Brief responses to a request from the editor.(Looking Back)

My most exciting component purchase. That would be when I received my two Allison IC-20 systems over a decade ago--factory direct. I had to drive 30 miles to a depot to get them (with a borrowed pickup truck that almost could not hold the shipping cartons), and all the time I was out on the road I kept wondering if it was going to rain.

Unpacking the 100-pound-each speakers was a big job, but the work was worth it and the resulting listening experience was something I will never forget. They remain the best speakers I have ever heard.

My most treasured recording. In terms of both sound quality and music, this is probably a fine Chesky release: Seventeenth Century Music and Dance from the Viennese Court (CD173). Chesky has recently sent me the SACD version to review, and I hope to get around to doing just that once I get the time (and wife's permission, since I have recently spent a fortune on woodworking tools) to go purchase an SACD player. Well, maybe somebody will send me one to review.

Three close runners up would be Handel's 12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 (Denon 6305, two-disc set), Piet Kee Plays Buxtehuda & Sweelinck (Chandos 0514), and Telemann's Musique de Table (Naxos 8.504022, four-disc set). But, hey, I actually have a lot of other recordings on hand that I like just about as much as these. And I want all of you who think I am a subwoofer crazy to note that none of the listed works is a super-low-bass showpiece. Not even close.

My all-time favorite loudspeakers. Well, of course these would be my own Allison IC-20 models that continue as main speakers in my main listening room.

However, we have to take various eras into consideration. So, three other contenders would be: (1) a pair of AR-3a units I purchased back in the late 1960s, (2) a pair of Allison Model Ones that I purchased to replace the AR-3a units back in about 1976, and (3) a pair of AR-LST units that I heard in a friend's hi-fi shop back in about 1975. All of these units exhibited something I consider important: smooth power delivery to the listening position.

Three modern runners-up would be the Waveform MC sub/sat package I reviewed in issue 84, the Dunlavy Cantatas I reviewed in issue 87, and the NHT Evolution sub/sat package I reviewed for volume 8, issue 5 of The Audiophile Voice.