Stereophile Magazine, November 2001, Vol 24 No 11, Back Issue

Features

• Reflections, Echoes, & Music
• Herve Deletraz examines whether impedance matching in audio is myth or reality.
• David Byrne
• Throughout his years with the Talking Heads and his varied solo career, David Byrne's musical explorations never stopped making sense.

Equipment Reports

• Classe Audio Omega Super Audio CD player - Jonathan Scull
• Meridian DSP8000 Digital Active loudspeaker - John Atkinson
• Westlake Audio Lc5.75F loudspeaker - Michael Fremer
• Mirage OM-7 loudspeaker - Lonnie Brownell
• Nordost Valhalla interconnect and speaker cable - Brian Damkroger
• Synergistic Research X-Series Designers' Reference and Alpha Sterling interconnects, X-Series Designers' Reference² and Alpha Quad loudspeaker cable, and Designers' Reference² Master Coupler AC cord - Chip Stern and John Atkinson

Follow-Up

• Ayre K-3x preamplifier - Michael Fremer
• Bel Canto eVo 200.2 power amplifier - Kalman Rubinson
• Herron Audio M150 monoblock power amplifier - Michael Fremer

Columns

• As We See It
• Barry Willis comments on the "outside world's inability, or refusal, to recognize the merits of the audiophile quest.
• Letters
• Readers congratulate JA on his engineering prowess and his thoughtful call for a boycott of watermarked discs, yearn for an end to the format wars, plead for reviews of more sanely priced equipment, and much much more.
• Industry Update
• High-end news, including dealer-promoted seminars, plus: HE2002 news, private suit against companies using new CD copy protection systems, new SACD titles, directional speakers, a portable platform for protected formats, improving MP3s, Vernon Innis retires, and ...
• Sam's Space
• Sam Tellig on the new Quad ESL-988 loudspeaker, the Cambridge Audio D500SE CD player, and LFD's Minstral LE integrated amplifier.
• Analog Corner
• Michael Fremer on his response to Sound and Vision's Ken Pohlmann, the new 4 Men With Beards vinyl reissue label, Music Hall's MMF-7 "masterpiece," the Kontrapunkt A from Ortofon, and a fond farewell to Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's head Herb Belkin.
• The Fifth Element
• John Marks on "Joyless connoisseurship" and the perils of rationalist thought.
• Aural Robert
• Now launching his solo career, Jay Farrar, rock's man-of-fewest-words, talk (?) with Robert Baird.
• Building a Library
• Duane Allman remains the most infulential slide guitarist of the modern era. J.C. Costa explores his recorded legacy.
• Record Reviews
• November's Recording of the Month is the latest from a musical force who at the moment can seemingly do no wrong: Bob Dylan's Love & Theft. In classical music this month new performances of music by Brahms, Bruckner, and Rameau are reviewed. In rock/pop the soundtrack to Songcatcher joins discs by Velvet Crush, Tricky, and Superchunk. And in jazz, new efforts from Baikida Carroll, Madeline Eastman, and the Mingus Big Band please our critical ears.
• Manufacturers' Comments
• Manufacturers comment on reviews of Joseph Audio RM33si, Music Hall MMF-7, LFD Minstral Integrated LE, Classe Audio Omega, Westlake Lc5.75F, Mirage OM-7, Synergistic Reserch cables, and a "Follow-Up" Herron Audio's M150.
• Fine Tunes
• Jonathan Scull shares some fine ideas for the "care and feeding" of speaker drivers from his and readers' vast experiences.