Introduction As audio enthusiasts, we have made it one of our life’s missions to search out the best in musical reproduction that our ever-growing budgets will allow into our listening rooms. As we voraciously research each strategic move to improve our systems at home, we are more often than not listening to more and more music on our computers at work. The reality is that we spend far more time enjoying music at the office, spinning (and sometimes ripping) CDs and listening to songs from our growing collection of MP3s, as well as other media including Windows Media 9 files, DVD-Video discs, QuickTime files, PC games, and many others. While our high-end AV systems are in standby mode, waiting for us to get home, too many of us spend the majority of our hours listening to music listening on the crappy $20 per pair, injection-molded speakers that come with your Dell or Gateway, when ...

Introduction XM Satellite radio is one of the most exciting new technologies in the world of audio/video, with billions of Wall Street and privately raised dollars powering the first significant challenge to traditional terrestrial radio since FM took over from AM in the 1960s. With the unprecedented success of DirecTV satellite television as a model for success, XM radio has been rolled out this year, primarily in car audio environments, to impress music and entertainment enthusiasts. Being addicted to new AV toys and new cars, as well as being raised in a radio industry family, the lure of XM Satellite Radio was too much for me to resist, so when I sold off my 1997 BMW M3 for a 2002 Mercedes Benz ML500 SUV, I had an XM system installed within days. Since Mercedes seems to pride themselves on not adopting new ...