Next we've got Jonathan Scull's Fine Tunes #28 from the October issue. "If you can't find enough material to keep you and your system spotlessly clean, I'll eat my shorts!" exclaims J-10 after…
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Chip Stern writes, "There is something enduring and reassuring in the classic audio verities." The Vandersteen 2Ce Signature loudspeaker is certainly considered one of those timeless classics. But how does a speaker released in its first incarnation more than 20 years ago hold up by today's standards? Stern lends his modern ear to the task and includes notes from Richard Vandersteen himself.
The last day at CES always feels like one of those half-days at school: you may be getting out only a couple of hours early, but everyone starts thinking about going home way before the bell rings. Nonetheless, the die-hard audiophile exhibitors were working up to the last minute and confirmed that show attendance increased steadily right up to the end.
Inspired by a story on the importance of impedance matching by Hervé Deletraz that appeared in the November issue of Stereophile, PBN audio's Peter Noerbaek showed a prototype preamplifier and modified Everest power amp with what he called…
ShoreView Industries, Inc. has acquired MartinLogan Ltd., the Lawrence, KS–based manufacturer best known for its line of high-end electrostatic loudspeakers. Transaction terms have not been disclosed.
Gayle Sanders, MartinLogan's charismatic co-founder—and, until the acquisition, majority owner—will remain with the company as a consultant, according to The Lawrence Journal-World. The rest of MartinLogan's senior management and employees will remain in Lawrence, the paper reports.
ShoreView Industries is a Minneapolis-based private equity limited partnership that "invests in…
Downloading audio files, whether through a paid music service or not, continues to grow as a means to accumulate music in the US. According to a recent Ipsos-Insight study, as of April 2003, nearly one-third of the general US population aged 12 or older has downloaded a music or MP3 file from the Internet. This translates into roughly 65 million downloaders.
The survey also notes that enthusiasm for downloading audio files has increased significantly in the past several months, with the proportion of Americans who have downloaded a music or MP3 file growing from 26% in December 2002 to 30…
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) officially opened today and we spent our time at the Alexis Park noticing even more exhibitors than last year. On hand were plenty of new products, companies, and high-rez software demos. Multichannel demos were in heard in several rooms—all to good effect.
We started at the rear of the hotel where we discovered TAD (Technical Audio Devices), a company that, for the past 28 years, has focused only on the pro audio market. It has decided to brave the home audio market and, for the past three years, has been developing a statement loudspeaker that…
A few years ago, when media pundits began discussing the possible ramifications of 500 channels of television, the concept of "narrowcasting" quickly became the buzzword du jour. The idea was that programming in the future would be aimed at increasingly better-defined markets. Rather than an all-sports channel, an astute broadcaster would operate multiple channels devoted to individual sports: an all-basketball channel, for example, or round-the-clock motor sports. Advertising tailored for a tightly defined market might prove more efficient than its shotgun-effect equivalent.
Television…
As promised earlier in January, Warner Music Group has announced a major restructuring that it hopes will put it in better shape to compete in the "challenging business environment of today's music industry." The move comes after the recent closing of WMG's $2.6 billion acquisition by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and a group of investors.
Key elements of the restructuring include the consolidation of several business divisions within the Elektra Entertainment Group and The Atlantic Group labels, including the legal and business affairs, finance, and label sales units. Elektra's chairwoman Sylvia…
Alleged unauthorized copying of compact discs will cost Technicolor, Inc. approximately $2.3 million. On March 26, the Southern California disc replicator agreed to settle a case brought against it last year by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in which the RIAA charged that workers at one of Technicolor's disc plants had made and distributed batches of illegal copies. The total of the settlement was less than 10% of the amount originally sought by the RIAA.
Technicolor is one of the entertainment industry's oldest and most trusted sources for media replication.…
The British Library vs DRM: The BBC reported February 3 that Dr Clive Field, the British Library's director of scholarships and collections, called the increasing restrictions of fair use by digital rights management (DRM) cause for concern.
Restrictive DRM technologies are designed to prevent the public from illegally "sharing" digital media. However, many librarians and other observers point out that they also prevent legitimate uses currently deemed appropriate, such as "fair use" and "library privilege." (Libraries are granted access to and the rights to copy and distribute content by…
No, you aren't reading an old newsdesk article that has inadvertently been published a second (or third) time. On March 2, congressional representative Mike Ferguson (R-NJ) introduced House Resolution 4861, "the audio broadcast licensing act of 2006." Ferguson's co-sponsors were Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Mary Bono (R-CA), Bart Gordon (D-TN), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
Ferguson invoked piracy as the rationale behind his resolution. "With exciting new digital audio devices on the market today and more on the horizon, Congress needs to streamline the deployment of digital services and protect…