Audio companies create products that are based on a variety of technologies, provoking lawsuits every once in a while when patents are involved. One such lawsuit erupted earlier this year as Robert W. Carver, designer for and founder of <A HREF="http://www.sunfire.com">Sunfire Corporation</A>, filed a US patent lawsuit against <A HREF="http://www.audioprods.com/">Audio Products International</A> (API).
It's just about impossible to imagine a worse public relations campaign than the one being waged by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the nation's courtrooms.
More compact discs that attempt to restrict how you use them are coming to a record store near you. BMG announced last week that its Arista Records division will be the company's first label in the US to release a commercial CD using copy-restriction technology.
Graham Nash and Frank Zappa will be <A HREF="http://www.dts.com">DTS Entertainment's</A> first artists to debut in Europe on DVD-Audio, thanks to an agreement between DTSE and Cadiz Music, Ltd., a distributor in Greenwich, England. DTS Entertainment is the entertainment division of Digital Theater Systems, Inc., based in Agoura Hills, CA.
When I interviewed recording engineer Roy Halee (Simon and Garfunkel, The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful, etc.) at his home in Connecticut back in 1991, he pointed to his pair of monolithic Infinity IRS loudspeakers and said, "When I want to listen for pleasure, I listen to those." He then pointed to a pair of early-edition Wilson Audio Specialties WATT/Puppys in a second system set up in the corner of his large listening room. "When I want to hear what's on a recording I've made, I listen to <I>those</I>." It was obvious: Halee respected the Wilsons, but he <I>loved</I> the Infinitys. Not surprising, since <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/478/">Dave Wilson</A> designed the WATT section to be a highly accurate portable monitor, and monitors are designed for respect, not love.
I was riding BART home from <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/11662/">Home Entertainment 2003</A>, thinking about the day—the new products, the old friends, the rooms with really great sound. It's a long ride from downtown San Francisco to Livermore, so I next got to thinking about all of the hi-fi shows I've attended over the years and which companies, year after year, always seem to have good sound. At the top of the list were Audio Physic and its US importer, Allen Perkins' Immedia.
I reviewed JMlab's Mezzo Utopia loudspeaker in the July 1999 <I>Stereophile</I> (Vol.22 No.7). By chance, the Mezzos had followed a pair of <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/207/">B&W Nautilus 801</A>s into my listening room, and the substitution had proved rather interesting. For all their many fine qualities, the 801, with its 15" bass driver, was distinctly bass-heavy in my room, whereas the 11" drivers of the Mezzos seemed just right in this regard.
<B>FRANCK: Violin Sonata in A<BR>RACHMANINOFF: Cello Sonata in g</B><BR> Renaud Capuçon, violin; Gautier Capuçon, cello; Alexandre Gurning, Lilya Zilberstein, piano<BR>EMI Classics 5 57505 2 (CD). 2003. Carlo Piccardi, prod.; Ulrich Ruscher, eng. DDD. TT: 65:33<BR>Performance <B>****</B><BR>Sonics <B>****</B>
There is one date I dread every year: my wife's birthday. After nearly 16 years of marriage, I have exhausted every last iota of my spousal resources in trying to think of a suitable present. Nothing too ordinary, nothing too <I>out</I> of the ordinary, nothing that will trigger those dreaded words, "You <I>did</I> keep the receipt, right?"
Poll after poll reveals that readers think that high CD prices solidly outpace even the mediocrity of the music offerings as the number-one symptom of what is wrong with the music business. Now that Universal is lowering the price on some of its CDs, do you think you'll buy more of its discs?