Polk stated that they have "reached an agreement in principle with The Providers, Inc. (TPI) of Vail, Colorado and certain of its affiliates to dispose of Polk's registered trademark 'Eosone' along with certain inventories, as well as Polk's entire holdings of…
search
Back in January of this year, we reported that loudspeaker manufacturer Polk Audio had purchased an interest in Genesis Technologies, a loudspeaker and digital electronics manufacturer, with an option to buy the company in three years. Last week, however, Polk announced that it has decided to pass the company on to new investors.
What initially took form in college dorm rooms and computer geeks' homes only a few short years back looks ready to break into the mainstream audio market this year. Hard-disk–based audio systems are becoming more common as both consumer electronics and computer manufacturers rush to bring products to market.
The latest manufacturer to join the growing HD-audio ranks is Marantz, which, last week, announced its intention to expand into the audio server market with an agreement to produce a hard-disk–based music server in partnership with Imerge. Imerge has been marketing its own HD-audio…
On November 16, Technics and Panasonic presented their DVD-Audio Q&A Forum to answer questions online about the new high-end audio format, players, and software. After introductions and an opening orientation about DVD-Audio, the first "questions" appeared, canned, as the panelists read "answers" from their notes. Still, some interesting information came to light.
Within minutes of beginning the Forum, Alberto Reggiani of Technics broached the subject of when the first players will appear, although his predictions were frustratingly vague: "We are now in the beginning of what we call…
Chip Stern notes that, "as often as not, it ain't the heat—it's the stupidity. When confronted by the smattering of self-referential dilettantes, acrimonious Internut wannabes, and obsessive-compulsive types who suck the air out of our aural fun-house, I find myself overcome with the desire to program my phaser for Clip." And fire away he does in "Snobs, Slobs, & Marley's Ghost," added to the Archives this week.
In "Fine Tunes" #25, Jonathan Scull gets caught up with notes from several readers about cost-effective outlets, preventing a shocking experience, and record shelves.
…
Rare violin dealer Geoffrey Fushi has devoted many of the past several years and a substantial portion of his liquid assets to producing The Miracle Makers, a reference book-and-recording project honoring the works of Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, late 17th- and early 18th-century makers of the world's most sought-after violins. Fushi is also the founder of the Stradivari Society, a philanthropical organization of violin fanciers who loan their invaluable instruments to gifted students. Members believe that their treasures were intended to make music, not merely to…
High-definition audio is on its way to a DVD player near you. Pacific Microsonics has introduced a new High Definition Compatible Disc chip, the PMD-200, for the next generation of CD and DVD players. The device is a "feature-rich audio IC that provides HDCD processing for both the CD and DVD formats," according to a February 11 company press release.
The PMD-200, which can handle 100 million instructions per second (100mips), is based on Motorola's high-performance DSP56364 platform, and accepts up to 24-bit input data at sampling rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz. "In addition to featuring…
The year has been a good one so far for New York's Harvey Electronics and for national electronics retailer the Tweeter Group. The news isn't so rosy for West Coast chain the Good Guys.
On July 19, Harvey Electronics, Inc. announced increased sales for the month ended June 23, 2001 and for the previous eight months. For the month, net sales amounted to $2.6 million, a 15.7% increase over the same month last year. For the eight months ended June 23, net sales totaled $26 million, an increase of approximately $5 million, or 12.8%, over the same period last year. Comparable store sales for…
Who wouldn't want to know what's in store for the extreme audio devotee? So we rolled a special set of aluminum Tiptoes, read the auspicious signs (you've got to understand how the tips point), and divined our first set of predictions. We'll have more next week, if the Mpingo dots line up just right.
1) DVD-Audio standard will finally be set---but major record labels won't care.
Of course, the corollary to this one is that the audiophile labels will carve out a hefty niche for themselves, with some limited re-releases from the majors. Expect to see yet another "revelatory" remastering…
We'd been playing phone tag for a couple of weeks, but Paul McGowan was finally tethered to a handset as he explained to me a product from his "new" company, the reincarnation of PS Audio. "Everything you've ever wanted in a power conditioner---times 10---with none of the drawbacks!" McGowan could hardly contain himself while pitching his latest brainstorm. He certainly had an intriguing idea, but the path from founder of PS Audio back in the late '70s to Genesis Technologies and back again was nearly as interesting.
Several years ago McGowan sold his interest in PS Audio, then known for…
Last week, the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) announced its forecast that Internet sales of traditional consumer technologies to online households should reach at least $14 billion by 2002, representing 13% of total industry volume. CEMA also revealed that consumer research shows interest in buying consumer technologies online should grow by at least 135% in the next two years. The study found that the vast majority of online shoppers opt to consummate the purchase online instead of at a retail store because of price.
According to CEMA's Todd Thibodeaux, "Whether…