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<I>Stereophile</I>'s CEDIA Blog: The Next Best Thing to Being There

The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo 2007 officially opens its exhibition halls Thursday September 6, and Stereophile's Kal Rubinson and Wes Phillips will be there to report the highs, the lows, the in-betweens—everything, in fact, except the bunions.

Check in daily for their reports. There's bound to be some two-channel news there somewhere. (Actually, their in-boxes have been stuffed with embargoed press releases for weeks, so they know where to find the good stuff.)

If at all possible, Wes and Kal will try to photograph industry luminaries…

CSI: Beethoven

On August 28, Jon Iverson forwarded an AP article about Christian Reiter, who claims to have diagnosed Beethoven's lengthy decline and eventual death as lead poisoning caused by a salve laced with lead administered by the composer's doctor.

"Worth a news story?" JI asked. I wasn't convinced—after all, I'd read Beethoven's 1827 autopsy report by Dr. Johann Wagner and knew he'd died from massive organ failure caused by . . . . Well, I couldn't remember. So, I pulled out The Beethoven Companion by Thomas K. Scherman and Louis Biancolli and looked up Dr. Wagner's autopsy report.

In…

Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti interrupted the extended farewell tour he'd begun in 2004 to undergo cancer surgery last July in a New York City hospital. Though he often proclaimed intentions to resume touring, he was forced to curtail further public appearances. After a recent hospitalization for a high fever, he was released on August 25 to spend his remaining days at home. His second wife, sister, four daughters, nephews, and close relatives and friends were all at his side in Modena September 6 as he died.

Pavarotti was born in Modena on October 12, 1935. While his mother labored in a cigar…

20 Years of Naxos

Naxos is making money from classical music. In the record industry, which seems to daily lament declining sales, piracy, and the demise of bricks-and-mortar retailers, that's news in itself. But when the world's largest independent classical-music company is able to turn a tidy profit while catering to the needs of audiophiles, that's cause for rejoicing.

The good news—no, the great news—is that Naxos's 20th anniversary brings the availability of some Naxos titles on MusicGiants.com in WMA lossless format. As part of its collection of Super HD 5.1-channel surround-sound downloads, the…

Tom Colangelo: 1949–2007

Thomas P. Colangelo, designer of some of the best regarded solid-state components of the last three decades, died in a single-car collision on September 5.

Colangelo started his career in audio designing circuitry for Rudy Bozak. He joined Mark Levinson Audio Systems in 1976, becoming MLAS's chief design engineer and designing many components that are credited as significant in re-establishing American hi-fi's world stature. Among them were the pivotal Levinson models ML-1 through ML-12—many of them co-designed with Paul Jayson.

When Mark Levinson left MLAS and founded Cello,…

Linn's Klimax DS

When I saw Linn's Klimax DS at CEDIA, I was impressed by the company's claim that it sounded "better than a CD12," the marque's (now discontinued) flagship CD player for many years. Quite a claim, I thought, but I wasn't able to make it to a nearby hotel and actually hear the DS in action.

So I did the next best thing and called Linn's founder and once-again managing director Ivor Tiefenbrun to fill in the missing details. It turned out there were many, starting with my complete misunderstanding of what a "digital player" was. My first question: "What disc formats does it play?"

…

Harman Buyout Scuttled?

The Goldman Sachs Capital Partners/Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. $8 billion buyout of Harman International Industries, Inc. announced last April may not go through, according to "two people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg.com reported September 21.

Harman agreed to be acquired for $120 per share last April, a price Bloomberg.com estimated as a 17% increase over its traded value at the time. Since then, the market has soured on high-yield debt and there have been predictions of a flat—not to say slowing—US market. To make matters worse, Harman posted a June quarter operating…

Luxman Returns

Philip O'Hanlon, formerly US marketing director for Halcro, has a new project. His distribution company, On a Higher Note, is bringing Japanese high-end company Luxman back to the United States.

Luxman was founded as Lux Corp. in 1925 by brothers T. Hayakawa and K. Yoshikawa, who manufactured radios for the just-established new broadcast medium. After several years of designing and assembling radios, the brothers decided to vertically integrate the company, manufacturing components in-house to cut costs and assure quality.

In 1931, Lux developed a magnetic pickup for its LUX 1730…

Scandinavian Audio Research Debuts

There's a new drive-unit manufacturing company on the block, but it's really just the same old guys who brought you VIFA, ScanSpeak, and DST—the original pros from Dover, in other words.

Scandinavian Audio Research (ScAR) has announced a product line to be called SB Acoustics, which will consist of a 1" soft-dome tweeter, 4" midrange, 5" midwoofer, 6" midwoofer, 10" woofer, 12" woofer, and 15" woofer. All are newly developed from the drawing board up and feature a proprietary cone mixture called Norecx, as well as new chassis designs and a fully optimized, low-distortion magnet system.…

EMI Takes Classical Music Online

EMI and Virgin Classics, one of the oldest and two of the most respected names in classical music, have undertaken a series of audiophile-friendly initiatives designed to strengthen their online presence. At the start of September, the labels together launched the EMI and Virgin Classics Listening Club. Open to music lovers who purchase new EMI or Virgin Classics discs marked with the Opendisc logo, the club's "exclusive" online environment offers participants the opportunity to build relationships with some of the labels' top artists.

On placing an Opendisc CD in a computer and creating…