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Audio News Briefs: Niles and Carver

On May 1, Niles Audio Corporation, Inc., manufacturer of audio/video custom installation components, announced that it had "successfully defended its indoor/outdoor speaker line against would-be imitators."

According to Niles, CSI/Speco (Component Specialties, Inc.) of Amityville, New York engaged in selling loudspeakers that were virtually identical to Niles' OS1 and OS5 models. In response, Niles filed a trade-dress infringement lawsuit.

In January, Niles succeeded in obtaining a temporary restraining order prohibiting CSI/Speco from exhibiting the OS lookalikes at the Consumer…

Major Investor Calls for Liquid Audio Sale

Citing increasing competition from stronger companies and online music ventures about to debut from major record labels, an investment group has taken the drastic step of calling for the sale of Liquid Audio.

The Redwood City, CA–based online music service has seen its market valuation slide steadily from a peak of about $1 billion in November of 1999, which was also the peak of the dot-com hysteria. In early September of this year, the company was valued at about $53 million. Its revenue has dropped quarter by quarter with no indication that anything would change the trend. Revenue has…

SunnComm's Ups and Downs

The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster ride for CD copy-restriction developer SunnComm. The company was riding high in early September when it was announced that BMG and Arista had chosen its MediaMax CD-3 Technology to restrict how discs are used.

Then came the revelation last week that a simple trick could bypass the SunnComm process, and the company's stock, which trades on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board, quickly tanked, losing more than $10 million of its market value in days. What caused all the trouble was a Princeton University grad student's report issued last Monday…

Added to the Archives This Week

"We are now well past the era in which every review of digital playback equipment had to begin with an apology for the medium," writes Thomas J. Norton. As a case in point, TJN takes the Mark Levinson No.37 CD transport & No.36S D/A converter out for a couple of spins.

John Atkinson and various other Stereophile scribes weigh in on the Spica Angelus loudspeaker. "Why do I seem to prefer the bass featured by sealed-box loudspeakers?" asks JA as he gets to the (you should pardon the expression) bottom of the Angelus' sound.

JA goes on to interview the Angelus' talented designer…

High (End) Wireless Act?

Although it sounds like a disease resulting from poor dental hygiene, Bluetooth is a recently established wireless standard aimed at small-form–factor, low-cost, short-range radio links between mobile PCs, mobile phones, and other electronic devices such as speaker systems. Although there were a few bumps in the road as the standard became established, Cahners In-Stat Group predicts that 1.4 billion Bluetooth-based devices will be shipping annually by 2005.

Last week, Philips Components and Bang & Olufsen announced that B&O will utilize some Philips' wireless technology in the…

Sonic Boom

When it comes to dynamic range, it's the little things that count. As Texas Instruments explains, "Dynamic range is a parameter that expresses numerically how accurately sounds of small amplitude can be reproduced without distortion." In other words, the higher the dynamic range, the higher the quality of the sound, especially at low levels.

With this in mind, TI announced last week a new Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) which, it claims, offers the industry's highest dynamic range and which is intended for use in high-end audio equipment. TI says the new PCM1792 utilizes the company's…

The Mobile Audiophile

If you find yourself spending more time in a car seat than in your audio system's sweet spot each day, the trend pairing high-end audio companies with car manufacturers may offer a little relief. Lexus made a big splash last year by incorporating Mark Levinson technology into its latest cars, joining collaborations between Dynaudio and Volvo among others.

Latest to tie the auto/audio knot are Aston Martin and Linn Products, who announced last week that they will work together in a partnership that will result in a "unique audio system" to be offered on the AM V12 Vanquish, and Harman…

DualDisc Arrives in October

Market tests have been conducted, rumors floated, and now official word has arrived that DualDisc, a new two-sided disc format combining a CD on one side with a DVD on the other, will launch this October.

While the CD side of DualDisc will work like a conventional CD in most players, the DVD side of the new format has several potential uses: DVD-Video and all its attendant audio formats such as stereo 24/96 PCM or Dolby Digital 5.1, or optionally, DVD-Audio. Note that SACD is not included. Also, with its slight increase in thickness over a regular CD, DualDisc may have problems in some…

Phoenix Gold Grabs Carver

Last week, Phoenix Gold International announced its acquisition of the marketing assets of Carver Corporation, including the Carver name, along with plans to "actively rebuild the once highly regarded Carver brand, beginning with a full line of new consumer and professional audio products."

Phoenix Gold began its Carver quest when it acquired the company's Professional division in 1995, and it still manufacturers and distributes a full line of power amplifiers for the pro market. At that time, Carver Corporation continued creating and selling products to the consumer market, only to run…

Secrets To Success

Audio retailing has been a tough business in recent years, but two just-released surveys are suggesting that with the right combination of economic factors and dealer preparedness, things could turn around for smart retailers over the coming holiday season.

Last week, Deloitte Research chief economist Carl Steidtmann forecast a jump in consumer spending during the holiday season as a result of increased cash flow to consumers. "Consumers are coming into a great deal of cash, based on various economic factors, and historically when consumers find themselves with this much additional cash,…