Thank you, Dave, Laurence Sherwood, among others, for rekindling memories
of my first stereo--it was a Dynakit, with KLH speakers and a Garrard
changer (quickly replaced by the venerable AR turntable)...and, yes, our
second purchase as newlyweds was a beige VW Beetle.  Our first LPs were
Karajan's 1962 Beethoven symphonies, Bohm's Schubert, Bernstein's New
World and "Pictures," plus Joan Baez, the Weavers, and Dave Brubeck.

Now let me put in a word for DVD operas.  Following Amazon's list of "15
Great Performances," I've assembled a collection that stands up well to
top versions in other formats; in particular, I'd warmly recommend:

.  "Fidelio" from Covent Garden, von Dohnanyi conducting

.  "Cosi fan Tutte" from Zurich, Harnoncourt in the pit, and Bartoli leading
an able cast

.  "Otello" from Covent Garden, with Domingo, Te Kanawa, and Ramey, with
Solti conducting

.  "Rosenkavalier" from Vienna, led by Kleiber

.  Karajan's "Don Giovanni" from Salzburg, with the proverbial all-star
cast (Ramey, Battle, Furlanetto, and the recently departed Gosta Winbergh

Each of these sets includes a traditional and coherent stage production
(no street gangs, neo-Nazis or MTV touches), crisp Dolby 5.1 Surround (with
little stage noise or rustling footsteps to upset the subwoofer, a problem
with some live tapings on DVD) and the sense that we dropped in on a good
night.  Best of all, some of the prices are lower than comparable multi-CD
audio sets (since there's only one disc to play....the exception is "Cosi,"
which contains bonus materials and the final act on a second disc).  So I
agree with this thread--technical progress is enabling some exciting new
listening--and viewing--experiences.  When you're ready for that DVD player,
be sure to grab one with "Progressive Scan;" that feature makes a notable
difference with darkly lighted scenes--even better if your TV is
HDTV-capable.  And like many of these devices, the prices are dropping
almost as fast as my retirement accounts.

Enjoy!

Dick Claeys
[log in to unmask]

 [I was hoping someone knowledgeable would discuss opera on DVD. Classical
 Net has a fair number of review up now, and they can be found at:

   http://www.classical.net/music/reviews/master/videos.html

 And, I should point out that a progressive scan DVD player *only* makes
 a difference if you have a HDTV capable TV with a wideband component
 input.  But as progressive scan is very inexpensive these days I would
 recommend that people buying a new VD player weigh the progressive scan
 feature eavily even if their TV can't handle it now.  If you do get a
 HDTV in the future, the difference is striking.  See how esoteric these
 stereo discussions can get?  -Dave]