John Atkinson

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DVD-Audio draft specs announced at CES; HDCD ported to Motorola DSP chip
News
John Atkinson  |  Jan 08, 1998  |  0 comments
As expected, the DVD WG-4 Audio Working Group announced at CES that it has released a draft of its DVD-Audio specification to the 10 original DVD consortium companies, and to music-industry associations RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan), and IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry).
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Polk acquires financial stake in Genesis Technologies
News
John Atkinson  |  Jan 02, 1998  |  0 comments
Loudspeaker manufacturer Polk Audio announced on December 31 that it had acquired an interest in Genesis Technologies, manufacturer of both loudspeakers and digital products. Not only did Polk invest $500,000 in Genesis convertible preferred securities, it also obtained a three-year option to purchase the Colorado-based high-end audio company, which is led by three industry veterans: Arnie Nudell (co-founder of Infinity), Paul McGowan (co-founder of PS Audio), and Mark S. Schifter (co-founder of Audio Alchemy).
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Encore: the 1997 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival CD
FeaturesMusic and Recording Features
John Atkinson, Wes Phillips  |  Jan 01, 1998  |  0 comments
"To be natural," Oscar Wilde said, "is such a very difficult pose to keep up."
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Phil Jones no longer with Platinum Audio
News
John Atkinson  |  Dec 27, 1997  |  0 comments
Phil Jones, the loudspeaker designer who pioneered the resurgence of metal-cone woofers with first Acoustic Energy in the UK, then Boston Acoustics' Lynnfield series, and finally his own company, Platinum Audio, is no longer with Platinum.
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Negative feedback doesn't always decrease amplifier distortion!
News
John Atkinson  |  Dec 21, 1997  |  0 comments
Martin Colloms argues persuasively in the January 1998 Stereophile that negative feedback is not the panacea that amplifier designers believe it to be. His experience of an amplifier (the Cary CAD-805C) and a preamplifier (the Conrad-Johnson ART) that use no negative feedback other than local degeneration, yet have sound quality better than he has previously experienced, convinces him that even when a design's closed-loop distortion appears to be acceptably low, the listener is still aware of an amplifier's very distorted open-loop behavior.
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Low-level Powerline Radiation Disturbs the Effect of Hormones
News
John Atkinson  |  Dec 07, 1997  |  0 comments
We have followed at a distance the discussion over whether 60Hz/50Hz electromagnetic radiation from powerlines affects the health of people in close proximity, and in the November 1997 Stereophile (Vol.20 No.11, p.51), an "Industry Update" story by Barry Willis reported a connection with Alzheimer's Disease.
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High-end audio-industry veterans have new jobs
News
John Atkinson  |  Dec 04, 1997  |  0 comments
As of October, Meridian America's new VP/Sales, replacing the late Ross Keim, was industry veteran Andy Regan, who started his high-end career at Manhattan retailer Sound by Singer. Most recently, Regan was VP/Sales at cable manufacturer AudioQuest. Not uncoincidentally, Joe Abrams has moved from cable manufacturer MIT to AudioQuest.
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Stereophile's Products of 1997
Products of the Year
John Atkinson, Wes Phillips  |  Aug 07, 2020  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1997  |  12 comments
For the sixth consecutive year, Stereophile has named a select few components as "Products of the Year." By doing so, we intend to give recognition to those components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period.
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Mark Levinson No.380S preamplifier
Solid State Preamp Reviews
John Atkinson  |  Nov 29, 1997  |  0 comments
"Comping," they call it at Madrigal. Once a circuit and its board layout have been finalized, passive components are substituted one by one in an exhaustive series of listening tests to determine the places where use of a premium part, or one of closer tolerances, results in an audible benefit. This fine-tuning process cannot be open-ended, however, as products do have to shipped. So what happens when new parts become available, or new manufacturing processes allow a better-sounding part to be used without financial penalty?
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DVD-A vs SACD
As We See It
John Atkinson  |  Sep 10, 2005  |  First Published: Nov 10, 1997  |  0 comments
"This is offensive!" muttered usually mild-mannered Malcolm Hawksford, who was sitting next to me. "I'm leaving." The good professor was right. One thousand or so attendees at the 103rd Audio Engineering Society Convention, held at the end of September in New York, were being subjected to truly terrible sound. The irony was that the sound was that of 2- and 5-channel recordings made with 24-bit resolution and a 96kHz sampling rate, being played over a colored PA system to demonstrate the future of audio, in the form of DVD-Audio.
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