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Sam on the Show

You know the trouble with show reports? You read them after the show. So let me give you a brief report on Home Entertainment 2001 before the Show.

For starters, HE2001 is shaping up as a big event. There will be over 200 exhibits and listening rooms. Dozens of new products will premiere. New technologies will be demonstrated to the public. More than ever, the Show will make news. In fact, we expect that Home Entertainment 2001 will be featured on network TV.

The Show's name may have changed, but high-quality audio continues to play a starring role. You'll find plenty of tube…

Liquidation Audio

Liquid Audio has been under attack for most of its short life, first from competitors and then from its own shareholders and corporate raiders. But the tumultuous journey may finally be coming to an end as the company reports that it is settling some of its lawsuits and shareholder claims while selling its remaining assets.

The company was formed in 1996 and rode the dot.com wave as it provided record labels, artists, and retail websites the software, infrastructure, and services for the secure digital delivery of media over the Internet. The company peaked in November of 1999 with a…

High-End Clicks & Mortar?

Selling consumer-electronics gear over the Web has begun to glow white-hot in the last year, with dozens of companies turning up the competitive burners (see related story). It will likely be a tough business, with the inevitable shake-outs and mergers taking place as retailers test their strategies and brands on the public's pocketbooks.

Last week, specialty consumer-electronics retailer Tweeter Home Entertainment Group jumped into the fray by announcing the formation of a joint venture with Cyberian Outpost, an Internet-only retailer of computer hardware, software, and accessories. The…

Added to the Archives This Week

From 1989 and 1992, John Atkinson reviews the Celestion SL600si loudspeaker and the DLP600 digital equalizer. "Given that conventional equalizers are quite correctly regarded in Audioland as being poor-sounding pieces of cheap, amusical junk," JA asks, "what I am doing reviewing what, for want of a better word, is an equalizer?"

Paul Bolin examines the sonic benefits of the Grand Prix Audio Monaco Modular Component Isolation System, reminding us that "It's no longer news that uncontrolled spurious vibration is one of the greatest threats to high-quality sound and video reproduction."

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Audio Networking Boom Ahead

A recent online poll indicates that a majority of Stereophile's online readers still don't like the idea of using computers when it comes to enjoying music. If a new report accurately predicts the future, they might as well get used to the rest of the world's booting up their tunes.

High-tech market research firm In-Stat/MDR is reporting that developments in computing, consumer electronics, and networking are combining to lead to an "explosive" new market enabling audio and video content to be transported around the home.

According to "Entertainment Anywhere: Multimedia Home…

Added to the Archives This Week

Robert Harley analyzed the $1995 McCormack Power Drive DNA-1 power amplifier back in 1992. His goal? To determine if this product "would be a high-end amplifier for Everyman." Reprint includes Kal Rubinson's Y2K experience with the SMc mods for the DNA-1.

How about a McCormack preamp to go with the DNA-1? John Atkinson listens intently to the McCormack Line Drive TLC-1 preamplifier, noting, "Finding a truly great, full-function preamplifier is a quest at which I have had only limited success." Is the TLC-1 JA's Holy Preamp Grail?

As a companion to our pair of McCormack reviews, we…

Added to the Archives This Week

In his recent review of the Thiel CS1.6 loudspeaker, John Atkinson pointed out that while expensive speakers "do indeed provide great sound for the tens of thousands of dollars they demand from their owners, they are out of reach of the majority of audiophiles." Ever the populist, JA tackles this reasonably priced Thiel to see how it measures up to the big boys.

Robert J. Reina admits he "had mixed feelings about reviewing the $189/pair" Paradigm Atom v.3 loudspeaker. After all, notes RJR, "I'm not impressed with $200/pair speakers that sound like $400/pair models with attenuated bass…

RIAA Clearing Music Scalawags from the Decks

The latest music-piracy statistics have just been released by the RIAA, bringing to light several new wrinkles in the ongoing struggle to protect the owners of music copyrights from those who illegally copy and sell protected works. Released August 21, the report details the new problems brought about by CD-R technology and MP3 files distributed via the web.

According to the report, the first six months of 1998 have seen law enforcement confiscate an "extraordinary" number of unauthorized CD-Rs compared to the same period last year. With the advent of new and inexpensive CD-R hardware and…

Industry News Roundup

Music sales in the US continue to decline, according to a May 8 report from the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM). Retails sales totaled $8.93 billion in 2002, down from the $10.46 billion reported for 2000. Most (87%) of the organization's members reported a drop in music sales last year—only 13% posted higher totals.

Last year, music retailers actually sold more audio/video hardware, a total of $10.04 billion, than they did music. They also sold $3.04 billion worth of books and magazines, $2.69 billion worth of DVDs, $1.76 billion worth of video games and $988…

Using the CD Carrot

Record companies are having a tough time making new friends these days as they toy with ways to restrict consumer use and distribution of their products. Amid sliding sales, mediocre new releases, high prices, and failed attempts at implementing restricted-use CD technology, the big labels clearly need some advice on getting back on track.

Consulting company Jupiter Media Metrix's analysts recently put on their thinking caps to develop a set of recommendations aimed at furthering consumers' acceptance of restricted-use CDs. The company is suggesting that record labels should experiment…