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The CES's "Innovations" exhibit at the Sands Convention Center is intended to honor the most technologically advanced and ground-breaking consumer electronic products at the Show. Most of the display cases were still waiting to be populated on set-up day (though we spotted B&W's cute cylindrical subwoofer as well as Krell's Dean Roumanis wheeling in some big boxes). But some of the choices for an award raised our eyebrows, as with this robot intended to train boxers in the comfort of their own homes. Stereophile's Stephen Mejias strikes a suitably pugilistic pose.
My definition of great writing is writing that makes you care about stuff you never even knew interested you. By that definition, this Warren St. John article explaining why he cares about college football qualifies. I think I'm going to buy Rammer, Jammer, Yellow Hammer for the flight home from Vegas.
above paradise road,
but only just above,
but only just above,
jet planes shatter silence,
flying so wonderfully low,
you'd think you could jump up
and spin their black wheels.
Jonathan Tinn of Blue Light Audio came to the show equipped with his collection of classical composer action figures. Mozart is on his shoulder with Beethoven in the other hand. Wagner is still in the package. Collect them all.
Audiophiles know that cleaning up their AC supplies can yield a cornucopia of sonic benefits, including a quieter background, better retrieval of detail, and a subjectively wider dynamic range. The phenomenon is so well-recognized that it has spawned an entire industry devoted to making electrical conditioners, line filters, noise suppressors, and specialty power cords.
This last category has been the subject of a year-long research and development project at Ogden, UT–based Kimber Kable, where engineers have been working to correlate subjective auditory impressions with the electrical and…
Specialty audio manufacturers did better than expected in 1997, with factory sales as high as $1.4 billion, as reported last week. More figures from the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association indicate that the High End's good fortune is part of a bigger trend.
A sales spurt in February helped boost year-to-date sales of all audio products to $1.01 billion. Sales volume for home audio systems (i.e., rack systems) rose by 3.4%, to $115 million. Year-to-date for home components totals $217 million, according to CEMA.
The top 100 retailers in the US racked up $65.8 billion in…
Is it the low exhibitor rates? The excuse to visit Montreal, perhaps North America's most cosmopolitan city? The efficiency and charm of organizer Marie-Christine Prin and her assistants? Whatever the reason(s), Montreal's Festival Son & Image has become a real success story, attracting an ever-increasing array of exhibitors and audiophiles from far and wide. Last year, the Festival spilled over from the downtown Delta Hotel to the Four Points Sheraton across the street; this year, there were exhibits in the Holiday Inn next door as well.
The Montreal show may have changed its moniker…