“Stereophile’s policy of changing only one component at a time so that you know what’s responsible for the changes you hear is undoubtedly a good idea. Sometimes, though, things just don’t work out that way, because reviewer systems and rooms are in a constant state of flux. Just as the S 1000 was settling in, a local contractor and friends found time to help me install A/V RoomService Poly-Flex Diffuser panels and some homemade slap-echo treatment. After these adjustments, I heard vastly improved image specificity and detail retrieval, smoothed rough edges on high-frequency sounds,and clarified soundstage boundaries and depth. As I listened to Strauss’s Alpine Symphony and other works on our recent Recording of the Month, conductor Andris Nelsons’s Richard Strauss

box set (24/96 WAV, DG 486 2049), even the softest instrumental lines were easily discernible amidst 90 instruments blasting away.