LATEST ADDITIONS

Record 10 CDs worth of music in one weekend? John Atkinson writes: "I blanched. This was an enormous task: 32 sonatas; 103 individual movements; more than 11 hours of music&mdash;11 hours, 26 minutes, and 25 seconds, as it turned out." How to record Canadian pianist Robert Silverman performing <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//musicrecordings/298/">Ludwig van Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas</A> in such a short time? JA explains the revolutionary process in detail.

Many audiophiles&mdash;especially owners of Hales loudspeakers&mdash;have wondered whether or not the brand will be revived, in view of a <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10918/">recent announcement</A> by Audio Video Research of Ann Arbor, Michigan that it has acquired the assets of Wadia Digital and plans to resume production and product development of the revered name. Wadia acquired Hales (two of whose products were still <I>Stereophile</I> "Recommended Components" as of October 2000) last year, just a few months before financial difficulties put Wadia into a nosedive from which it could not recover.

English manufacturer Monitor Audio has been around for just about as long as people have been putting "high-end" and "audio" together&mdash;they opened their doors in 1972. Back in the mid '80s, when I was a young and carefree (and impoverished) consumer of hi-fi reviews, I'd read about the gold-deposited metal tweeters that Mo Iqbal was concocting and think, "Man, that's some exotic, far-out stuff!"

One of the industry's nastier legal disputes is over. Boulder, CO-based <A HREF="http://www.avalonacoustics.com/">Avalon Acoustics, Inc</A>. has withdrawn a threatened "trade dress infringement" lawsuit against competitor <A HREF="http://www.silverlineaudio.com/">Silverline Audio Technology, Inc</A>. of Concord, CA, according to an Avalon press release circulated December 7. "Trade dress infringement" is a legalism referring to a competitor's use of a design that has become so closely associated in the public mind with a particular brand that it amounts to a virtual trademark.

According to a recent report released by the <A HREF="http://www.recordingmedia.org">International Recording Media Association</A> (IRMA), with the gradual introduction of players for the developing DVD-Audio format finally taking place, the software replication industry can expect an "accelerated growth rate" for DVD-A titles around the world in the next two years.

The economy may be slowing down in some parts of the country, but not, apparently, in Minneapolis, where national electronics retailer <A HREF="http://www.bestbuy.com/">Best Buy Co</A>., Inc. announced December 7 its acquisition of both <A HREF="http://www.musicland.com/">Musicland Stores Corporation</A> (also of Minneapolis) and Seattle-based <A HREF="http://www.magnoliahifi.com/">Magnolia Hi-Fi, Inc</A>. The buyouts will give Best Buy increased exposure in rural malls and in the Pacific Northwest. The company also announced a plan to open several stores in Canada over the next three years, beginning with eight locations for which leases have already been signed.

Thirteen months after announcing its <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10593/">return</A&gt; to manufacturing, Memphis-based speaker maker <A HREF="http://www.egglestonworks.com/">EgglestonWorks</A&gt; is back in a big way, with plans to debut a "radical" and "visually provocative" reference loudspeaker at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.