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Yamaha Debuts First 24-bit/96kHz Multichannel Receiver

Stereophile Staff Mar 05, 2000 First Published: Mar 05, 2000

High-resolution digital audio got a big boost on March 2, when Yamaha Electronics Corporation announced the release of its new RX-V1, a multichannel receiver featuring Burr-Brown PCM 1704 24-bit/96kHz DACs for all 10 channels, including two subwoofer outputs. Six of the channels are full-range with amplifier power of 110W each, with claimed frequency response beyond 100kHz.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Feb 27, 2000 First Published: Feb 27, 2000

How many of you out there know what a Nuvistor is? Michael Fremer takes a look at this unique device and its application in the Musical">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/205/">Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power amplifier. "Enclosing its vacuum in metal rather than glass, the Nuvistor was designed as a long-lived, highly linear device with low heat, low microphony, and low noise—all of which it needed to have any hope of competing in the brave new solid-state world emerging when RCA introduced it in the 1960s." Musical Fidelity decided to use the Nuvistor in a limited-run amplifier, and therein lies an interesting tale, which Michael skillfully uncovers.

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John Lennon's Piano Goes on the Block in July

Stereophile Staff Feb 27, 2000 First Published: Feb 27, 2000

An Internet startup being organized by Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood and auctioneer Ted Owen will offer John Lennon's 30-year-old Steinway piano for auction some time in July. The piano is now on display in The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool and will remain there until October 9, which would have been Lennon's 60th birthday.

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Date Change for CES 2001

Stereophile Staff Feb 27, 2000 First Published: Feb 27, 2000

In a move that could save exhibitors a considerable amount of money, the 2001 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is being rescheduled for a day earlier than previously announced. Originally planned to run from Sunday, January 7 through Wednesday, January 10, 2001, the show will now begin on Saturday, January 6 and run through Tuesday, January 9.

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Because There Is a Difference . . .

Jon Iverson Feb 27, 2000 First Published: Feb 27, 2000

Conventional wisdom has it that, compared to men, few women express much interest in consumer electronics, and especially audio equipment. In fact, according to Consumer Electronics Association statistics, women accounted for only 22% of the $81 billion spent on consumer electronics in 1999. Prognosticator Jupiter Communcations predicts that, in spite of this, women will account for 46 million online buyers by 2003, and will overtake men in online purchasing.

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US Music Sales Hit New High in 1999

Barry Willis Feb 27, 2000 First Published: Feb 27, 2000

A slump in the music business is officially over. Sales of recorded music in the United States last year totaled $14.6 billion, an all-time high. The figure is a 6.3% increase from 1998's total of $13.7 billion, the previous record, according to a recent reporthttp://www.riaa.com/stats/press/021800.htm">report; from the Recording">http://www.riaa.com/">Recording Industries Association of America (RIAA).

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Sonic Solutions and Sony Partner to Deliver Internet Audio

Jon Iverson Feb 27, 2000 First Published: Feb 27, 2000

In a statement that may have far-reaching ramifications for the online digital music-distribution business, last week Sonic">http://www.sonic.com">Sonic Solutions and Sonyhttp://www.sony.co.jp">Sony; announced at the Audio Engineering Society Convention (AES) in Paris that they would collaborate to integrate Sony's ATRAC3 (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding 3) into iMaster, Sonic's suite of tools for the preparation of compressed audio for Internet distribution.

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Wadia Digital and Hales Design Group Join Forces

Barry Willis Feb 20, 2000 First Published: Feb 20, 2000

Merger mania in high-end land: Loudspeaker manufacturer Hales">http://www.halesdesigngroup.com/">Hales Design Group and digital audio manufacturer Wadia">http://www.wadia.com/">Wadia Digital Corporation are joining forces to create what the companies' executives are calling "new digital products for the new millennium." The announcement was made February 14 at Wadia headquarters in River Falls, Wisconsin.

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Audio Sales Finish Strong in 1999

Stereophile Staff Feb 20, 2000 First Published: Feb 20, 2000

According to figures just released by the Consumer">http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), revenues from manufacturer-to-dealer sales of audio products in December 1999 totaled nearly $568 million, a 6.3% increase over the previous December. CEA reports that the strong month's sales pushed year-end revenue totals to their highest mark in four years: total audio shipment revenues in 1999 surpassed the $8 billion mark for the first time since 1995, growing by 2% over 1998.

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Added to the Archives This Week

Stereophile Staff Feb 20, 2000 First Published: Feb 20, 2000

Markus Sauer is in a ponderous audio mood: "When several listeners each play music they like on the system, their reaction should be more uniform. But it isn't. What irks me is that, while we seem to be able to agree pretty well on how a system sounds, there seems to be no consistency of emotional reaction to this sound . . . " Sauer works through this troubling aspect of being an audiophile in "God">http://www.stereophile.com//features/203/">God is in the Nuances." "This journal has seen a number of thoughtful ruminations on what it is that attracts us to music or to a given audio component, and how we should describe that attraction." Now it's Sauer's turn.