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Industry Update
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 21, 2005  |  0 comments
ListenUp NHT: NHT's 75W M-00 powered two-way studio monitor has long been an audiophile favorite for the title of "best computer loudspeaker"—not that the competition has been all that fierce. The Benicia, CA–based loudspeaker manufacturer recognized that the powered monitor, initially marketed direct to recording engineers and in-home studio owners, was selling beyond its target audience and repositioned it as part of its PC Hi-Fi line. When Walt Stinson, co-founder of Colorado-based Audio/Video chain ListenUp discovered the M-00s when he was searching for something to pair with his portable player, he was so taken with their performance that he called ListenUp's marketing manager, Phil Murray, and told him that the chain had to carry them, because they were "simply the best multimedia speakers, bar none."
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News
Broadcast News
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 21, 2005  |  0 comments
Broadcast flag on trial: On February 22, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its plans to institute the broadcast flag rule. The "broadcast flag" is essentially encryption embedded in digital television signals that would not permit recording devices such as personal video recorders, iPods, cellular phones, or VCRs to record over-the-air digital transmissions without the permission of the broadcaster. The suit, sponsored by diverse organizations including the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and the American Library Association, charges that the FCC decision to require the broadcast flag "exceeds its authority."
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News
Try an Adagio Rather Than a Sonata™
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 21, 2005  |  0 comments
Youth may not be the only thing that's wasted on the young. Many recent studies have shown that as people age, they have increased difficulty getting a good night's sleep. A new study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing indicates that listening to soft music may help people with sleep disorders to fall asleep faster.
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News
CBGB Last Hurrah?
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 21, 2005  |  0 comments
CBGB, the legendary Bowery club frequently cited as the birthplace of America's punk movement, is the latest in a growing list of urban nightclubs getting priced out of the neighborhoods they helped create. According to a February 11 article in The Village Voice, CBGB's lease will end in August, and its landlord wants to see the club's monthly rent increase from $20,000 to $40,000.
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News
An Audiophile Sampler
Jon Iverson  |  Feb 21, 2005  |  0 comments
One of the hot items audiophiles were able to score at last month's 2005 CES was a hybrid SACD that Ray Kimber was handing out. Labelled IsoMike Tests 2005A, the disc is beautifully packaged and sports dozens of recorded snippets of vocal music, string quartet, piano, marching band, orchestra, blank pistol, and a local janitor.
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Vote
Where do you think the music industry should focus its high-resolution audio efforts?
Stereophile  |  Feb 20, 2005  |  76 comments

There's been a lot of speculation about what the music industry should do with high-resolution audio. What is your suggestion?

Where do you think the music industry should focus its high-resolution audio efforts?
They should all support SACD
46% (78 votes)
They should all support DVD-Audio
4% (7 votes)
They should all support DualDisc
1% (2 votes)
They should all support high-rez downloads
9% (15 votes)
They should develop something new
8% (13 votes)
They should support everything at the same time
5% (9 votes)
They should give up on high-rez audio
13% (22 votes)
Other
14% (23 votes)
Total votes: 169
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Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsAudacious Audio
Mårten Design Coltrane loudspeaker
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 20, 2005  |  0 comments
"So what kind of music do you listen to?" I heard myself asking Leif Mårten Olofsson, designer of the Coltrane, Coltrane Alto, Duke, Miles II, Mingus III, and Monk loudspeakers, before I could take it back. The small company, headquartered in Göteborg, Sweden, where Volvos are made, has been building and marketing loudspeakers for the past six years, though Olofsson confesses he's been building them for 30 years, ever since he was 12.
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Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Lamm Industries M1.2 Reference monoblock amplifier
Paul Bolin  |  Feb 20, 2005  |  0 comments
The "Reference" designation is thrown around a lot in the world of perfectionist audio. It's most often used to elevate the top of the line to a higher perceived status. Occasionally, as in the case of the VTL TL-7.5 line stage that I reviewed in October 2003, it genuinely denominates a component that is clearly superior to its competition in most aspects of performance.
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Integrated Amp Reviews
Prima Luna Prologue One integrated amplifier
Art Dudley  |  Feb 20, 2005  |  0 comments
My first reaction to the Prima Luna Prologue One was based solely on looks: For $1095, I might not have been disappointed had it sounded no better than a Bose Wave Radio. Its casework straddles the breach between vintage and modern in a way that little else does, at any price. The dark gray-blue finish, hand-rubbed to a tactile gloss, wouldn't look out of place on an Alfa GTV (the new one, which resembles a drop of oil). And for the first time in my experience, a high-end audio manufacturer has figured out a way to make a protective tube cage easy to remove and replace: with banana plugs and sockets. Why couldn't one of the high-price American brands have figured that out?
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Integrated Amp Reviews
Krell KAV-400xi integrated amplifier
Wes Phillips  |  Feb 20, 2005  |  1 comments
How times have changed. When Krell first debuted its KAV-300i, in 1996, it risked having people question its high-end credibility simply for having considered producing an integrated amplifier, much less an affordable one. After all, Krell was the company best known for massively overbuilt—and, many claimed, overpriced—power amplifiers that were uniquely capable of driving speakers of ridiculously low impedance. In Martin Colloms' review of the 300i in the July 1996 Stereophile, he asked the question on everyone's minds: "Is Krell risking its reputation?"
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