Igor Kipnis, Dead at 71
Igor Kipnis, virtuosic harpsichordist, prolific critic, and esteemed teacher died January 23. He was 71. According to his managing agency, Marilyn Gilbert Artists Management of Toronto, he had been suffering from cancer.
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CEA Sees Slow Year for Home Audio
The <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) believes 2002 will be a slow year for home-audio sales, but not an unsuccessful one for either manufacturers or retailers.
Where the Rubber Meets the Road
There's one phrase a Ferrari dealer never hears from a potential customer: "Ferrari? What's a Ferrari?" Marques such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati are so embedded in mainstream culture that their dealers never have to introduce an unfamiliar but exorbitantly expensive set of wheels to their prospects.
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So Many Trees!
Trees. All I could see from Route 44 was trees. Many, many trees. How many trees? Exactly 251.1 million maples, hickories, pines, hemlocks, ashes, and oaks of all colors, with trunks 5" or greater in diameter, according to an online survey I later found on the Web. Once you get away from I-95 and the coast, Connecticut seems to be one large forest, its towns peeking out from barely adequate clearings. And not just "seems"—the same online survey says that 57% of the Constitution State's 3,205,760 acres are officially classified as "forest."
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Conrad-Johnson MV60 power amplifier
It's always good to tear into a good steak with Tor Sivertsen, Conrad-Johnson's main marketing man.
What do you consider the weakest link in your audio system. What are you going to do about it?
Reader Gerald Neily wonders where the Achilles' Heel in your audio system is and how you plan to deal with it.
Singer Peggy Lee Dies at 81
Few music lovers who grew up in the 1950s and '60s could have failed to be influenced by torch singer Peggy Lee, who died of heart failure at her Bel Air home on Monday, January 21. Lee was 81 and had been in ill health for several years.
NHT Gets EQCalibrated
One of the more compelling live demonstrations at last year's 2001 Consumer Electronics Show was in the room at the Alexis Park hosted by Australia's <A HREF="http://www.clarityeq.com">ClarityEQ</A>. As <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10969/">reported last year</A>, using a $350 pair of NHT Super One speakers driven by mass-market consumer gear, the company's PDC-6.6 DSP correction system noticeably improved the midrange tonality and imaging we were hearing each time it was switched into the circuit. This prompted us to give the company the "proof of concept in a hotel room" award for that year.
Added to the Archives This Week
As Robert J. Reina writes in his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/500/">JMlab Chorus 706 loudspeaker</A>, "The most exciting development in audio today isn't multichannel surround, single-ended triodes, or $10,000 phono cartridges. It's 'trickle down.'" Find out just what has trickled into the Chorus from the company's highly regarded Utopia line.
Sony Q3 Results Confusing
The past several months haven't been kind to the electronics industry. Most manufacturers are suffering from slow sales and backlogged inventory. But one company is painting a slightly different, if confusing, picture. Unless you've drastically slashed margins while quadrupling sales volume, the phrase "record quarterly sales but decreased profits" appears self-contradictory. Yet <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony Corporation</A> is claiming exactly that for the last quarter of 2001, the company's third fiscal quarter. (Most electronics manufacturers begin new fiscal years April 1.) On Friday, January 25, Sony announced a 14.4% decline in overall profits for the final three months of 2001, due to sagging demand for consumer electronics products. The company reported that sales of electronics decreased 2.8% to ¥1.55 trillion, with operating income for its electronics unit down a stunning 47% to ¥71 billion. The same announcement claimed an all-time quarterly sales record for Sony Corporation as a whole.