As many of you know, I appear as a regular guest on The Tech Guy, a nationally syndicated call-in radio talk show hosted by Leo Laporte. The show airs live on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 AM to 2 PM Pacific time; some stations carry all or part of the show live, while others play the recording at different times. My segment is usually on Sundays right after the 11:30 AM news break, when I talk about home theater and answer reader and listener questions.

On February 5 and 6, I had the incredible opportunity to sit in for Leo as the guest host of The Tech Guy for the entire show. Leo was on vacation for three weeks, and I happened to be in the San Francisco Bay Area during that weekend, so we agreed that I would host the show from his studio, answering phone questions about—what else?—home theater.

Jerry Mahabub, founder of GenAudio and inventor of AstoundSound 3D-audio technology, talks about his research in brain imaging and perception as a teenager and how that research led to AstoundSound, how the algorithm works with 2-channel and surround systems, his new recording studio where the soundtrack for benefit short-film We Are the World 25 for Haiti was mixed and encoded with AstoundSound, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 1:02:46

Update: Now with a link to the YouTube video of the podcast!

Located in Memphis, TN, EgglestonWorks has long been known for exceptional speakers. Among the company's newest models is the Savoy, which is designed to meet the ultimate goal of music without compromise.

It is with profound sadness that I report the passing of Gary Altunian, a colleague and friend of many years. It looked as though he had won his long battle with cancer a few years ago, only to have it recently return with a vengeance. He finally succumbed on March 15, 2011, at the age of 59.

I first met Gary in the early 1990s when he was National Training Manager for Yamaha Electronics. I was just beginning my career as a journalist in consumer electronics (I had previously covered pro audio), and he helped me with my coverage of Yamaha CE products. We became friends and then colleagues when he left Yamaha in 2003 to pursue his own career as a freelance audio journalist. He was an excellent and conscientious writer, and I hired him whenever I could to contribute to whatever magazine or website I was working on at the time.