Beethoven: Symphony 69, "Erotica." Bernard Hijinks,…
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Audiophiles and classical music lovers often risk falling into a repertorial rut. The classical standards are constantly being rerecorded—often to the point of needless repetition. How many versions of Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony or Ravel's Bolero do you really need? Rather than fill up your shelves with recordings of the same tired compositions, I suggest you look into some of these more obscure pieces—all of them perfect for playing on the first day of April. Below, a list of fresh "basics" that any good audiophile should own:
J. Gordon Holt, founder not only of Stereophile but also of high-end audio journalism as we know it, reveals all in a comprehensive interview with writer Steven Stone: 35 Years and Just Getting Started.
Also this week, John Atkinson experiences the "ground-pounding audio excitement" of car audio shows in Sounding Off! Next, Barry Willis examines the underground world of gray-market goods in Invaded by the Grays, providing a measure of solace for those bitten by the monster. As BW writes, the gray marketeer "is variously reported to blow in like a zephyr or strike like a hurricane; to take…
Onkyo released a tantalizing bit of news on February 25: Sometime before summer, it intends to release a remote interactive dock (RI) for "specified iPod models and many of the Onkyo products (as many as five million worldwide) produced over the past 10 years."
Details are scanty, but here's what we do know: Over the last decade or so, Onkyo, like most mainstream electronics companies, has emphasized inter-operability features, such as built-in RI capabilities, which command separate components through a single remote control. Press the "play" icon in the CD section of your Onkyo remote and…
The English flat-panel speaker company New Transducers Ltd., also known as NXT, recently announced a new transparent loudspeaker technology called SoundVu that the company says will enable television and computer screens to function simultaneously as loudspeakers.
Described as a complementary technology to the company's current Surface Sound speaker technology, SoundVu makes possible, claims NXT, the design and construction of ultra-thin, see-through loudspeakers. The company also says that SoundVu technology can be used in conjunction with all current LCD and video screen materials, from…
In an Internet world, the audiophile's quest for sound quality via high-resolution formats like DVD-Audio or SACD might be the last gasps of a dying generation. New media and technology companies like Liquid Audio, Diamond Multimedia, and RealNetworks are betting that the new generations of music lovers care more about how music is distributed, stored, and manipulated than about how it ultimately sounds. Les Garland, one of the founders of MTV and VH-1, has stated that "Technology fueled the growth of the market for music during the time when we pioneered music on cable. The Internet is…
The Home Entertainment Show 2006 is only weeks away, running June 1–4 at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles. Here is a sampling of some of the giveaways and special events that will take place at the Show. Several of these should be of particular interest to audiophiles.
Ladies' Day
XM Satellite Radio–Oprah's digital radio home–would like to invite all women to the show. It's Ladies' Day on Sunday. All women get into the show for free with any regular adult admission on Sunday, June 4 from 10am–5pm.
Register To Win a New XM2GO Pioneer Inno
Sponsored by XM Satellite Radio…
It's the final day of the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show. I'm walking down the Alexis Park's long corridors, beneath its archways and palm trees, wondering where I'll end up next. The air is cool, but the sun is out and I'm feeling very much alive, energized by all the morning's music.
As I walk, certain sounds are becoming more distinct. I'm making my way toward the music. It's coming from the Audio Note room, and it's suddenly violent and aggressive. Soon I recognize the band to be Rage Against the Machine. They're cursing and screaming about something political, I suppose,…
On Tuesday, May 5, beleaguered Carver announced that it had received a financial transfusion of almost $400,000 and that it would make a move into direct marketing in an attempt to bolster flagging sales. The Woodinville, Washingon-based company announced in a press release that it "had closed a sale of 3,000,000 shares of restricted Common Stock of the Company to one of its preferred shareholders, Renwick Special Situations Fund, L.P., for $375,000, or $0.125 per share."
The infusion of capital provides the Company short-term funding while "it continues to refine and commence…
Music buyers will find a new report issued by Parks Associates both interesting and disturbing. Interesting in what it purports to reveal about consumers, and, as we shall see, disturbing in how the music industry is being urged to interpret the data.
The researchers claim that "contrary to widely held industry beliefs, US consumers are not overwhelmingly antagonistic toward the concept of copy-restricted music CDs, provided these CDs come with the proper incentives." This conclusion is drawn in a forthcoming report called "Digital Rights: Content Ownership and Distribution."
"Proper…
Beginning early next year, digital satellite radio startups may have some competition from terrestrial broadcasters, thanks to an October 10 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
On that day, the agency approved "In-Band, On-Channel" (IBOC) digital broadcasting technology, developed by iBiquity Digital Corporation. Also called "HD Radio," the digital technique is said to elevate the sound quality of AM signals to better than that of present FM, and to raise FM quality to CD level. The FCC's approval of the digital technique is the first significant change to radio…