The sales picture has improved for Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, but not the bottom line. The Canton, MA–based retailer reported a 4% increase in sales for the second quarter ended March 31, with comparable store results up 3%. The increase lifted Tweeter's total revenue to $189.3 million, but the company reported an operating loss of $4.6 million, almost twice the $2.5 million loss posted in the same period the previous year.
Sirius keeps climbing: If recent gains are any indication, Sirius Satellite Radio may reach its break-even number of subscribers. On May 11, the New York–based satellite radio service reported that it had achieved a subscribership of 400,000. The brand will get increased exposure this summer as Sirius receivers go on sale at Radio Shack and EchoStar "DISH Network" outlets. Sirius products from Audiovox, Clarion, Jenson, and Kenwood are already available at Wal-Mart stores and after-market car audio installers nationwide. Other manufacturers signing on with Sirius include Alpine, Blaupunkt, Crestron, Delphi, Eclipse, JVC, Niles, Sanyo, and US Electronics, all with products due this year. The 400,000-subscriber mark is an "important milestone for Sirius," according to CEO Joe Clayton, who said the company is on track to reach a target audience of one million subscribers by the end of 2004.
"Is there anything genuinely new under the audio sun?" asks Michael Fremer as he describes the technology behind the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/504ta">T+A V10 integrated amplifier</A>. "For the most part, industry cynics say 'No,'" MF remarks, "claiming that most new amplifier designs merely rehash well-worn circuits. [But] T+A developed a new circuit for the V10 that it calls the SPPP, for 'Single Primary Push-Pull.'"
Sorting through the rooms of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), we'll often discover interesting companies only to find that they are not yet represented in the US. Such has been the case with <A HREF="http://www.cyrus.co.uk/">Cyrus Electronics</A>, which has always intrigued us with its compact products and modern design sensibility in the tradition of a Linn or Meridian.
I love attending <I>Stereophile</I>'s Home Entertainment shows. I get to check out the latest gear, hobnob with manufacturers and writer colleagues, hear some live music, and play a little jazz with John Atkinson, Zan Stewart, and Immedia's Allen Perkins. Unfortunately, work commitments at my day job meant I couldn't attend HE2003, in San Francisco, so I directed my team of <I>Stereophile</I> scouts to find me some hot new budget speakers. Robert Deutsch was quickest to respond, the week following the show: "Bob, you've got to check out these new speakers from Usher Audio in Taiwan! They have a number of models within your budget." One phone call later, and a $1000/pair of Compass X-719 bookshelf speakers was on its way to me.
The CD-303/200 is a stout, handsome unit with a thick front panel of black-anodized aluminum (silver is also available) and a beefy, epoxy-coated aluminum chassis. Even the remote control—a heavy aluminum unit with multi-function, backlit buttons—screams "Quality!" Curiously, however, the remote is clad in chrome plate, rather than brushed aluminum or anodized black to match the player. The coup de grace is the CD-303/200's transport mechanism, a Philips CDM12, which is good enough as is; Cary addition of a thick, machined drawer warmed this metallurgist's heart.
Without having intended to, I seem to have collected several "statement" products. I've already reported on the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/781">Weiss Medea</A> and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/digitalsourcereviews/204theta">Theta Digital Generation VIII</A> digital-to-analog converters. I saw and expressed interest in the Nagra DAC at the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show, when prototypes of it were shown along with a forthcoming multichannel version, the Nagra Digital Audio Processor (DAP). The two units are based on the same chassis and interface, the DAP including additional modules and processing.
"That sounds really great—what are you listening to?" my wife hollered to me from her home office, adjacent to my listening room.
Apple's OS X and Microsoft's Windows Media 9 Series both support 96/24 PCM audio. What do you think is the potential for high-rez digital to suceed as a computer-based format?
Live music from popular recording artists is on tap for attendees at the Home Entertainment Show coming to NYC May 20—23, 2004 at the Hilton New York Hotel. And best of all—all performances are FREE to all Show attendees!