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ReferenceMiscellaneous
ETF, or How I Learned to Love My Equalizer
Kalman Rubinson  |  Jul 08, 1998
Because I'm suspicious of just twiddling knobs to make the sound "nice," I didn't rely solely on my ears when I used the Z-Systems rdp-1 that I review elsewhere in this issue for speaker and room contouring. Instead, I used the ETF speaker/room-analysis software from Acoustisoft to help me manipulate the equalizer properly. This program can measure the first-arrival, on-axis speaker response, as well as the room response with its early and late reflections and its resonances.
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Vote
Have you made a wrong assumption about a component in your system? Thought it was great or lame, then found out it wasn't when you changed a different component?
Al Marcy  |  Jul 05, 1998

Audio systems can often be a synergistic challenge, with a delicate balance of every component in the chain. Reader Al Marcy submitted this question, which gets at the heart of the audiophile life.

Have you made a wrong assumption about a component in your system? Thought it was great or lame, then found out it wasn't when you changed a different component?
Never---I tend to be right the first time
18% (17 votes)
Once, but there were extenuating circumstances
18% (17 votes)
More than once
54% (51 votes)
Usually
6% (6 votes)
Every time---this hobby drives me crazy!
4% (4 votes)
Total votes: 95
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News
Whatever Happened to Counterpoint?
Jon Iverson  |  Jul 05, 1998
For the last few months, random postings kept appearing on internet newsgroups and in my e-mail box: "Anybody know what happened to Counterpoint?" At last count there were 10,000 Counterpoint preamps, power amps, and loudspeakers fanned out across the planet, some dating back to 1977, when the company launched its first product: the SA-1 tube preamp, designed by Ed Semanko.
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News
Sony Electronics Reorganizes: Will Emphasize Digital
Barry Willis  |  Jul 05, 1998
In a move that acknowledges the increasing convergence of consumer electronics and computer technology, Sony Electronics has reorganized its US sales and marketing structure, and will emphasize digital performance in its new line of products. Foremost among these developments is Sony's recent announcement that its new line of audio and video products will prominently feature its VAIO personal computers. The notebook computers have editing features for video and motion-picture technology, and are quite popular in Japan, where around 100,000 have been sold.
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News
U.S. Consumer Electronics Industry Today Report Released
Barry Willis  |  Jul 05, 1998
The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association's recently released U.S. Consumer Electronics Industry Today indicates a healthy glow on the cheeks of specialty audio. US exports of component audio products amounted to $2.12 billion in 1997, an increase of 12% over the previous year's total of $1.89 billion. 1997's total represents a 25% increase over 1995, when almost $1.7 billion in separate audio products went out of the country. The figures are compiled by CEMA from US Department of Commerce figures.
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News
Jonathan Scull Comes to Visit
Jon Iverson  |  Jul 05, 1998
A key benefit of working with Stereophile is enjoying the expertise of fellow audio nerds. After the HI-FI Show just held in Los Angeles, Jonathan Scull and Kathleen Benveniste spent a week riding up the California Coast and paid us each a visit.
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Recommended ComponentsThink Pieces
Reviews, "Recommended Components," & Metaphysics
George Reisch  |  Jul 01, 1998
In a dark, smoky office, a desk lamp beams a cone of light onto papers, books, pipes, and notepads. A theoretical physicist hunches over his desk, half-illuminated, visualizing the world inside his equations.
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Vote
Do you get more or less for your audio dollar today than you did, say, 10 years ago?
Dave Brown  |  Jun 28, 1998

Audio technology marches on, but reader Dave Brown wonders: Does it always increase your enjoyment of music without decreasing your bank account?

Do you get more or less for your audio dollar today than you did, say, 10 years ago?
Far more
33% (42 votes)
A bit more
31% (40 votes)
About the same
11% (14 votes)
A little less
11% (14 votes)
A lot less
13% (17 votes)
Total votes: 127
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News
High-Resolution Digital Gets Cheaper
Stereophile Staff  |  Jun 28, 1998
On June 23, Burr-Brown Corp. announced the PCM1728 digital-to-analog converter (DAC), designed for consumer and professional audio applications.
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News
Harman Opens New Engineering Facility
Barry Willis  |  Jun 28, 1998
Following a recent announcement of "diminished expectations" for the near future (see previous story) 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---Harman International Industries 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!).
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