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News
Tweeter to Acquire DOW Stereo/Video
Stereophile Staff  |  May 23, 1999  |  0 comments
Last week, Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, Inc. announced that the company has reached an agreement in principle to acquire DOW Stereo/Video, Inc., located in San Diego, California. DOW is a nine-store specialty consumer-electronics retailer with sales of approximately $38 million, and has been in business in the San Diego market for over 30 years. The transaction is expected to be completed on or about July 1, 1999. Tweeter says it will pay approximately $5.5 million for the company excluding acquisition costs, and has the option of paying approximately $500,000 of the purchase price in Tweeter common stock.
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Vote
Would DVD-Audio copy-protection schemes alter your view of the format?
GeoSynch  |  May 16, 1999  |  129 comments

One of the hang-ups preventing DVD-Audio from moving forward is the fear that high-quality digital signals make piracy too easy. As a result, the format will likely incorporate various copy-protection schemes---possibly including watermarking. Does this matter to you?

Would DVD-Audio copy-protection schemes alter your view of the format?
Not one bit
31% (70 votes)
Bothers me a little
25% (57 votes)
Bothers me a lot
29% (67 votes)
Ruins it for me
15% (34 votes)
Total votes: 228
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News
HI-FI '99, Day Three: New Products, Technologies, and Companies
Jon Iverson  |  May 13, 1999  |  0 comments
Plenty of noteworthy new audio products are making their debuts here at HI-FI '99. EveAnna Manley has unveiled her prototype DAC/preamp, the Wave, featuring an UltraAnalog-based 20-bit D/A converter and a tube line-stage. With four digital inputs, four analog inputs, a processor loop, and three variable outputs, the fully remote-controllable unit should appear at dealers in late summer at a suggested price of $7000. Manley says an optional 24/96 pop-in circuit board is in the works.
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Fine Tunes
Fine Tunes #11
Jonathan Scull  |  May 13, 1999  |  0 comments
Sometimes you have to sweat the details, sometimes they just fall in your lap. Take Victor Tiscareno. Victor's company, AudioPrism, has been making electronics, accessories, and power-conditioning products for quite some time. While he was visiting and installing a pair of his Mana Reference tube amplifiers for an upcoming review, Victor and I got to talking about power---the kind that comes out of the wall. Victor studied electrical engineering and is very au courant in such matters. During these ruminations he shared with me a recipe for what he calls The Poor Man's Dedicated Line.
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News
HI-FI '99, Day Two
Jon Iverson  |  May 12, 1999  |  0 comments
Following the Sony/Philips jump from the starting line with Wednesday's SACD announcements, the DVD-Audio camp quickly came up to speed at the HI-FI '99 press luncheon with their plans for players and discs to appear this fall. First up at the podium was Jordan Rost from the Warner Music Group. Contrasts with the SACD position were established from the start when Rost made it obvious that, unlike SACD, DVD-Audio seeks to embrace not only high-end audio, but also various forms of video, and even Internet interactivity. Rost even went so far as to say that DVD-Audio discs could "play on CD players if a hybrid disc is feasible and desired," thus possibly deflating Sony's insistence that backward-compatibility is what sets SACD apart.
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Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsAudacious Audio
Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX loudspeaker
Martin Colloms  |  May 11, 1999  |  0 comments
It's been five years since David Wilson's X-1/Grand SLAMM speaker system invaded our audio consciousness with its 500W power capacity and very high (95dB/W) sensitivity (footnote 1). Capable of an earsplitting 123dB at 1m, with a bandwidth to match, this was one speaker system that refused to be ignored. The X-1 has since evolved to $70,000/pair Mk.II form. It now provides some flexibility of tonal balance for different room acoustics, and is distinguished by greater subtlety in its differentiation of timbre. Beneath the X-1 in Wilson's range comes the WATT/Puppy ensemble, now in its 5.1 iteration (footnote 2). The WATT/Puppy has survived for over 10 years, and sets a benchmark for the Wilson line at its $17,270 system price.
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Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Acarian Systems Alón Circe loudspeaker
Wes Phillips  |  May 11, 1999  |  0 comments
Who knows not Circe,
The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup
Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape,
And downward fell into a groveling swine?
—John Milton, Comus
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Recording of the Month
Recording of May 1999: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Robert Baird  |  May 10, 1999  |  0 comments
BILL LLOYD: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Koch LOC-CD-8035 (CD). 1999. Bill Lloyd, Scott Baggett, prods., engs.; Brad Jones, prod.; Robin Eaton, Marshall Crenshaw, engs. AAD? TT: 56:46
Performance ****?
Sonics ****
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Vote
Who else is allowed to use/control your audio system?
Louis McFarlane  |  May 09, 1999  |  117 comments

Reader Louis McFarlane asks a question that may touch a nerve or two among audiophiles.

Who else is allowed to use/control your audio system?
Spouse
30% (69 votes)
Children/Parents
6% (13 votes)
Friend(s)
4% (9 votes)
Other hi-fi persons
6% (13 votes)
Anyone
25% (58 votes)
Nobody else
29% (66 votes)
Total votes: 228
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News
Added to the Archives This Week:
Stereophile Staff  |  May 09, 1999  |  0 comments
Strange but true: Stereophile editor John Atkinson once sold a tweak amplifier after being startled by not being able to identify it in a blind listening test. "Convinced by these results of the validity of the Consumer Reports philosophy, I consequently sold my exotic and expensive Lecson power amplifier, with which I had been very happy, and bought a much cheaper Quad 405---the biggest mistake of my audiophile career!" says JA of the experience.
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