Added to the Archives This Week By SGHT Staff August 25, 2002 — J. Gordon Holt taps away at the titanium "Elliptical Oblate Spheroidal waveguides" of the JBL Performance surround-sound speaker system 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.

Next, John J. Gannon takes the popular Rotel RMB-1075 five-channel power amplifier out for spin. JG compares the Rotel to other amps—at up to four times the price—and flushes out the sonic details.