Owners of Apogee Acoustics loudspeakers are apparently being left to twist in the wind by <A HREF="http://www.adst.com/">a/d/s/</A>, the company that took over Apogee and subsequently shut it down (other than to apply the brand to a range of switch-mode power amplification modules). Service will no longer be available for the ribbon speakers, according to Apogee owner <A HREF="mailto:mcarnicelli@bigfoot.com">Matt Carnicelli</A>.
First with CD players, then digital preamps, and recently amplifiers, digital technology has ground inexorably through the audio chain. Several companies have been developing ways to shorten the analog path or remove it entirely. <A HREF="http://www.meridian.co.uk/">Meridian</A>'s "digital" loudspeakers come to mind, as well as the amplifiers from manufacturers <A HREF="http://www.spectronav.com">Spectron</A> and <A HREF="http://www.tactaudio.com">TacT</A>.
A good reference work on a subject like audio can help speed the understanding of complicated terms and develop the reader's grasp of the hobby's more arcane reaches. Unfortunately, not all audio books serve the audio<I>phile</I> equally well. Read about one such mishap in <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//reference/101/">Book Review: <I>High Fidelity Audio/Video Systems: A Critical Guide for Owners</I></A>.
Among major American cities, San Francisco probably ranks near the top in culture per capita. It's therefore no accident that an Internet venture billing itself "the world's first website journal of classical music criticism" should have originated there. The site, <A HREF="http://www.sfcv.org/"><I>San Francisco Classical Voice</I></A>, is celebrating its first six months online.
When Pioneer commissioned Allen Boothroyd, a British industrial designer best known for his work with Meridian Audio, to come up with a unique appearance for its new surround-sound speaker system, they apparently knew what they <I>didn't</I> want: another boring set of square boxes. Nor did they want a speaker system that would blend into Ethan Allen surroundings.
Adcom is one of those companies that's just too consistent for its own good. Year after year, they put out well-engineered, fairly priced gear, while we audiophiles become jaded and almost forget they're there... You want a good-sounding CD player that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? [<I>Yawn.</I>] Well, you could try Adcom. Need a power amplifier with some sock that won't make your tweeters crawl down your ear? There's always Adcom.
The MP3 audio format has been garnering significant press coverage of late: record labels abhor the piracy problems, consumers love the ease of use and access, and audiophiles can't stand the compressed sound. Does any of this matter to you?
The world is mourning the passing of Yehudi Menuhin. The 82-year-old violinist, conductor, author, educator, and humanitarian died of heart failure at Berlin's Martin Luther Hospital on Friday, March 7. He was in Berlin to conduct performances of Brahms and Mendelssohn by the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra.
The musical road less traveled leads to places like New York's <A HREF="http://www.dtmgallery.com/">Downtown Music Gallery</A>. If your taste in music lies somewhere outside the marketing-demographic bell curve, DTMG has tunes for you: live tunes, recorded tunes, strange tunes, bargain tunes. There's something for <I>almost</I> everyone at recently launched www.dtmgallery.com---from Classical to Klezmer to Progressive Jazz to World Music to Absolutely Uncategorizable.
Classical music fans will be happy to hear that <A HREF="http://www.image-entertainment.com">Image Entertainment</A> has announced the signing of an exclusive license agreement with England's Reiner Moritz Associates (RMA) that will see the company releasing 50 classical-music programs on DVD in the coming year. In addition to the classical performance programming, Image will also release some of RMA's special-interest fare, featuring such luminaries as Marilyn Horne, Maria Callas, David Hockney, Jackson Pollock, and Margot Fonteyn.