LATEST ADDITIONS

Following a recent announcement of "diminished expectations" for the near future (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10194/">previous story</A>) and a shakeup of upper management---in which Consumer Group marketing honcho Tom Jacoby was put out to pasture and audio guru Floyd Toole was promoted to senior vice president of acoustic and transducer engineering---<A HREF="http://www.harman.com">Harman International Industries</A> has put the finishing touches on a new 10,000-square-foot audio laboratory. At company headquarters in Northridge, CA, north of Los Angeles, the laboratory includes a 10,000-cubic-foot anechoic chamber for testing and measuring loudspeakers, and a multichannel room with computer-controlled, hydraulically operated platforms for positioning front left, center, and right speakers (a reviewer's dream!).

It's no secret that <A HREF="http://www.dolby.com">Dolby Laboratories</A> doesn't aim its audio compression technologies at the high-end consumer audio market. After all, Dolby excels at finding ways to get maximum performance out of limited-bandwidth environments such as the audio cassette, or the space alloted for 5.1-channel soundtracks on DVDs.

In a move that is likely to push record labels into the uncharted territory of direct sales, <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com">BMG</A&gt; has announced its intention to add in-house sales to its network of music sites. "BMG will be moving in the fall to its own fulfillment capability because of the demands of consumers," said senior vice president Scott Dinsdale at the Business Online 98 conference in San Francisco last week.

<B>EDWARD ELGAR: <I>Enigma Variations</I>, <I>In the South</I>, <I>Coronation March</I></B><BR> George Hurst, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra<BR> Naxos 8.553564 (CD). 1997. Paul Myers, prod.; Dave Harries, eng. DDD. TT: 58:47<BR> Performance <B>****</B><BR> Sonics ****</B>

Many audiophiles spend thousands on state-of-the-art audio equipment, but does it really put you in the room with the performers?

Digital radio company <A HREF="http://www.worldspace.com/">American Mobile Radio Corporation</A> announced last Wednesday that it has exercised a $52.9 million option to upgrade its satellites. The move will potentially double the channel capacity of AMRC's nationwide satellite-direct audio radio service (SDARS), scheduled for the year 2000.

On June 17, <A HREF="http://www.carltonplc.co.uk/">Carlton Communications</A>, owner of Technicolor, announced that it has entered into a merger agreement to acquire <A HREF="http://www.nimbuscd.com/">Nimbus CD International</A>, one of the world's largest independent manufacturers of optical discs, including CD-Audio, DVD, DVD-ROM, and CD-ROM.