Has Art Dudley gone mad? In his review of the Spendor S3/5se loudspeaker, AD suggests, "Transistors can be made to sound like tubes, digital can be made to sound like analog, and cables can be made to sound like no cables. You'd almost think we live…
search
Brian Damkroger ponders the Classé Omega monoblock power amplifier. "The Classé Omega is expensive, costing $25,000/pair," notes BD. But he also finds the amp a "drop-dead-gorgeous, massive, industrial-art chunk of aluminum and steel set off with a subtle mix of curves, contours, finishes, and textures." And then there is that Classé sound.
More changes coming to The International Audio Group as it continues to sort its product lines and distribution plans. Starting February 1, 2006, IAG has assigned sole US distribution of its Quad branded products to newly formed Taiga LLC.
According to IAG, preparations for the new distribution plan have been in development for six months and Taiga is an independently owned importer and distributor, and will be led by Jeff Sigmund. For the past four years, Sigmund has served as the Chief Operating Officer of IAG's American subsidiary and has also served as IAG America's vice president of…
Cello Music and Film Systems is not merely one of the world's most prestigious names in audio and video. This week, a plush restaurant is opening at the company's new headquarters at 53 East 77th Street (212 517-1200) on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Cello, as the bar/restaurant/garden is appropriately named, will serve dinner by invitation only until mid-June, when it will be opened to the public, according to Florence Fabricant in the May 19 edition of the New York Times.
Cello, the company, is in the process of moving into the townhouse, which cost $5 million to renovate. The multi-…
A continuing sales slump has the Tweeter Entertainment Group, Inc. projecting losses for the third straight quarter.
Tweeter announced July 3 that its results would fall short of analysts' forecasts. The Canton, MA–based retailer operates stores in the southwestern, southern, mid-Atlantic, and northeastern regions of the US. For the third quarter of the current fiscal year, sales at stores open at least a year have been down as much as 10%. A slow winter holiday season preceded a spring cutback in discounting and advertising in the Arizona and Florida markets, which combined account for…
Chris Keeler was the first guy I ever knew with an exotic turntable and a record library that most radio stations would envy. The love of music was a driving force throughout his life, one that sustained him right to the end.
I arrived in Atlanta from Berkeley, California in 1980 as an eager audio technician with a similar passion. By then, Chris had already cycled through his first retail venture, The Stereo Shop, one he started in 1974. The generically named business was among that city's first high-end shops, and knowing Chris as I did later, it probably ran its course because it was…
John Atkinson finds that the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk.II loudspeaker—a completely overhauled iteration of the original Contour 1.3 Mk.I, released several years back—reveals details in recordings that most speakers smooth right over. JA reveals other details about the Contour in his review, complete with comments on the Contour 1.3 Special Edition from Sam Tellig.
The toughest test for any speaker may be the comparison of its portrayal of a thunderous symphony orchestra to the real thing. Larry Greenhill, fresh from a live performance of the New York Philharmonic, was prepared to do just…
Federal judges have issued somewhat conflicting rulings in the ongoing legal battle over illegitimate file sharing. As the situation stands at the end of April, individuals may be held responsible for copyright violation, but the services they use in the process may not.
In an ongoing case in Washington DC, a federal judge has rejected a constitutional challenge brought by Verizon Communications, Inc. to avoid revealing the identity of a broadband customer accused by the music industry of being a "node" for massive file sharing. On April 24, US District Judge John D. Bates ruled that…
Purported financial difficulties haven't prevented Tower Records from developing a massive new flagship store in Los Angeles. Occupying more than 33,000 square feet, the new store in the renovated Sherman Oaks Galleria features a "state-of-the-art" performance stage and a Super Audio CD demonstration room.
Officially opened November 16, the new Tower store is more than twice the size of the company's previous store on Ventura Boulevard. Tower claims to take customers to "the next level" with the store's offerings, which include—in addition to the performance space and SACD room—a…
Folk wisdom has it that fools lock the barn door after the horses have escaped. They also chase all over the countryside trying to catch them. The music business is doing some of both in legal action brought against file-sharing service Madster.
Formerly known as Aimster, the service is one of many that rose in the wake of Napster, the grass-roots phenomenon that blind-sided the music industry back in 1999. Although effectively neutered by protracted and very expensive litigation, Napster explored territory now populated by dozens of less well-known, but perhaps even more threatening…
We are saddened to report the death of Decca recording engineer Kenneth E. Wilkinson on January 13 at the age of 92, in Norfolk, England. The news was reported by LP historian Michael Gray of The Absolute Sound on the Internet newsgroup rec.audio.high-end.
"Wilkie," as he was universally known, was one of the driving forces behind the audio excellence of Decca/London classical recordings in its "ffrr" and "ffss" heyday, from the 1950s to 1980, when he retired. He started his career at World Echo records in 1927, at the very dawn of electrical recording, and retired just before the advent of…