Visitors to the 2008 International Auto Show, currently taking place at NYC's Jacob Javits Convention Center, might discover something different at the Bentley display: a high-end audio listening room. Bentley Motors and Naim have teamed up for the <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/news/022108bentley/">"Naim For Bentley"</A> program, which will be offered as a sound package upgrade for all Bentley models by year's end.
We already know that your life is devoted to music and audio, but what comes next? In addition to being an audiophile, what else are you passionate about?
"I thought starting an audiophile record label was hard," Chesky Records co-founder Norman Chesky told <I>Stereophile</I>. "That was <I>nothing</I> compared to this. We've spent three years developing <A HREF="http://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=staticpage&pagename=aboutus">HDt…;
This is my fourth review of a Revel loudspeaker, and I was even more excited by the arrival of the Ultima Studio2s ($15,999/pair) than I was when their predecessors, the original Ultima Studios ($10,799/pair when first reviewed; $15,000/pair when last listed in "Recommended Components"), were delivered in 2000. (See <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/302">my review</A> in the December 2000 <I>Stereophile</I>, Vol.23 No.12.) After all, the Studios were my reference speakers for years and, along with the larger Ultima Salons, were statement products that were the product of the talented designer Kevin Voecks and the considerable resources of Harman International, parent of Revel as well as of JBL and Infinity. Over the years, I've also reviewed Revel's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/244">Performa F30</A> (May 2000, Vol.23 No.5) and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/706revel">Concerta F12</A> (July 2006, Vol.29 No.7), each outstanding at its price point. If, after all these years, Voecks and his team were ready to reconsider their statement products, they should be something special.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/092005knowing/">I knew nothing</a> about high end hi-fi. Hard to believe, I know. But true. I didn't even know that the high end existed. My Magnavox boombox worked just fine. As a person grew older and gained the responsibilities and markings of an adult, I knew that his or her speakers and amplifiers grew larger and flashier and more expensive—like their houses and cars and debt—but I didn't equate those changes with better sound. I didn't even think about better sound.
Art Dudley reviewed the original <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/705arcam/index.html">Ar… Solo CD receiver</a> in our July 2005 issue. Art was impressed. He wrote:
The Solo Mini Mini Cooper. Vroom vroom.
In <I>Aural Robert</I> in the April issue of <I>Stereophile</I>, Amoeba owner David Prinz and I discuss his label, Amoeba Records, and his ongoing program to reissue Gram Parsons live sets. Needless to say however, I also talked with him about the ever more bizarre situation that the record business now finds itself in. As the owner of the biggest and best independent record stores on planet Earth, his opinion carries more than a little weight. Here's a sampling of what he said about the biz and the specter of iTunes.
Heads up. Ornette Coleman’s group is playing at the Town Hall in New York City on March 28. If you have any interest in modern jazz (or modern music, period), you should buy a ticket now before they sell out.
Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries (DALI), a relatively large maker of loudspeakers, was founded in 1982 by the peripatetic Peter Lyngdorf, who has worked with or founded Steinway/Lyngdorf, Lyngdorf Audio, TacT, NAD, etc. Audionord International, another company founded by Lyngdorf, owns DALI as well as American subsidiary DALI USA, along with yet another Lyngdorf creation: the 60 Hi-Fi Klubben stores, said to be the world's largest chain of high-end audio retail shops. Whew! The guy keeps busy.