We attended the New York Philharmonic Saturday, and, if the classical record industry is in trouble, classical music is still vibrantly alive. <I>Ionarts</I> gets it precisely right, Saturday's concert was about as balanced a program as I've ever heard and it was a meeting of equals.
Researching audio products not only involves listening, but these days can include a bit of web work. Is there an audio manufacturer's website you particularly like? Why?
On a recent tour of Manhattan, Aperion Audio's Win Jeanfreau and Lorraine Janeway took some time to lunch with <I>Stereophile</I>'s Stephen Mejias, Robert J. Reina, and me. Reina had just reviewed the $750/pair Aperion Intimus 533-T loudspeakers in the April <I>Stereophile</I>, so we assumed that would be the main topic of conversation. As far as Jeanfreau and Janeway were concerned, however, that was ancient history. They were excited about more recent developments and future plans.
In the early 1980s, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/1101ivor">Ivor Tiefenbrun</A>, of Linn Products, Ltd., compared digital audio to "a nasty disease" that his company offered not to spread. Less than 25 years later, digital sources outnumber analog ones in Linn's product line—so much so that the venerable Scottish manufacturer has expanded its line of disc players to encompass two different formats: multi- and two-channel.
In New York and other major cities, I understand, bus accidents are a real problem. Buses turn right and failing to yield to pedestrians. Clueless pedestrians walk in front of buses. I haven't seen any statistics, but I'm guessing that in this era of cell phones and iPods, the problem has gotten worse: not only do such devices distract you, they make it harder to hear warning signs—such as the sound of a municipal bus bearing down on your ass.
My reviews of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/roomtreatments/437">TacT RCS</A> (<I>Stereophile</I>, September 2001) and the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/roomtreatments/883">Rives PARC</A> (July 2003) are ample evidence that I've been fascinated with room equalization for quite a while. This is because I don't have a dedicated, purpose-built listening room in either of my homes, and having experienced what such rooms can do for recorded sound, I've always been somewhat dissatisfied with what I do have. Sure, I've got lots of great equipment, and a wife who understands enough to let me install <I>some</I> acoustic treatments (as long as she approves their appearance). Still, I'm sympathetic to those audiophiles who, when I suggest acoustic treatments to resolve their particular problems, say that it's simply not possible for them, either because of the Spousal Acceptance Factor or the need to accommodate other activities in the same room. Room equalizers seem to offer the hope for a panacea for what ails such spaces.
Iván Fischer, founder and conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, has performed with many major orchestras and recorded for a number of major labels, most significantly with Philips, from 1995 to 2004. Fischer/BFO made the first multichannel orchestral recording for SACD, which Philips used as a demonstration disc for their first SACD players. I still treasure that disc—it demonstrates many of the advantages of the medium with a wide and varied program—but it has never been commercially released.
Frankly it's a bit nutty for me to be doing this review. First, as Publisher of this esteemed journal, my primary duties involve financial and personnel management, as well as a good bit of public relations; I don't need and am not required to perform the exacting tedium of product reviews. Second, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/221">Jim Thiel</A> and Kathy Gornik of Thiel are friends of mine. So what, you ask? Well, if this were going to be a uniformly positive review, I would therefore be ruled out as the reviewer; if it's to be wholly or partially negative, it will surely put a strain on one of my best audio friendships.
We were surprised to <A HREF="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/23/i_heard_it_…; in the March 23 <I>Boston Globe</I> that CBS Corp. had re-launched the <A HREF="http://www.cbsrecords.com/">CBS Records</A> label. Our memory isn't what it once was, but hadn't we read that same story last December?
Canada has targeted your iPod and hard drive. On March 7, CBC Records, the record label of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, announced a deal with the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (<A HREF="http://www.iodalliance.com">IODA</A>) that will make CBC's entire catalog of 400 active and archival classical, jazz, world, and rock titles available for download. The announcement comes just six weeks after major independent label and distributor Harmonia Mundi declared that it would <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/012907harm/">follow the same route</A>.