Fi Closes Its Doors

Rumors have been confirmed that high-end audio journal Fi Magazine, which just entered its fourth year of publication, closed its doors last Friday, February 26. In a conversation with Stereophile publisher emeritus Larry Archibald, former Fi editor Jonathan Valin commented that "It was really a shame. I never worked so long and so hard on anything, and it didn't have to end the way it did---but I don't want to go into it. The money was there to keep it going." John Atkinson had been told at CES by a Fi spokesperson that a new source of investment had been found, but we can only assume that the deal fell through.

We have been told that some writers from the Fi staff will be headed for the The Abso!ute Sound, based in Austin, Texas.

In a message posted on the rec.audio.high-end newsgroup on March 3, Robert Harley confirmed that he had left Fi: "I have joined The Perfect Vision as Senior Technical Editor, Audio, and will be contributing regularly to The Abso!ute Sound," he wrote, adding that his writing will appear in Issue 118 of TAS and the first issue of the re-launched The Perfect Vision.

We have also been told that Jonathan Valin will be rejoining TAS, but have not yet received confirmation. We'll have more on the story when an official statement is released.

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