From the current February issue, Robert J. Reina profers his opinion of the Mission m71 loudspeaker. With his favorite Mission 731i loudspeaker now discontinued, RR sees if he can cuddle up to its fresh-faced replacement.
It may resemble an…
search
Chip Stern writes in his review of the Blue Circle BC3 Galatea line-level preamplifier, "From the moment I hooked these units up, the captivating turquoise glow of their matching front-panel lights (a glowing orb within a blue circle) held out the promise of something inviting and serene." Promise fulfilled? Stern spills the Blue Circle beans.
XM Radio held a press conference in New York City Thursday, April 18. The event was heralded with great secrecy—attendees were enticed with promises of "major news," but no one leaked details beforehand, and the press arrived expecting something juicy indeed.
Whether or not XM delivered on its promises depends on who you talk to. XM Satellite Radio's executive vice president Steve Gavenas began the meeting with a passing reference to the company's latest round of financing—a public offering, which resulted in gross proceeds of $154 million, more than enough, he assured attendees, to last…
On Monday, July 2, 2001, Primedia announced that it has agreed to acquire emap usa from Emap plc. This transaction, which will create the second largest magazine company in the United States, is currently under a customary regulatory review. It is expected to close during the third quarter of the calendar year.
This new development offers many exciting opportunities for emap usa assets. Primedia is the largest targeted media company in the world with a strong presence in the automotive, teen, outdoor, active sports and consumer electronics arenas. Once the sale is concluded, more…
Editor's Note: Stereophile writer Richard (Rick) J. Rosen passed away suddenly on Monday August 22, of unknown causes. Rick wrote show reports and the occasional software review for the magazine, but his highest-profile contributions were his "Rick Visits..." series of interviews, where he hung out with music makers, asking them about their systems, of course, but also their relationships with recorded music. The first of these was with famed keyboard player Al Kooper in our October 1995 issue, and I was proud, as an editor, to be able to publish such superbly crafted prose.
Of all the…
Home Entertainment 2001 arrives at the Hilton Hotel & Towers in New York this week for three days, May 11-13. There will be more than 80 rooms stuffed with the latest high end audio and video gear, including dozens of brand new products. For more information about the show, go to the HE 2001 website.
Acoustic Dreams—This high-end loudspeaker manufacturer will introduce several new products at the Home Entertainment Show, including newly redesigned VAIC reference-level mono tube amps, exclusive "level-integrated" amps, new VAIC speakers, and the exciting Lumen White WhiteLight…
Audio nuts with a sense of humor and an interest in art will enjoy the works by sculptor Alan Rath currently on display at the Haines Gallery in downtown San Francisco.
Rath uses common audio devices---12" and 15" woofers, Kevlar-cone midranges and tweeters---some DC-pulse amplifiers, and an assortment of other industrial materials to construct science-fiction creatures with bulging eyes and heaving bodies. His Thumper V, resembles a huge snail on wheels, its body and eyes pulsating at sub-audible rates.
Some of Rath's creations recall vegetative forms of life, like a group of "…
It is shaping up as one of the big battles of the 21st century: content owners (who are not necessarily the artists who create content) versus the consumer electronics industry. On the one hand you have Hollywood with its record companies and the RIAA, and on the other, the manufacturers of products and technologies that facilitate the manipulation and use of digital content.
The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents technology manufacturers, is looking to defuse the conflict, urging the content community to work with, not against, the technology industry in the critical area…
Last week, Verance announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued them a new patent intended to prevent the disabling of a watermark on recorded content. The patent is entitled "Method and Apparatus for Preventing Removal of Embedded Information in Cover Signals." The company has recently drawn the ire of audiophiles, who claim that its watermarking methods are audible in high resolution media such as DVD-Audio recordings (see previous report).
The company says that the patented technology involves a new method of protecting "transactional" watermarks. Verance explains that…
The entertainment industry is going the last mile in its war against file sharing. On Friday, October 8, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) appealed to the US Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling earlier this year that peer-to-peer (P2P) file-trading networks can't be held liable for copyright infringement.
Hoping to have the case heard in the current session, the plaintiffs filed a 46-page petition seeking the reversal of a finding by the 9th US Circuit…
Using personal computers to listen to music may be heresy in some audiophile circles, but the practice is definitely on the rise. Recognition of the fact has led at least one maker of computer motherboards to introduce a model with a vacuum-tube audio circuit.
In June 2001, in our weekly online poll, we asked readers, "Do you ever listen to music on your computer?" At the time, 29% replied "Yes, quite often," and 30% replied, "Yes, once in a while." The same question posed a year later yielded 37% who said "quite often" and 24% who said "once in a while." In both cases, 2% of our…