier. Michael Fremer writes, "While the HP-100 is Hovland's first publicly traded audio component, it is . . . the fulfillment of what's been Robert Hovland's goal all along: to bring such a product to market. Or so I was told. It's just taken 'some time to get it all right.' Given the company's history of more than 20 years, that sounds like an understatement." Fremer offers his sonic assessment.

Robert Deutsch asks, "How can you tell an audiophile from a normal person?" RD's answer involves the name of the Vienna Acoustics Mahler loudspeaker, which Deutsch reviewed for the April 2000 issue of Stereophile. Deutsch writes, "I find Gustav Mahler's music to be on the ponderous side, but when I heard the Vienna Acoustics Mahlers at HI-FI '99, I was sufficiently impressed that I began the process of getting a pair for review." The results of his careful listening are not ponderous at all.

DVD-Audio has been brewing for a couple of years now, finally going public with the Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player. Jonathan Scull got his eager hands on this groundbreaking machine last September, only to find that evaluating a new format is a complicated affair. Will this player, and DVD-Audio in general, soothe the audiophile heart? Scull takes a listen and spills the bits.