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Let's conservatively assume that the resolution and accuracy of gesture technology will double every two years (though given the economic incentives, doubling each year may be more realistic). Common gestural devices ($100 at 150 pixels per inch [PPI], by today's standards) will boast two orders of magnitude greater resolution by about 2025. Costing only $1 for the ability to map and track 15,000 3D positions per inch, such devices will allow for much greater degrees of freedom and movement (think Minority Report without the $1 million price tag). By 2025–2030, the price of sophisticated,…
Nevertheless, gestural-control and head-tracking technologies share many of the same design attributes, and appear to be maturing at similar rates. Head-tracking requires six degrees of freedom (6DOF), which tracks XYZ axes and rotations about each axis, known as pitch, yaw, and roll. Popular head-motion tracking systems for gaming today cost around $200 and offer about 640x480 of raw resolution, a sample rate of 100 frames per second, and latencies of less than 10 milliseconds. Lab-grade units with better resolution and response are also available.
Assuming a doubling of CPE every two…
The April 2014 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. Inside, you’ll find 35 pages of “Recommended Components,” our handy guide to today’s best audio products, covering categories including: Turntables, Tonearms, Phono Cartridges, Phono Preamplifiers, Media Players, Digital Processors, Loudspeakers, Amplifiers, Preamplifiers, Integrated Amplifiers, and Headphones.
Our cover model is the extraordinary Vivid Audio Giya G3 loudspeaker. Is there room in John Atkinson’s heart for another loudspeaker? My guess is yes, but where exactly does the Giya G3 rank among the countless other…
Today is the 60th anniversary of the iconic Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, the instrument that in the hands of Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler, Buddy Guy, Hank B. Marvin, and many other virtuosi, shaped and guided rock music ever since. To celebrate the day, we are reprinting the tribute by Corey Greenberg, himself a Strat player, to the guitar's inventor, the late Leo Fender, that was published in our June 1991 issue.—Ed.
Leo Fender was born in 1909 in Anaheim, CA, the son of a farmer who never made it past the third grade. Young Leo…
When people talk about "the Blue Note sound," they're talking about the sound of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers—or, more to the point, the sound of that band as captured by Rudy Van Gelder for Blue Note Records: the two- (later three-) horn harmonies arrayed across the stage, the drum kit's airy sizzling cymbals, the up-close intensity of the mix (Van Gelder pushed the levels beyond the point where most engineers feared to roam).
Two new releases by Music Matters Jazz—the audiophile company that specializes in reissuing Blue Note LPs, each title mastered at 45rpm, spread out on two…
Respighi: Church Windows
The Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Keith Clark conducting.
Reference Recordings RR-15 (LP). Tam Henderson, prod.; Keith Johnson, eng. AAA
The Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Keith Clark conducting.
Reference Recordings RR-15 (LP). Tam Henderson, prod.; Keith Johnson, eng. AAA
Some years ago, Harry Pearson, editor and publisher of That Other Magazine, announced his intention to help finance production of a no-holds-barred symphonic recording. The only question was, who would produce it?
Reference Recordings' Tam Henderson assures me he did not have HP's grant in mind when he conspired with the Pacific Symphony's conductor to record "something" in the Crystal Cathedral, a huge barn of a…
In 1974, in England, Australian Reverse-Pommy pianist and recording engineer Billy Woodman founded the Acoustic Transducer Co. (ATC) as a maker of loudspeaker drive-units. That makes ATC a few years younger than Spendor (1969) and a few years older than Harbeth (1977). When I mentioned all that to a quick-witted audio buddy, he immediately came back with "Middle Child Syndrome!"
It does seem that ATC has gotten less attention in the US than its older and younger British siblings. In an effort to rectify that, ATC is updating their loudspeaker designs and changing their US distribution…
The SCM7 v.3 measures 11.8" H by 7.9" W by 9" D and weighs 15.4 lbs. It's a solid, hefty little speaker that looks quite different from and far more up-to-date than its predecessors. The footprint is no longer square. The sides curve out and back in toward the rear, in the modern-speaker lute, canoe, or truncated Coke-bottle look wherein the rear panel is narrower than the front. The SCM7's drivers are now flush-mounted in a fully veneered front panel. The precision of the driver cutouts is impressive. The veneers are, as before, grain-matched across the left and right speakers.
The…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 5" woofer, 1" soft-dome tweeter. Frequency response: 60Hz–22kHz, ±6dB. Sensitivity: 84dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 50–200Wpc.
Dimensions: 11.8" H by 7.9" W by 9" D. Weight 15.4 lbs.
Serial number of review samples: 1001/1002.
Price: $1499/pair in Cherry or Black Ash veneer.
Manufacturer: ATC Loudspeaker Technology Ltd., Gypsy Lane, Aston Down, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 8HR, England, UK. Tel: (44) (0)128-576-0561. Fax: (44) (0)128-576-0683. Web: www.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
The associated equipment consisted of Parasound's Halo CD 1, used as both CD player and transport; Nordost's Silver Shadow digital cable; Bricasti's M1 DAC (since sent back); and Grace Design's full-size m905 studio Monitor Controller (the Grace m903's larger sibling, so to speak; report in thr April 2014 issue); and Cardas Clear Rev.2 interconnects and Clear speaker cables.
I did most of my listening with Lindell's AMPX class-A power amplifier. However, while the Lindell was going forth and back to John Atkinson for measuring (see January 2014, p.…