J. Gordon Holt taps away at the titanium "Elliptical Oblate Spheroidal waveguides" of the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?31">JBL Performance surround-sound speaker system</A> to help uncover clues to its sonic signature. But in the end, Holt finds that only extensive listening with both music and movies reveals the true measure of the JBL's unusual design.

Michael Fremer meets up with the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?29">Kenwood Sovereign VR-5900 audio/video receiver</A> and reports whether or not a curvaceous all-in-one receiver can float his home theater boat.

DirecTV subscribers will soon be able to enjoy the kind of digital television performance that cable subscribers can only dream about. On August 7, <A HREF="http://www.sony.sel.com">Sony Electronics</A> announced the SAT-HD200 set-top box (STB), an advanced DirecTV high-definition receiver with multiple format modes, keyword search, a favorite channel list, 20-event reminder, and an electronic programming guide. Subscribers with Digital Visual Interface (DVI) enabled high definition monitors will be able to receive uncompressed wideband high-def programming encoded with Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology.

Investors are singing the blues over cable giant <A HREF="http://www.comcast.com">Comcast</A>, which on Thursday, July 25 reported a net loss of $209.6 million for the second fiscal quarter. That number compared unfavorably to the company's $35.2 million profit for the same period a year earlier. Comcast has been hammered by investment losses&mdash;$538.3 million, more or less&mdash;including stakes in AT&T Corporation and other high-tech companies.