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 Boulder, CO-based Avalon Acoustics, Inc. has withdrawn a threatened "trade dress infringement" lawsuit against competitor Silverline Audio Technology, Inc. of Concord, CA, according to an Avalon press release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,…
Roger A. Modjeski's RAM Labs and Music Reference electronics now have a home on the Internet. On July 1, the 21-year-old company announced the opening of its online store, offering the full line of RAM Labs' tested and matched tubes, select Music Reference components and accessories, interconnects, and several passive preamp kits. Of particular interest to owners of Music Reference RM-200 amplifiers is an upgrade KT88 output tube claimed to be capable of better bass and damping than the original device.
RAM Labs online also stocks ultra-low-noise 12AU7s for CAT preamps and a…
Price fixing rumors squashed: On Tuesday, December 23, the US Department of Justice officially ended a two-year investigation of price fixing by major record labels, with a report that it had found no evidence to support any of the allegations. The investigation began in summer 2001 and concentrated primarily on online music service MusicNet, a joint venture by Warner Music Group, EMI Group, BMG Entertainment, and RealNetworks; and Pressplay, a joint venture by Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. The majors had been accused of conspiring to keep startups out of the online…
Returned products are problematic for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers. Returns have always eaten into profits in the audio and video business. Everybody knows that. What isn't widely known is that the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association sponsors an annual conference to help deal with the problem.This year, Product Returns '98 will be held September 15 at the Chicago O'Hare Marriott Hotel. Co-sponsors of the one-day conference include the Professional Audio/Video Retailers Association (PARA), the American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA), the Computing…
The RIAA foresees that digital audio broadcasting (DAB) will represent a fundamental change in the radio industry. "It is not just a means of offering higher quality broadcast sound. DAB could transform radio into a vehicle for the distribution of huge amounts of information in digital form, including recorded music," says the trade organization. As a result, the group is supporting regulatory restraints on digital audio broadcasting (DAB) in reaction to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding DAB content control.The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA…
The global market for music could reach $42.8 billion within five years—more than $7.5 billion higher than the present level, according to a recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Wilkofsky Gruen Associates. In the about-to-be-released study, The Global Entertainment & Media Outlook: 2000–2004, the firms make their prediction based on buying patterns and other economic factors in several regions of the world.The $42.8 billion projection is extrapolated from compounded annual growth rates varying from 2.8% in Europe to 4.8% in the US, which is expected to lead the world in music…
The recorded music industry may be emerging from the gloomiest period in its history. US disc sales have picked up for the first time in more than four years, and the global market for legal downloads is up by a factor of 10 from a year ago.Through December 26, 2004, album sales in the US totaled 665.5 million units, a gain of 1.4% over 2003, according to figures compiled by research firm Nielsen SoundScan. The gain was a refreshing change for industry marketing executives, but was still something of a disappointment compared to the approximately 8% improvement in sales posted in the first…
The inclusion of "hyperlinks" in music CDs that direct music lovers to Sony-affiliated online sales sites has angered the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, a trade organization representing more than 1000 music retailers. NARM has filed suit against Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Coporation of America, seeking an injunction against the use of hyperlinks and charging that the practice of including the links in CDs is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Asking retailers to sell discs with such embedded links is the "equivalent of asking Tower Records to put posters for…
