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…
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A continuing sales slump has the Tweeter Entertainment Group, Inc. projecting losses for the third straight quarter.
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…
At the recent WinHEC '98, NEC Electronics Inc. made available prototype sample units of 1394-to-POF (plastic optical fiber) repeater boxes that extend transmission of video, audio, and textual data over long distances via plastic optical fiber and copper media. NEC Electronics, one of the first companies to demonstrate this technology over plastic optical fiber and copper and wireless media, is also one of the first to demonstrate transmission speeds of 200Mbits/s over plastic optical fiber.
The IEEE 1394 standard, also known as FireWire, allows consumer and computing devices to…
Citing large crowds of design engineers and consumers at its World PC Expo Pavilion in Japan last week, Texas Instruments' James Snider, chairman of the 1394 Trade Association, predicted a surge in product design based on the 1394/FireWire/i.Link standard in the coming year. Snider says that the demand for 1394 PC and consumer products is accelerating worldwide "as users become aware of the quality of video and audio that can be easily and efficiently transported in home, office, and theater environments."
This year's 1394 Pavilion included audio systems from Yamaha and Kenwood. Snider…
Napster has been taking its share of hits this past week from the music industry and the RIAA as a result of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling last Monday that will likely pave the way for shutting down the file-sharing service. In its findings, the Court states that "Napster users who upload file names to the search index for others to copy violate plaintiffs' distribution rights. Napster users who download files containing copyrighted music violate plaintiffs' reproduction rights."
But not so fast, say both the Consumer Electronics Association and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch.…