The Best Sound in Los Angeles

The Best Sound in Los Angeles

As with past HI-FI Shows, we asked visitors to HI-FI '98 to vote for the room that offered what they thought to be the best sound. The ballot in the Show Guide asked visitors to list the best, second-best, third-best, and worst sounds, for which I allocated 3 points, 2 points, 1 point, and -1 point, respectively. Any exhibitor that received more than 0.7% of the total votes cast is listed in the Table. I've tried to include both the exhibitors and the brands demonstrated, as listed in the Show Guide and in our report text in the September issue of the paper <i>Stereophile</i>. My apologies if I've left anyone out.

Wherehouse Buys Blockbuster Music for $115 million

Wherehouse Buys Blockbuster Music for $115 million

Up from the deep: Torrance, CA-based <A HREF="http://wherehouse.com/">Wherehouse Entertainment</A> announced last week that it will purchase <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com/music">Blockbuster Music</A> from Viacom Inc. for $115 million. The merged operation will have 598 stores throughout North America, second only to Minnesota-based Musicland. The deal comes at the end of a prolonged slump for the music industry, one that was particularly hard for Blockbuster.

Goodbye & Hello

Goodbye & Hello

It's the voice that grabs you first, balanced preternaturally high in the mix. As the singer effortlessly projects the vocal line, imperceptibly grabbing breath without disturbing the long, meandering melody, you can't help but realize what a superb instrument she had. As the song's harmonies modulate their way to the dominant, the bass guitar stubbornly sticks to the tonic so that what would otherwise be a conventional chord progression is transformed into a yearning series of suspensions echoing the lyric's despair. As guitarist Tony Peluso hammers down on his power solo, his instrument so fuzzed and compressed that the very plectrum strokes are thrown forward as disconnected transients, it becomes evident that there are layers upon layers to the backing vocals, each carefully placed upon the others by a master orchestrator, each appropriately filling in the gaps in the harmonies without turning the mix to glutinous syrup.

Schott/DG's CD-pluscore Raises Bar for Interactive Music

Schott/DG's CD-pluscore Raises Bar for Interactive Music

Enhanced Compact Discs (ECDs) are one of a host of hybrids and mutations popping up in the garden of digital infotainment. Many ECDs have added biographical text, still pictures, short video clips, and garish graphics to bulk up the content of basic music CDs. Others provide links to fan clubs, to an artist's website, or to the record label's home page. Most such efforts could be categorized as "art for art's sake"---experimental projects undertaken without any clear idea as to how the finished product will be used. "Value added" is usually the justification, but rarely the result.

Paradigm and Sonic Frontiers Tie the Knot

Paradigm and Sonic Frontiers Tie the Knot

The <A HREF="http://www.paradigm.ca">Paradigm Group</A> announced today that they have entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of <A HREF="http://www.sonicfrontiers.com">Sonic Frontiers Inc.</A>, of Oakville, Ontario, as the first step in a comprehensive restructuring plan that will lead to an expansion of Sonic Frontiers.

DVD-Audio Gets Another Step Closer to Final Spec

DVD-Audio Gets Another Step Closer to Final Spec

Another crucial piece of the DVD-Audio puzzle fell into place recently when the WG-4 (Working Group 4) DVD-Audio Working Group approved the adoption of MLP (see previous articles <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10188/">1</A&gt;, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10200/">2</A&gt;) as the lossless algorithm for DVD-Audio at its August 5th meeting in Tokyo. WG-4 will require official approval from its supervising organizations, the Technical Coordination Group and Steering Committee---considered a formality at this point.

New Digital Loudspeaker Technology Announced from England

New Digital Loudspeaker Technology Announced from England

News recently coming out of Cambridge, England promises yet another new revolutionary loudspeaker technology following in the footsteps of <A HREF="http://www.nxt.co.uk/">NXT</A>'s flat-panel speakers and <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com/">ATC</A>'s <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com/HTML/whitepaper.html">HyperSonic Sound</A> and <A HREF="http://www.atcsd.com/RELEASES/pr020998.html">Stratified Field Technology</A>. Engineering consultant Tony Hooley heads up a team of researchers who have created what they hope will be a breakthrough in small, lightweight, highly accurate-sounding arrays of digitally driven pressure transducers.

New Copyright Bill Clears Congressional Hurdle

New Copyright Bill Clears Congressional Hurdle

Protection for the creative community or job security for lawyers? These are but two of many interpretations of the <A HREF="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:h.r.02281:">Digital Millennium Copyright Act</A>, which won approval by voice vote in the US House of Representatives August 4. The bill will implement into US law the treaties signed by 157 signatories at the World Intellectual Properties Organization conference in Geneva in December 1996. A separate version was passed by the Senate in May. Differences between the two must be ironed out before a final version can be signed into law by President Clinton.

An Online Treasure Trove for Nakamichi Cassette Deck Fans

An Online Treasure Trove for Nakamichi Cassette Deck Fans

Some products inspire unwavering loyalty among their owners: Gibson's "Les Paul" Guitars, for example, or Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Only a handful of audio manufacturers have been lucky enough for their products to attain this kind of cult status. McIntosh is perhaps premier among them. Individual products---Audio Research preamps, Marantz tuners, Linn turntables---also have deservedly loyal and sizable followings.
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