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The Internet audio forum Head-Fi is one of the few places on the Web where you can hang out with truly passionate audiophiles and not come away despairing at the state of current public discourse. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Head-Fi's regional and national meets have that same sense of relaxed solidarity. But what always strikes me at these events, such as the national Head-Fest 2007 get-together in San Jose on April 21 and 22, is just how darned sociable Head-Fiers are, considering they are celebrating an activity that is so intensely solitary.
A ticket to Home Entertainment 2007—The High Performance Sound & Imaging Show,, to be held May 11-13, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in New York City, offers attendees a chance to hear live musical performances from some of the great artists of classical music and jazz.
Included with the price of a ticket, concerts at HE 2007 are available on a first-come, first-served basis. All concerts will take place in the Regency Ballroom on the Mezzanine floor of the Grand Hyatt New York.
Friday, May 11
2:00 p.m. Robert Silverman, classical pianist
4:00 p.m. Dan…
Harman International Industries, Inc has agreed to be acquired by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners (GSCP) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) for a price of $120 per share (a total near $8 billion). The share price represents what Bloomberg.com characterized as a 17% premium over its price one day earlier. The company's stock had been increasing in value, having risen by about 2.6% since the beginning of 2007, but beginning April 18, the stock began to surge, "indicating some investors anticipated the buyout," according to Bloomberg. John Rogers, a Citigroup analyst, had predicted in…
"Slava" has died. The great Russian cellist, known as much for his defiance of the Soviet oligarchy as for the more than 170 compositions dedicated to him, had been hospitalized in Paris at the end of January, but chose to fly to Moscow shortly thereafter to spend his last months in his beloved homeland. He is survived, not only by his two daughters and his wife and frequent collaborator, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, but also by the huge number of recordings that attest to his eloquence.
Of the over 240 world premieres Rostropovich played, Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto (Cello Concerto…
B&W Group North America (Equity) has announced that Doug Henderson will assume the position of vice president of sales and marketing as of April 30. Henderson has been a principal of Audtek Associates for more than 20 years. "I'm excited about this move," Henderson told Stereophile. "At Audtek, we specialized in brand building, and we accomplished a lot with some very good companies. With B&W Group, I have the opportunity to use those skills with some of the finest equipment available today—and I have a great independent sales force to work with. It's an unrivaled opportunity."
B…
Internet radio streams have received a reprieve from the US Copyright Review Board (CRB) decision to restructure the royalty fees for the format. In March, the CRB established fees, effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006, that would be ramped up each year through 2010, with a cost of 0.08¢ per performance (per listener) in 2006, going up to 0.11¢ in 2007; 0.14¢ in 2008; 0.18¢ in 2009; and 0.19¢ in 2010.
In April, the CRB denied an appeal to its initial ruling, saying the new fee structure would be enacted on May 15. Papers filed in the Federal Register on May 1 reveal that the…
It began with an email from reader Ed Hoffman. "I was looking for a Pass Labs dealer and found out that Pass Labs has dumped all of their dealers around the country. Do you have any information about what is going on?"
"Look into this," John Atkinson requested. I dialed the manufacturer's number at 9:30am EDT, which put it around 6:30am in California, reckoning that a disconnected number would tell me a sad story. The phone rang once.
"Pass Labs," chirped a cheerful voice. Not disconnected—and not shuttered either, apparently.
I spoke to marketing manager Joe Sammut and…
John Mitchell, an outside counsel for the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), warns that Florida and Utah have passed second-hand goods legislation (familiarly known as "pawn-shop laws") that could make the buying and selling of used CDs extremely unprofitable for stores and inconvenient for consumers trying to unload music they no longer wish to own.
The Florida legislation requires that second-hand dealers apply for a permit, post a $10,000 bond with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, thumb-print CD sellers, and photocopy their state-approved…
On May 8, Harvey Electronics, with 9 stores in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, announced that it would acquire the Myer-Emco chain's 10 stores in Washington and Maryland. Both companies are consistently ranked among the top "hybrid" retail operations, meaning they have retail locations and emphasize custom A/V installation services. The new company will be called Harvey Electronics, but tri-state area stores will continue to be called Harvey and DC area stores will continue to be identified as Myer-Emco.
Myer-Emco successfully began to emphasize custom-installation services in the…
Lexington, KY–based Thiel Audio has announced that it will partner with Charlottesville, VA–based Crutchfield to offer its speakers online and in Crutchfield brick-and-mortar outlets. Thiel has been famously reluctant to go online, having established itself through its canny vetting of potential retail partners. It kept its distribution clean.
Based on conversations I've had with Kathy Gornik and Jim Thiel, Thiel's worry was that too many Internet retailers sold based solely on price, offering little customer service or authority. Those are areas of Crutchfield's expertise—one competing…