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Lars Fredell, "the world's greatest audiophile," dead at 58

Lars is dead.

The Swedish-born Lars Fredell, who once told me that he aimed to be "the world's greatest audiophile," and probably was, died of an apparent heart attack on Friday, June 28, shortly after leaving a plane at Westchester County Airport. Medical personnel were unable to revive him. Lars was 58.

The incident bears an uncanny resemblance to the sudden death of Harvey Rosenberg last year. Harvey, too, collapsed and died following a flight. Harvey was 59.

Lars was my close friend and listening pal for nearly 15 years. He showed up on my doorstep one sunny Saturday…

Digital Rights Summit

It's tough to know which CDs, SACDs, and DVD-Audio discs have been restricted through watermarks or other "copy protection" techniques. This has created a thriving underground community, with websites such as Fat Chuck's devoted to sussing out the corrupted audio products and posting notification to consumers.

But what would happen if all altered products, both software and hardware, were required to carry notification to consumers that the product they were buying had restrictions built in? Would music fans shun the restricted discs and players, or would they shrug their collective…

Sony & Philips push two-layer Super Audio CD

While the DVD Consortium's Working Group 4 (WG-4) is still working on the 0.9 specification for DVD-Audio, Sony and Philips have been silently carrying on work on their Super Audio CD, the consumer implementation of Sony's DSD. The Sony/Philips disc will have two layers, one carrying normal 44.1kHz, 16-bit CD information (and thus guaranteeing backwards compatibility with existing CD players), the other carrying eight channels in DSD format (two for high-quality stereo, six for surround), plus text and/or graphics.

The press were shown Super Audio CD at London's Abbey Road Studios in late…

Added to the Archives This Week

From the April 2004 issue, a must-read for all audiophiles: Keith Howard does the SACD and DVD-Audio math for "New Media Metrics." Using a vast collection of informative graphs, KH explores hi-rez attributes and puzzlers. "In the case of SACD, why provide a potential bandwidth in excess of 1.4MHz, only to fill more than 95% of it with quantization noise?"

From August 1999, Robert J. Reina listens to the NAD 218 THX power amplifier and explains that he's "been impressed with the character and the consistency of the NAD sonic signature: a tuneful and dimensional sonic presentation with a…

Tony Federici

Back in the spring of 1986, I was visiting a hi-fi show in Lucerne, Switzerland. In the KEF/McIntosh/Perreaux room, I was engaged by a voluble American, who wanted to talk about the changes I was making with the English magazine Hi-Fi News. The conversation shifted to the hotel bar, then to a restaurant. The American was one Tony Federici, who at that time was distributing Perreaux gear in the US. With an education in the philosophy of science, Tony's comments were insightful and challenging. He was never at a loss for an opinion! After I moved to the US to take the editorial reins at…

Industry Update

Rotel's newest: Rotel is venturing into the power conditioner market with two new components developed in conjunction with APC (American Power Conversion), a company with a long history in power-protection: the $1599 RLC-1080, which offers internal battery backup, and the $499 RLC-140. Both models offer system protection against spikes, brownouts, over-voltages, and RFI noise. Both also offer protection for coaxial, telephone, and Ethernet hook ups, as well as audible warnings and text displays.

The biggest difference between the two Rotel power conditioners is the RLC-1080's internal…

"High-Def" Audio from Dolby/Intel

Audiophiles may bemoan the convergence of computers and high-fidelity equipment, but it's a trend apparently as unstoppable as the earth's progression around the sun.

Every once in a while, however, an announcement appears to encourage hope that the computer audio experience will eventually transcend its typical limitations. Case in point: a recent press release from Dolby Labs and Intel Corporation about a cooperative effort to promote "Intel High Definition Audio," an improved PC audio experience based on Dolby surround-sound technologies.

The partners are launching a new "…

A Universal CD Problem?

Recent moves by record labels to add restricted-use technology to their compact disc releases has raised the ire of many a consumer, leading some to call for boycotts or worse (see this week's Soapbox). Late last year the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) issued a statement saying that the major labels have gone too far in restricting consumers' "fair use" of copyrighted material.

In spite of the gathering storm, Universal Music Group has announced its intention to add restricted-use technology to all of its releases by mid-2002, while other labels have been testing…

XM Beams Mozart Live from Salzburg

Extra-terrestrial radio is poised to celebrate Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday. From Wednesday January 25 through Friday, January 27, XM Satellite Radio will broadcast live performances by many of the most celebrated Mozartians of our time direct from the Carolino Augusteum, a 17th-century castle and former home of the Archbishops of Salzburg that overlooks the Salzburg Cathedral and the Mozart Platz. Artist interviews and sound portraits of the Salzburg milieu will spice up the proceedings.

Culminating with a live broadcast of Salzburg's "official" Mozart Commemoration Concert, XM…

Added to the Archives This Week

Is bigger better? Michael Fremer sets out to determine just that as he reviews the Pass Labs XA160 monoblock power amplifier. As Fremer explains, "While the industry-feminizing tiny triode set has made a great deal of noise in the past few years (I can hear them hissing now), soft-walking, big-stick-carrying, mega-power amplifiers still circle the globe."

Next, Michael Fremer decides to take on the legendary Linn Products LP Playing System. "A legend can be intimidating, especially when it's also a classic, a revolutionary, an iconoclast, a survivor," remarks MF as he gets to work.

As…