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Paradigm and Sonic Frontiers Tie the Knot

The Paradigm Group announced today that they have entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of Sonic Frontiers Inc., of Oakville, Ontario, as the first step in a comprehensive restructuring plan that will lead to an expansion of Sonic Frontiers.

"It's a done deal---the papers were signed today at 1:30---we're off to the races," stated Chris Johnson, President of Sonic Frontiers.

As reported this past March, Sonic Frontiers had announced an initial deal with The Lenbrook Group that was never finalized and was called off by early June. Chris Johnson explains: "Sonic Frontiers…

1997 November Audio Sales Reflect Continued Interest in Systems

The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) announced on January 23 that total November audio sales bounced back modestly from an anemic October, but were still off by 1% for both the month and year to date. Total dollars for the first 11 months of 1997 stand at $7.2 billion, compared to $7.3 billion at this time in 1996. Nevertheless, spectacular sales of audio systems are singlehandedly offsetting the lackluster sales in all other areas.

"Audio continues to present challenges for our industry," explained Gary Shapiro, CEMA's president. "However, companies continue to…

McIntosh, Parasound <I>vs</I> Bogus Resellers

The new year got off to a litigious start as the audio industry's seemingly endless battle against the gray market continued with a pair of federal lawsuits.

On January 5, Parasound Products, Inc. and McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. filed suit against a host of alleged unauthorized resellers in US District Court for Northern California. The suits pit the plaintiffs against several New Jersey– and New York–based retailers and websites accused of unauthorized trading in the companies' products.

Included in the list of defendants in one filing are ElegantAudioVideo.com, Craftwood Custom Home…

Tune in the New Year with these Party Favorites

The one-two punch known as the Holiday Season is only half finished; Christmas is simply the warmup for the biggest blowout of the year. For a successful New Year's party, the only ingredient more essential than a well-stocked liquor cabinet is an ample supple of party tunes. (Recommended accessory: a reliable CD changer. It's hard to play host and DJ at the same time.)

As guests are arriving, try setting the mood with Cocktails for Two/Romance with a Twist (Rykodisc D 116667), a compilation of classic lounge music by masters of the genre: Arthur Lyman, Gloria Lynne, the Stardust Steel…

Added to the Archives This Week

In his review of the Toshiba SD-9200 DVD-Audio player, Chip Stern asks the question "In a rollout of new technologies more or less driven by the expectations of the home-theater crowd, what's in it for us music-lovers?" Stern uncovers the answer and then some, while Kal Rubinson explores the player's surround-music performance.

The path to musical nirvana often necessitates isolation from the outside world. So, Wes Phillips cuddles up with the Sennheiser HD 600 headphones to determine if their audio womb can provide a sufficient substitute for the well-endowed listening room.

For his…

Retailing: Up, Down, Sideways

The terrorist attack of September 11 will likely worsen an already dark period for American retailers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by more than 14% in the week after the attack, the largest slide since the week of July 21, 1933. In the present circumstances, Americans are generally reticent to spend money, according to many reports, a situation that will affect manufacturers and retailers for months or years to come.

Financial reports from big electronics retailers, released prior to the attack, indicate that some were already mired in what many analysts are already calling…

Industry Update

Meet the new boss: Tannoy has announced the promotion of sales and marketing director Andrzej Sosna to managing director of the Scotland-based loudspeaker manufacturer. The company's former managing director, Anders Fauerskov, will now assume the title of CEO of Tannoy's parent, TC Group, which bought the TGI group of companies, including Tannoy, in 2002. Sosna, in his role of product development director, has been called "the driving force behind Tannoy’s recent product successes."

TI gets a Pass: Pass Labs announced April 10 that it has sold a non-exclusive license to US patent #5,376,…

OneDisc to Rule Them All

To combat lackluster CD sales and online file trading, some record labels have been adding bonus DVDs to new releases to get consumers to buy them instead of downloading the data. DVD-Audio proponents, in an attempt to counter Super Audio Compact Disc's single-disc hybrid SACD/CD strategy, have been trying to figure out how to combine CD functionality and DVD-A onto one disc.

A Tulsa, OK company may have the answer. EnXnet says that its new dual-sided, hybrid optical-disc technology has the "unique feature" of combining two distinct formats of content distribution on one disc. The…

Added to the Archives This Week

We start our survey of small speakers with Robert J. Reina's review of the Paradigm Reference Studio/20 loudspeaker. "Impressive right out of the box" is how Reina charaterizes the two-way design, which gets an in-depth review and also a May 2002 followup from Robert Deutsch.

John Atkinson then takes on the PSB New Stratus Mini commenting, "I feel that small stand-mounted speakers both offer the best value in sound quality, as well as standing the best chance of sounding good in moderate-sized listening rooms." JA checks the Mini from top to bottom.

Next, JA investigates the B&W…

Day 1 of the 2000 CES

If one were to judge by new high-end audio-product intros at this year's CES, the industry appears to be hopping. So far we're only halfway through the Alexis Park (the home of most high-end audio exhibitors at the Show), but our bags are already overstuffed with brochures. Not surprisingly, a lot of the two-channel manufacturers are branching out to the multichannel market.

Conrad-Johnson is one of the companies adding home-theater processors to their lineups. C-J's new SSP-1 is aimed at a September 2000 release and a retail price of between $4000 and $5000. Also new is what C-J calls…