For a lot of folks, the major record labels have lost their musical way. But independent, or "indie", labels are considered a bright spot by many. Do you have a favorite "indie" music label? What is it, and why do you like it?
The music industry constantly whinges about its woes, and the impending demise of Tower Records underscores the changes taking place within the current marketing model. What do you think is the root of the music industry's troubles?
This is old news, but you may not have read it anywhere: Warner Classics no longer exists as an "active" label. <I>Gramophone</I> published a news item breaking the story on June 2 and Norman Lebrecht apparently analyzed and excoriated the move in his <I>La Scena Musicale</I> web log shortly thereafter. We say "apparently," since Lebrecht's site now reads www.scena.org is now expired.
On August 15, Klipsch Group, Inc. announced the acquisition of Canadian firm Audio Products International Corp. (API), one of the largest speaker manufacturers in the world. API, which makes loudspeakers under the Mirage, Energy, Spherez, Sound Dynamics, and Athena Technologies brands, was founded in 1973 and is sold in over 50 countries worldwide. Klipsch, which makes speakers under the Klipsch marque as well as Jamo, was founded in 1946 by legendary speaker designer Paul W. Klipsch and has become "the largest stand-alone speaker manufacturer in the US."
When I went to my shelf of <I>Stereophile</I> back issues to find Paul Bolin's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/683">seminal review of the Halcro dm58</A>, I was shocked to find myself leafing further and further back—through not only 2004 but 2003 as well, all the way back to October 2002 (Vol.25 No.10). It doesn't seem possible that it's been almost four years since Halcro exploded onto our radar screens, the dm58 emblazoned on that issue's cover alongside the banner headline "THE BEST AMPLIFIER EVER!"
More than any other component, it is the loudspeaker that seems to invite the most audacious—some would say flat-out lunatic—efforts at design. There have been attempts at full-range plasma speakers, speakers one had to hook up to tanks of pressurized gas, speakers with drivers attached to what looked like copper salad bowls (the infamous Tri-Torr of the early 1990s).
<I>Oh mama</I>, was I ever excited when I heard rumors of the existence of AKG's K 701! If you're among the audiophiles who sneer at those of us who <I>like</I> headphones, you're probably rolling your eyes and thinking I must lack a rich inner life.
There are a thousand different ways to make a loudspeaker. A hundred to make an amplifier. And at least a million to make a piece of wire. But here's the deal with a moving-coil phono cartridge: stylus, cantilever, rubber grommet, tensioning wire, coils, magnet, output pins, and maybe a body. Done.
Alright, Kristina, before you leave us for your boyfriend and Boston, before you dive into ontology and photography, before you dedicate your days to the books and your nights to the booze, before you lose track of the earth's revolutions — keeping time, instead, with semesters and exams — before all of that and everything else, if, in fact, you do decide you want to fill your spare moments with music — good music, produced with magic — then I've found a few things for you to read. I hope this will help.
I'm interested in this subject because my wife is unbelievably sensitive to motion—planes, boats, the middle seat of an automobile, they all make her ill.