Last week, <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com">American Technology Corp.</A> (ATC) announced that three additional patents on its loudspeaker technologies have been granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10616/">previous story</A>). The company also announced that it has acquired the rights to "strategic" patents from the former Carver Corp. covering a variety of audio reproduction and amplifier technologies.

A billion-dollar loss for the parent company may be a big gain for performers under contract to <A HREF="http://www.wmg.com/">Warner Music Group</A>, who will benefit from cross-promotional efforts aimed at millions of <A HREF="http://www.aol.com/">America Online</A> subscribers beginning this month.

Sony may be pretending that DVD-Audio doesn't exist, and Panasonic may be in denial about SACD, but a new chip from <A HREF="http://www.ti.com">Texas Instruments</A> just might help bring the rival formats a little closer together in consumer living rooms and professional recording studios alike.

Despite the best efforts of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan to extend an unprecedented economic boom, the nation's economy is slowing. The slowdown is causing negative repercussions in many sectors&mdash;including the music retailing business and consumer electronics manufacturing.

After a frustrating late-night duel with evil recording gremlins, JA called it a day. But the next morning he was back at the controls to record Canadian pianist Robert Silverman for what would subsequently become one of <I>Stereophile</I>'s popular audiophile recordings: <I>Intermezzo: Works for Piano by Brahms</I>. In <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//musicrecordings/311/"><I>Intermezzo</I>: The Santa Barbara Sessions</A>, writer Thomas Norton runs down the key events that finally resulted in a completed analog master tape, with engineering from Water Lily Acoustics' Kavichandran Alexander.

The "Big Five" of the recorded music industry is one step closer to becoming the "Big Four," according to late-January reports from Frankfurt, Germany, home of <A HREF="http://www.bertelsmann.de/">Bertelsmann AG</A>. Bertelsmann is the parent company of <A HREF="http://www.bmg.com/">Bertelsmann Music Group</A>, which has been in merger discussions for several months with the United Kingdom's <A HREF="http://www.emigroup.com/"&gt; EMI Group PLC</A>. Discussions are near completion, according to a BMG official.

As an audio journalist "servicing" the High End (ouch!), I surf the Web waves to see what's going on on the various audio newsgroups and bulletin boards. Sometimes the Net resembles the Concorde going down, the crash video'd by a passing French motorist: Ashen faces pressed against car windows driving slowly by to check out the carnage.

Having evaluated any number of integrated amplifiers in the past year or so, I've repeatedly been impressed by the ways in which designers build versatility and sonic distinction into their single-box designs. In matching those that sounded and measured the best&mdash;such as the tubed E.A.R. V20 (October 1999) and the solid-state <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/329/">Magnum Dynalab MD 208 receiver</A> (January 2001)&mdash;with appropriate speakers and source components, I was able to attain high-resolution musicality with a minimum of fuss. Crave high-end sound but require even less complexity? You could dispense with interconnects altogether by integrating a high-quality CD player into a remote-controlled receiver, as Linn has with the diminutive <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/307/">Classik</A&gt; that I reviewed last November.

Having evaluated any number of integrated amplifiers in the past year or so, I've repeatedly been impressed by the ways in which designers build versatility and sonic distinction into their single-box designs. In matching those that sounded and measured the best&mdash;such as the tubed E.A.R. V20 (October 1999) and the solid-state <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/329/">Magnum Dynalab MD 208 receiver</A> (January 2001)&mdash;with appropriate speakers and source components, I was able to attain high-resolution musicality with a minimum of fuss. Crave high-end sound but require even less complexity? You could dispense with interconnects altogether by integrating a high-quality CD player into a remote-controlled receiver, as Linn has with the diminutive <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/307/">Classik</A&gt; that I reviewed last November.