Among loudspeaker designers, Franco Serblin enjoys an enviable reputation for beautiful creations and meticulous craftsmanship. Until recently, Sonus Faber's resident genius had confined himself to minimonitors with simple crossover networks, such as the Concerto, a <I>Stereophile</I> Class B Recommended Component.
Over three quarters of a million readers served! With several million "page views" and dozens of millions of "hits" in the past 365 days, the <I>Stereophile</I> website has continued to grow steadily, with a record number of folks visiting practically every week. We've also dished out over <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/showoldnews.cgi">300 news articles</A>---practically an article each day---covering everything audio, from important new-technology announcements to the demise and then rebirth of several legendary brands.
Four years after its first unsuccessful foray into the American consumer marketplace, <A HREF="http://www.sel.cony.com/">Sony</A>'s MiniDisc appears finally to be winning serious numbers of converts. Several large-scale retailers, including Best Buy, Circuit City, Service Merchandise, and (soon) Sears department stores, have dedicated MiniDisc displays, with home recorders, portable players, and blank discs available individually or as a package deal. The displays were built with Sony's support, according to Mike Viken, senior VP for Sony's personal audio/video marketing division.
CD players started life as single boxes, but audiophiles soon broke them down into separate transports and D/A converters. Jitter-reduction devices were soon added, but now some manufacturers are going back to a single-box approach. Which do you prefer?
We'd been playing phone tag for a couple of weeks, but Paul McGowan was finally tethered to a handset as he explained to me a product from his "new" company, the reincarnation of <A HREF="http://www.psaudio.com">PS Audio</A>. "Everything you've ever wanted in a power conditioner---times 10---with none of the drawbacks!" McGowan could hardly contain himself while pitching his latest brainstorm. He certainly had an intriguing idea, but the path from founder of PS Audio back in the late '70s to <A HREF="http://www.gen-tech.com">Genesis Technologies</A> and back again was nearly as interesting.
It had to happen eventually. Britain's internationally successful loudspeaker manufacturers tend to be highly geared exporters, with overseas markets often accounting for 80-90% of sales. The dramatic downturn in sales across virtually all Asian markets, alongside the collapse of the Russian ruble and an ever-strengthening pound sterling, has been making life very tough indeed.
For the seventh consecutive year, <I>Stereophile</I> has named a select few audio components the "Products of the Year." In doing so, we recognize those components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period.
Is stadium rock passé? The Rolling Stones, the world's greatest practitioners of large-venue concerts, have announced a tour of smaller arenas beginning January 25. The "No Security" tour---in support of the recently released Virgin Records album of the same name---will take the band through 25 North American cities.
DVD players are backward-compatible with CDs, offering consumers the ability to replace their CD players with DVD decks. Some record companies have released DVD-Videos carrying 24/96 high-resolution audio to take advantage of the new format, and DVD-Audio should be just around the corner.