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April/May 2003
Ramblings
by Karl W. Nehring
Welcome to Issue 95, which features our annual compilation of recommended recordings from our contributors. This is always my favorite issue of the year, for several reasons. Indeed, recordings are what got me interested in equipment in the first place. What has always exciting about getting some newer and better piece of audio equipment is not the component or loudspeaker itself, but rather the way it makes my recordings sound better. Once you have built up a good-sounding audio system, the joy of the hobby is musical and sonic stimulation that you achieve through auditioning recordings — most of us have only one audio system, but hundreds or even thousands of recordings!
How fun it is to get the lists form the contributors and put them together for this issue! How fascinating it is to see what kinds of music that various contributors enjoy. Take David Rich, for example. David is known to most people in the audio community as a very astute technical expert with an intimate knowledge of circuit design. But have you ever wondered what sorts of recordings David Rich listens to? Now you cart find out. Then think of John Puccio, who auditions and reviews so many, many recordings throughout the year. Of all those recordings, which are his favorites? Now you can find out.
You might read in our pages of a piece of equipment that really strikes your fancy. You think that it would be wonderful to have that particular amplifier of loudspeaker system in your own audio system, but because of the price, you can only think and dream about it. But when you read about a recording that you think you would find interesting, you can usually purchase it without giving much thought at all to the effects it will have on your budget. Perhaps it is a recording by a composer with who you are not familiar. You give a recommended recording a try, decide that you really like it, and then purchase more recordings of the composer’s music. You seek out other reviews of music by that composer, and you do some research on his life and work. Soon, you are really excited about this whole new musical dimension to your life, and you are lending some of your CDs to your friends, hoping they will share you excitement and enjoyment. That’s what makes this hobby so much fun!
And that’s why I so enjoy puffing this issue together. I hope you enjoy reading it. With all this emphasis on recordings for this issue, we of course do not have as much room as usual for equipment reviews, but there is still plenty of information about equipment, both in the form of reviews and a report on the 2003 CES. There are a few other odds and ends in this issue, too, so we hope you find something interesting and useful in these pages. Again — enjoy!
How to Communicate with Us: To order a new subscription, change an address on an existing subscription, order back issues, or take care of other subscription-related matters, our business telephone is (800) 695-8439, our business fax is (716) 833-0929, our business address is 403 Darwin Drive, Snyder, NY 14226, our business e-mail address is SensiSound@aol.com, and our website. To correspond about any editorial matters, submit equipment for review, pass along hot audio gossip, put us on your mailing list, or just blow off steam, please write KWN directly at 9775 Mills Road, Ostrander, OH 43061. To submit a classified ad or inquire about display advertising, please give Don Nowak a call at (800) 695-8439 or send him e-mail at TSSAdv@aol.com.
Previews of Coming Attractions: Among the equipment we have in or have been promised for review are components and loudspeakers from Balanced Audio Technology, Elac, Legacy Audio, Philips, Velodyne, and Von Schweikert; and much more, including plenty of music reviews, a field trip to Minnesota, and a whole host of adjectives.
- KWN
One Last Thought: "Given any new technology for transmitting information, we seem bound to use it for great quantities of small talk. We are only saved by music from being overwhelmed by nonsense." — Lewis Thomas
