LATEST ADDITIONS

It's an article of faith among audiophiles that you can "hear" materials. It just stands to reason that, if a loudspeaker cone has a certain sound when tapped with a fingernail, then everything it reproduces will be colored by that sound. This is why an audiophile will tap the exposed cones of an unfamiliar loudspeaker to see what they sound like. But not every material has a characteristic sound; some aren't stiff enough to vibrate. A wet dishrag, for example, has no sonic "signature." Only if you hit something with it does it make any sound at all, and then it just goes splat. But any material stiff enough to push air without wilting is likely to have some kind of resonant mode that we can hear, so you just know that a metal loudspeaker diaphragm is going to sound metallic.

As promised <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?1273">last April</A>, Discovery Communications launched their new 24-hour 1080i high definition television (HDTV) network, called Discovery HD Theater, last week. The network has been launched on HD platforms recently rolled out by EchoStar Communications on its Dish Network satellite TV service nationwide, AT&T Broadband's greater Chicago market (where plans are set to launch HDTV service later this summer), and in numerous other markets serviced by cable providers Charter and Cox.

<I>Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Alfre Woodard, Mary McCormack. Directed by Iain Softley. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1. 121 minutes. 2001. Universal 21553. PG-13. $26.98.</I>

<A HREF="http://www.zenith.com">Zenith Electronics Corporation</A> is serious about pushing plasma displays (PDPs). The company's forthcoming flagship 60" high-definition model was announced June 20 at a price of $14,999, half the original suggested retail price of Zenith's DPDP60W, the first 60" plasma screen to hit the market, in August 2001.