It has come that time of the year when one needs to look back at the past months and consider what he has done. In our case, much, this could be an easy answer, if you consider how many articles we have published this year, how many reviews, World Premieres, DIY projects, interviews, reportages, factory tours, letters etc.
Yes, this year has been FULL of things to do/write for us, a lot of fun, actually, but not always a bed of roses.
Reviewing HiFi components isn't an easy task, if you want to do this accurately and with a grain of salt. You need to try different systems, combos, cables, accessories so to be sure the component under review can perform at its best.
Anyway, considering your ever-increasing appreciation, I'd say we have done our homework pretty well :-) Actually, the number of visitors/readers of our humble web magazine has increased during the last year, reaching almost 1,5 million of hits per month. And the number of letters we receive has increased accordingly. And so the number of important web sites that have elected TNT-Audio as source for independent audio information around the globe.
So, instead of saying how proud and good we are, let me express - first of all - my deepest gratitude to you all, readers around the Globe, for your faithful and continuous support, encouragement and loyalty. We all need that. Also, let me thank all the members of our discussion forum (more or less 500/600 audiophiles both on the international and the Italian forum) for making our small communities always so lively, plenty of interesting insights and threads.

Secondly, let me thank all the HiFi Companies who believe in what we do and have expressed their appreciation sending us their products to review. The number of these Companies has increased during the last year and we plan to review more items in the future, thanks to their precious collaboration. And it seems (or so they say) that a review published into TNT-Audio, doesn't matter if positive or not, produces a large amount of accesses to the Companies' web sites and a vast interest in the reviewed product. Considering we don't accept any kind of advertising from HiFi Companies this "popularity boost" comes 100% free for them :-)
We're happy with this fact, they earn something, we can have fun reviewing more and more components, you readers have more to read :-)
Ok, I'm not 100% sure the Companies who have received a not-so-positive review will continue sending us their stuff...but, hey! this is the price to pay for really independent and off-the-schemes opinions.

Thirdly, a HUGE thank you goes to the posse of TNT readers who lend a hand in building this magazine, with translations (English--> Italian and Italian--> English) and HTML editing. A very special thanks goes to the Italian guys who have built the new TNT-Audio internal search engine, a powerful tool we have been missing for oh so long time.
Given the high number of articles which are online now, a search tool was becoming of paramount importance. Now we have it! Thanks guys, you know who you are (their names are on the search page, after all). I'm sure you'll forgive me if I don't cite all the names of these faithful "associates", you can find them at the bottom of each article where they have worked on.

Also, let me express my deepest and heartfelt gratitude to the TNT-Audio reviewing posse, a bunch of experts who make this mag so interesting to read and publish. Their loyalty and professional attitude is something hard to find even in well-paid professionals of audio journalism. We all do this for free and for fun, but we believe the result is quite professional, considering how appreciated our opinions are.
And your appreciation is our only reward :-)

We are about to open our sixth year (!!!) of activity and we hope to continue to give you more and more interesting articles, DIY projects, reviews etc as we've tried to do so far.
And please forgive us if we won't always be able to satisfy your needs, this is a spare-time managed magazine, we do the best we can.

Before wishing you all the best for the next year let me suggest just a little thing. Considering you don't spend a cent for reading TNT-Audio, plan to donate the amount of a standard yearly subscription for a print magazine to someone who is less lucky than you.
Instead of buying a meter of audiophile cable, plan to help the homeless who lives near you. This will make your HiFi system sound better, trust me.
Oh yes, this advice may sound obvious or even trivial, but I'll take the risk. We'd be happy if - because of our "work" here - someone, who doesn't even know what HiFi is, can receive some help.

Alternatively, plan to buy a gift for you relevant second other (wife, girlfriend, mother, husband etc.) who patiently tolerates your experiments and weird HiFi components in your living room. Don't forget to add a small card with From TNT-Audio with Love on it.

A merry X-Mas and Happy New Year from the TNT-Audio crew!

© Copyright 2000 Lucio Cadeddu - http://www.tnt-audio.com