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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Oct 15, 2000 First Published: Oct 15, 2000

Kalman Rubinson gives a long listen to the 1998 Stereophile Editor's Choice winner, the Z-Systems">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/278/">Z-Systems rdp-1 digital preamplifier. Like many audiophiles, Kal eschewed tone controls in favor of the purist approach—until he met the rdp-1. As he puts it: "Now, the time has come for DSP to give the audiophile some powerful tools to tailor frequency response and to correct faults in the recording."

News

SDMI Conducts Phase II Watermark Tests in Nashville

Barry Willis Oct 15, 2000 First Published: Oct 15, 2000

Last night I saw him on the stair—
the little man who wasn't there.
I saw him there again today;
oh, how I wish he'd go away.

News

BMG Plans to Have It Both Ways

Jon Iverson Oct 15, 2000 First Published: Oct 15, 2000

The most common complaint about record companies: CD prices are too high. In fact, many blame Napster's runaway success on the insistence of "greedy labels" on pricing discs at $15 or higher. Apparently BMG Direct, a division of BMG">http://www.bmg.com/">BMG Entertainment, has put two and two together and found it equals $9.99.

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Will Watermarking Really Work?

Barry Willis Oct 15, 2000 First Published: Oct 15, 2000

Mastering engineer Denny Purcell let out a long sigh. "Does anyone in this room really believe that any of this is going to do any good?" he asked. Of the eight or nine people—each with decades of experience in the music and/or audio industries—hanging out at Georgetown Masters Studios in Nashville for SDMI's Phase II listening tests, no one said "Yes." The consensus: The watermarking issue will probably be dead and forgotten within a year.

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Aaron Neville Reveals His Devotion to DVD-Audio

Jon Iverson Oct 15, 2000 First Published: Oct 15, 2000

Following on the heels of its announcement">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10863/">announcement last week of the first commercially available DVD-Audio disc (Swingin' for the Fences, by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band), Silverline">http://www.silverlinerecords.com">Silverline Records says that Aaron Neville will become the first major artist to release an album in the format. Silverline expects that, on October 24, Neville's solo album Devotion will be released on DVD-A. The disc will also include audio tracks compatible with standard DVD players.

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Warner Music Group Releases First DVD-A Discs

Stereophile Staff Oct 08, 2000 First Published: Oct 08, 2000

After a difficult gestation, DVD-Audio may finally be moving toward becoming a market reality now that a major record label has stepped forward to support it. Warner">http://www.wmg.com/">Warner Music Group (WMG) has issued several recordings in the new format, covering a range of genres. DVD-A is "the most significant industry format launch since the introduction of the CD nearly 20 years ago," according to an October 2 WMG press release.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Oct 08, 2000 First Published: Oct 08, 2000

Slap echo got you in a flutter? Jonathan Scull writes, in "Fine">http://www.stereophile.com//finetunes/275/">"Fine Tunes" #27, that "last month I delved into avoiding reflective, parallel-wall slap echoes from ruining your audiophile day. But I've since learned of a perfectly useful workaround that's much less costly and involved than horsing around the Sheetrock." George Cardas lends a hand.

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Independent Record Label Claims First DVD-Audio Release

Jon Iverson Oct 08, 2000 First Published: Oct 08, 2000

Warner Music Group may have just announced its first DVD-Audio titles (see related">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10861/">related story), but an upstart independent label is claiming the first DVD-A discs actually available for sale. In an attempt to establish itself as the leader in the new DVD-Audio format, 5.1 Entertainment Group's Silverline">http://www.silverlinerecords.com/">Silverline Records says it has begun shipping the first commercially available 24-bit/96kHz DVD-Audio disc, Swingin' for the Fences, by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band.

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CEA Promoting Audio with Free Gear for Students

Barry Willis Oct 08, 2000 First Published: Oct 08, 2000

You want to grow your market, you've got to plant some seeds. The Consumer">http://www.ce.org/">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is doing just that with the BuzzNet">http://www.buzznet.org/">BuzzNet 2000 tour, a traveling educational event that will hit college campuses beginning this month, as reported last">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10859/">last week.

News

Cirrus Logic Buys Patents from B&W Loudspeakers

Stereophile Staff Oct 08, 2000 First Published: Oct 08, 2000

In an unusual move, chipmaker Cirrus">http://www.cirruslogic.com/">Cirrus Logic has purchased patents for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technology owned by B&W">http://www2.bwspeakers.com/">B&W Loudspeakers, a leading UK manufacturer. The patents will be used in combination with current Cirrus Logic technology in a new line of digital amplifiers, according to an October 2 news release.