At HE2005 last April, Daniel Khesin's brawny $3000 150Wpc DK Designs VS-1 MK2 hybrid integrated amplifier had the crowd buzzing with its expansive sound driving Von Schweikert speakers—and bang-for-the-buck pricing. We spoke with Khesin and he was passionate about breaking into the high-end big leagues. Therefore, it came as a surprise to receive notice on July 8 that DK Design had been purchased by LSA Group LLC of Louisville, KY.
Back in June, we reported on the <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/news/060605BBC/"> BBC's "The Beethoven Experience"</A>, described as "a bold experiment in whether or not free music stimulates legitimate music sales or suppresses them." Last week, <I>The Independent</I> published a terse 200-word article, reporting that the Beeb had downloaded one million files during the Experience, and stating "The initiative has infuriated the bosses of leading classical record companies, who argue the offer undermines the value of music and that any further offers would be unfair competition."
We were saddened to learn (via <A HREF="http:// http://boingboing.net/">the website Boing-boing</A>) that Dr. Robert A. Moog, inventor of the world's first real-time reconfigurable music synthesizer, is being treated for a brain tumor (glioblastoma multiforme or GBM), for which he is receiving radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
Exploring the details about the reproduction of music in the home is what we're all about. Periodically, however, it's a good idea to get back to basics, which leads us to this week's question: Why are you an audiophile?
Canadian company Paradigm has made a name for itself over the past 20 years with affordably priced, high-performance loudspeakers. Its Reference Series designs have garnered much praise from this magazine—I was <I>well</I> impressed by the floorstanding Series 3 Reference Studio/100 ($2300/pair) <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/105paradigm">last January</A>, my review following hard on the heels of Kalman Rubinson's enthusiastic recommendation of the smaller Studio/60 v.3 ($1600/pair) in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/1204paradigm">December 2004</A>, while the bookshelf Reference Studio/20 ($800/pair) has been a resident of <I>Stereophile</I>'s "Recommended Components" listing ever since Bob Reina's original review in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/628">February 1998</A>.
I wish the domestic audio industry of 2005 were more like the pop-music industry of 2005, with its variety, vitality, and ability to reach beyond its boundaries to move people. And its sense of fun, which hi-fi often seems to entirely lack.
On mornings when I can get up early enough after a late-night listening session, I take the last express bus from my Brooklyn suburb to <I>Stereophile</I>'s Manhattan office. An inveterate people watcher, I notice that while my fellow travelers and I don't form a traditional queue at the bus stop, preferring instead to mill around in something that resembles a jelly donut, we still enter the bus in the order in which we arrived at the stop. The balance between individualism and social necessity is thus preserved.
<B>DAVID CHESKY: <I>Area 31</I></B><BR>
<I>The Girl from Guatemala</I>, Flute Concerto, Violin Concerto<BR>
Wonjung Kim, soprano; Jeffrey Khaner, flute; Tom Chiu, violin; Anthony Aibel, Area 31<BR>
Chesky SACD288 (SACD/CD). 2004. David Chesky, David Eggar, prods.; Barry Wolfson, eng.; Rick Eckerle, second eng.; Nicholas Prout, mastering, editing. AAD? TT: 56:31<BR>
Performance <B>****½</B><BR>
Sonics <B>*****</B>
If you find yourself purchasing more new audio gear online each year, you are not alone. A recent study from the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) reveals that online shopping for consumer electronics products is gaining in popularity. The CEA study finds that an average of 5% of all consumer electronics purchases are made online, with portable audio devices in particular selling more than 10% of product through online channels.
On July 4, a Brazilian website apparently posted some tools that allowed users of <A HREF="http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Home.jsp">InterVideo's WinDVD</A> to pull copy-protected data off DVD-Audio discs and store it on the user's hard drive rather than simply routing it to a sound card. According to <A HREF="http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/6597.cfm">Afterdawn</A>, the tools didn't "do the decryption themselves, [but] instead patched WinDVD to output the decrypted stream to disk instead of the sound card."