NHT founders Ken Kantor and Chris Byrne are scheduled to depart from their company at year's end. Loudspeaker company NHT was purchased in 1996 by Recoton as part of its acquisition of International Jensen. Recoton Home Audio Group's Hank Suerth told the…
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As of October, Meridian America's new VP/Sales, replacing the late Ross Keim, was industry veteran Andy Regan, who started his high-end career at Manhattan retailer Sound by Singer. Most recently, Regan was VP/Sales at cable manufacturer AudioQuest. Not uncoincidentally, Joe Abrams has moved from cable manufacturer MIT to AudioQuest.
Memorial Day is the traditional beginning of summer. This year, it will mark a new chapter for Klipsch Audio Technologies.
On February 13, the Indianapolis-based manufacturer announced that it would discontinue its relationships with retailer chain the Tweeter Home Entertainment Group and its subsidiaries. Klipsch will instead begin selling a limited line of its Synergy Series loudspeakers (excluding custom installation and outdoor models) at Best Buy stores across the US beginning on Memorial Day. Best Buy, headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, is North America's number one consumer…
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has responded to an ongoing copyright infringement suit being pursued in a US District Court by the music industry against Verizon Communications, Inc.
The case pits the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against the telecommunications giant and pivots around a judicial order requiring Verizon to divulge the identity of one of its DSL subscribers, claimed by the plaintiffs to be an egregious offender of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The subscriber purportedly downloads and makes available hundreds of music recordings…
They may sing about death and destruction, releasing albums with titles such as 1983's Kill 'em All, but underneath the menacing exteriors, Metallica is really just a group of sensitive artists.
Or so it would seem. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich explains, "With each project, we go through a grueling creative process to achieve music that we feel is representative of Metallica at that very moment in our lives. We take our craft—whether it be the music, the lyrics, or the photos and artwork—very seriously, as do most artists. It is therefore sickening to know that our art is being traded…
One of the industry's most ambitious digital distribution programs has been announced by Warner Music Group. In November, WMG will make more than 1000 albums and singles available as downloads through several online music retailers, using RealNetworks' RealPlayer software. Music fans in the US and Canada are the target audience for the download program, according to a September 11 press release.
The first offerings will include singles currently on the charts, plus some Internet-only cuts from groups like Barenaked Ladies, Collective Soul, Mana, Manhattan Transfer, Matchbox Twenty, and…
There is an overwhelming amount of pop music available on the Internet, but where does the serious music fan go in search of jazz, classical, or opera?
London-based GMN Arts Network hopes to provide the answer. The music website has announced four new services that may fill some empty niches on the Net. The services—"Classical Premium," "Live Collection," "Showcase," and "Artists Directory"—will expand the 2½-year-old company's offerings and potentially create additional revenue streams, according to a September 6 announcement.
The new services include "GMN Classical Premium," a…
Rumors have been confirmed that high-end audio journal Fi Magazine, which just entered its fourth year of publication, closed its doors last Friday, February 26. In a conversation with Stereophile publisher emeritus Larry Archibald, former Fi editor Jonathan Valin commented that "It was really a shame. I never worked so long and so hard on anything, and it didn't have to end the way it did---but I don't want to go into it. The money was there to keep it going." John Atkinson had been told at CES by a Fi spokesperson that a new source of investment had been found, but we can only assume…
Last week, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) released numbers indicating that factory audio sales (as opposed to sales through to consumers) for the first six months of 2000 have surpassed all previous mid-year dollar sales. The CEA adds that the $3.85 billion in sales to dealers put audio sales 12% ahead of the same time last year.
According to the statistics, separate home components are up 16% in the year to date, to $727 million, with a 23% increase in June alone. Within this category, home CD equipment (particularly CD-R) has grown to 32%, while receivers (led by Dolby…
Recently, Sound Advice, Inc., a specialty retailer of high-end consumer electronics, announced plans to open five to six stores in Florida over the next 18 months. The company expects that two to three of the stores will be in operation by the end of this calendar year, with the balance to be opened in 1999. Sound Advice is also exploring other ideas, such as smaller-format specialty stores in upscale malls and other high-end retail locations that feature high-quality brand names.
The company said that the new store locations were selected following extensive market research to identify…
In a tersely worded press release, Carver Corporation announced that on Wednesday, May 12, 1999 it filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington. The cause of the filing was "an accumulation of unpaid debt and resulting legal actions filed by creditors. These actions created the prospect of an inequitable distribution of payment to creditors and prevented the Company from being able to operate as a functioning business entity. In October of 1998, the Company ran out of working capital and laid off the remainder of its…