Behold the Beast: According to Tim Westergren, founder of Savage Beast Technologies of Oakland, the company's 30 music professionals cum analysts spend…
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Let's face it. Despite the vinyl resurgence amongst the young and not so, the days when analogus collecticus could spend hours scouring record bins, holding product in hand, and reading album notes, are mostly behind us. In response to market evolution, at least three competing computer-based technologies have emerged to steer consumers toward music they will likely enjoy. Each uses a different approach, with one claiming "objectivity."
The Super Audio CD has won the endorsement of two more major record labels, according to press releases issued the last week of August. The announcements followed by only a few days one by Universal Music Group that it would begin producing the high-resolution recordings for mass distribution.
UK-based EMI and Virgin Records will soon produce and distribute titles in the high-rez format. Neither announcement specifies when new discs will appear ("over coming months," reads the EMI announcement), but it seems likely that they will arrive sometime late this year. EMI mentions "successful…
The practice of "Transshipping"---selling a product outside one's designated territory---is widespread in the audio industry. It's commonplace for dealers to sell not only to walk-in customers, but also over the telephone or Internet to customers in other dealers' territories, usually at discounted prices. While not problematic on a small scale, the practice favors large-volume dealers over smaller ones, and is almost always a violation of a dealer's agreement with a manufacturer.
British loudspeaker company B&W, one of the most popular brands on the market, is aggressively pursuing…
By several common measures, the American economy appears to be emerging from its first recession in a decade. On Friday, April 26, the US Commerce Department reported economic growth of 5.8% (annual rate) for the first quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP), generally considered the broadest indicator of the economy's health, was the strongest since the final quarter of 1999. The 5.8% rate is especially encouraging in view of the 1.7% rate during the fourth quarter of 2001. The US Labor Department also reported a decline in first-time applications for unemployment benefits during the last…
Meet the new boss: Harman Specialty Group, the division of Harman Consumer Group responsible for the Mark Levinson, Revel, and Lexicon brands, has a new president. John Batliner is a 12-year veteran of the company, and, most recently, executive vice-president of HSG. Wayne Morris, current president of the company, will remain active until the end of April.
New requests: ReQuest, Inc. has announced new models and upgrades in its operating system software. An all-new reference music server, the S-Series S4.2500, which offers digital audio output as well as three additional balanced analog…
From the January 2004 issue, Michael Fremer writes about the "SUV-like, limited-edition, 20th-anniversary" Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista kWP preamplifier & Tri-Vista kW Monobloc power amplifier. No doubt the "bank-vault-like" designs will get your attention, but as Fremer discovers, after you close your eyes, it's "sheer sonic pleasure."
While SACD and DVD-Audio still try to get a little traction, John Atkinson notes that "CD is still the predominant means for audiophiles to get a high-quality musical fix." Thus, JA justifies reviewing the $6700 Mark Levinson No.390S CD Processor to see…
In another milestone for digital broadcasting, Lucent Digital Radio announced last week that it has successfully tested its In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) system, live and over the air, with National Public Radio (NPR) member station WBJB-FM of Lincroft, New Jersey. According to Lucent, the tests showed that there was no degradation of the host FM analog channel during the transmission of the digital FM signal over the same band.
Lucent says it began field-testing with WBJB-FM in April 1999 to evaluate a range of technical issues associated with digital FM radio…
The affordable universal disc player may yet become a reality—if Royal Philips Electronics has anything to do with it.
On March 11, the Dutch electronics giant introduced the SAA7893HL, an integrated circuit chip that could help bring Super Audio CD (SACD) to the mass market. "The SAA7893HL chip will allow DVD makers to easily integrate SACD into their DVD-Video players at costs which will open the large volume market, enabling consumers to experience sound quality superior to that of a CD from the comfort of their living rooms," stated the official announcement.
Samples of the chip…
One of the industry's nastier legal disputes is over. Boulder, CO-based Avalon Acoustics, Inc. has withdrawn a threatened "trade dress infringement" lawsuit against competitor Silverline Audio Technology, Inc. of Concord, CA, according to an Avalon press release circulated December 7. "Trade dress infringement" is a legalism referring to a competitor's use of a design that has become so closely associated in the public mind with a particular brand that it amounts to a virtual trademark.
The nearly year-long feud, over the use of beveled-corner cabinet designs, was settled out of court…
Holding his thumb and forefinger together to reveal barely a sliver of light, Chris English said, "This close. We're this close." He wasn't talking about how far apart we were sitting, but about how close Threshold is to being back in business after an attempted restructuring last year did not work out.
A household name among audiophiles for two decades, Threshold went into limbo in January 1998, when crushing debt and slumping sales due to the Asian economic crisis drove it and sister company PS Audio into the ground. Randy Patton was the principal owner of both companies at the time,…