The NAC122x is meant to replace the NAC112x; it is based on Naim's NAC202 and features a hardwired motorized Alps volume control, rather than the NAC112x's resistor-ladder volume control. The 122x has six DIN relay-switched inputs, with two (CD and Aux) duplicated on RCA sockets. In addition to the usual DIN and RCA outputs, the 122x also has an RCA output "optimized…
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New Naims: At CEDIA 2006, Naim introduced two new products to the North American market: the $1500 NAC122x preamplifier and the $5750 n-Vi all-in-one home entertainment system (DVD-CD player/processor/five-channel amplifier).
On Saturday, September 30, Ayre Acoustics founder and president Charlie Hansen sustained serious injuries while bicycling in the foothills near his Colorado home. Hansen is currently recovering in Boulder Community Hospital ICU, following surgery.
Hansen, a former top-rated amateur cyclist, was descending a steep grade when he encountered a motorcyclist passing traffic headed up the hill. There were apparently no witnesses at the scene.
Ayre's North American sales manager Steve Silberman told Stereophile that Hansen was in good spirits and had a poor opinion of the functionality…
On September 14, Sonos, Inc., the company whose well-designed wireless Controller adorns the cover of our October issue, announced the release of its Sonos System Software 2.0. John Atkinson and I rode to the 11th floor of Manhattan's glitzy Trump International Hotel and Tower, overlooking Central Park's brilliant canopy of green trees, to meet with Sonos co-founder Thomas Cullen and CEO John MacFarlane for a brief demonstration.
"We're very excited," said Cullen. "We truly believe that [Sonos 2.0] is the biggest thing to happen to music at home since the introduction of the CD player…
Classical music specialist Channel Classics, headquartered in the Netherlands, has begun releasing the first DSD-native, hybrid multichannel SACDs recorded in China. Issued under the Channel of China imprint, the first two titles, Ambush on All Sides (CCS-SA-80106), featuring Zhang Hong Yan on solo pipa, and Soliloquy at Cold Mountain Temple (CCS-SA-80406), with the China National Symphony Orchestra under Li Xin Cao, have recently reached the US. A third SACD, featuring Yu Hong Mei on erhu (CCS-SA-80206), is scheduled to reach European shelves at the end of September and the US three or four…
On October 4, Wisdom Audio announced the appointment of its new president, industry veteran Mark Glazier, to oversee the company's sales, customer development and support, marketing, distribution, and overall business development.
Most recently employed at AudioQuest, Glazier is best known for his 22-year stint at Madrigal—both as an independent company and as part of Harman International—where he oversaw the development and corporate philosophy of the Mark Levinson, Proceed, Revel, and Audioaccess marques. For 16 years, Glazier also served as Madrigal's president.
Glazier told…
Even after a two-day auction and federal bankruptcy court approval of a $134.3 million bid by the Great American Group, which has stated that it plans to liquidate the music retailer, it's not precisely clear what is in store for Tower Records.
Great American beat out Trans World Entertainment, which stated that it intended to continue operating at least some Tower stores, with a single bid increment of $500,000. Trans World, which operates approximately 1100 stores, almost all of them in shopping malls, has recently acquired other music retailers, including Sam Goody and Wherehouse Music…
Surprise! If you love Beethoven, Schnittke, Reich, and Richard Strauss, and frequently play classical music on your iPod or hard drive, you're far from alone. Results of an Internet poll of classical music listeners commissioned by the British magazine Gramophone reveal that 75% of those surveyed use 21st-century media—everything from PCs to MP3 players—and 57% have ripped some of their classical CD collection to another digital format. In fact, 20% of respondents not only download classical music legally, but prefer to listen to it on their MP3 or other digital music player.
James Jolly…
A four-day break between the Top Audio Show in Milan (September 14–17) and the Hi-Fi News Show in London (September 22–24) presented the perfect opportunity to accept a longstanding invitation from speaker manufacturer Focal-JMlab to visit its manufacturing facilities in France.
After the short flight from Milan, Todd Hurry, of the company's US distributor AudioPlus Services, met me at the Lyon airport and we drove for a few hours to the picturesque French village of Bourbon-Lancy (pop. 7000) on the Loire River, near the wine regions of Dijon and Beaujolais. That evening we wined and…
On July 1, 1986, Advanced Audio Systems opened for business. On Saturday, November 11, it's going to celebrate with what Curtis Havens calls "an open format seminar" at the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel (1320 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma, WA 98402. Tel: (253) 572-3200).
"We've been dealing with audiophiles for 20 years, so we know they're a knowledgeable crowd," Havens told Stereophile. "We thought it would be great to augment that knowledge with the insights of some real experts. We've invited Richard Vandersteen of Vandersteen Audio; Steve Silberman, Ayre Acoustics' national sales manager; Joe Harley…
If you didn't follow Paul Messenger's 2006 Hi-Fi News Show Report—and really, you missed some fine reporting if you didn't—you may be unaware of the fact that Apogee Acoustics has been reborn in the Antipodes.
Graeme Keet (aka Graz), long known for his repairs and rebuilding of Apogee's magnetic planar loudspeakers, has obtained the rights to the Apogee brand name and the domain name www.apogeeacoustics.com. At the London show, Graz demonstrated his first new product, the $25,000 Synergy 1.5 loudspeakers, which, Graz says, "used the 1 ohm Scintilla as the benchmark."
"The…