Ultra-high Data Density
Pure technology developments don't often have an audiophile angle, but a February 9 announcement from <A HREF="http://www.inphase-tech.com">InPhase Technologies</A> caught our attention.
LATEST ADDITIONS
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Book Review: Quad: The Closest Approach
Quad: The Closest Approach
by Ken Kessler. Cambridge, England, UK: International Audio Group Ltd., 2003. Hardcover, 12" square, 215 pp. ISBN 0 954 57420 6.
Available from: Quad dealers or IAG America, 15 Walpole Park South, Walpole, MA 02801. Tel: (508) 850-3950.
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by Ken Kessler. Cambridge, England, UK: International Audio Group Ltd., 2003. Hardcover, 12" square, 215 pp. ISBN 0 954 57420 6.
Available from: Quad dealers or IAG America, 15 Walpole Park South, Walpole, MA 02801. Tel: (508) 850-3950.
Listening #14
<I>Five years: My brain hurts a lot.</I>—David Bowie
Klipsch RB-15 loudspeaker
Bob Reina has been doing more than his share of reviewing inexpensive speakers in the past couple of years. I thought it only fair to shoulder some of the load, therefore, by reviewing a small design that had sounded interesting when I heard it at a press preview, the Klipsch RB-15.
B&W 705 loudspeaker
When I was first getting interested in "high fidelity," as we called it back in the 1960s, there was an audio dealer in Worthing, England called Bowers & Wilkins. Their advertisement in the February 1966 issue of Hi-Fi News features their annual sale, with a Quad Electrostatic Speaker priced at £30 instead of the manufacturer's recommended £37, and offering other bargains, from ReVox, Quad, Rogers, Leak, and Armstrong. Conspicuous by their absence from the ad are Bowers & Wilkins speakers. The first reference to those I could find was in the August 1968 issue of what was then called The Gramophone, when race-car driver turned audio critic John Gilbert raved about the P2 Monitor. Designed by avid concertgoer John Bowers with Peter Hayward and featuring an EMI bass unit and a Celestion tweeter, the two-way P2 was priced at more than twice the Quad speaker, at £159/pair.
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Will perfect audio reproduction ever be possible in a listener's home? Why or why not?
Music reproduction has certainly come a long way since the early wax cylinder. But will we ever be able to perfectly reproduce the sound of, say, a live jazz quartet in our living rooms?
Chapter 11 for Tower
UPDATE: On Monday, February 9, Tower Records, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Industry observers had predicted the move in the weeks leading up to the filing. MTS, Inc., as the company is officially known, listed "more than $100 million of assets and more than $100 million of debts in its filing," according to a report from Reuters news service. "MTS expects to emerge from Chapter 11 within 45 to 60 days. It plans to swap $110 million of senior debt for $30 million of new senior notes and an 85% equity stake. Existing equity holders would retain a 15% stake," the report continued.
Added to the Archives This Week
In his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/1098cary">Cary Audio Design CAD-572SE monoblock power amplifier</A>, Martin Colloms explains, "It's no accident that low- and zero-feedback triode technology is now the mainstay of the Cary amplifier line." MC then reports on whether or not this approach has succeeded. RObert Deutsch adds some further thoughts.
Lehmann Gets New Distribution
<A HREF="http://www.lehmannaudio.de">Lehmann audio</A> has carved out a small niche for itself in the analog market with the Black Cube phono preamp (first noted by Michael Fremer in the October 1998 issue of <I>Stereophile</I>). The company now hopes to reach a wider audience in the US and Canada for the Black Cube and the rest of its products with a new distribution arrangement between itself and <A HREF="http://www.lehmannaudio.de/hudsonaudioimports/">Hudson Audio Imports</A>.
SunnComm Buys DarkNoise
<A HREF="http://www.sunncomm.com">SunnComm</A> and others have been trying for years to find ways to prevent consumers from copying music discs. While their success in preventing digital copies <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11754/index.html">has been mixed</A>, lurking in the background was a problem many felt could never be solved.