Sony is the most widely recognized brand name in the world. The company has long been selling its personal computers and a few hard-to-find products on the…
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Where Sony goes, the electronics industry follows. And Sony is going on the Internet—not merely with product information and links to dealers, but with sales direct to consumers. The announcement was made late in January by Sony Electronics president Teruaki Aoki. "We cannot neglect the customers' viewpoint," Aoki said, acknowledging that serving consumers is a higher priority for the electronics giant than protecting dealers.
Despite our best efforts, things can still go awry with Stereophile's "Recommended Components" listing, the most recent edition of which appears in the current, April 2002 issue. I reported a couple of errors a couple of weeks ago and now, sadly, I have more corrections to offer.
When we check the current prices, we also ask every manufacturer whose products are included in the listing to let us know if any of those components have been discontinued or are no longer available. In their answering fax, Canadian amplifier manufacturer Bryston let us know that the 9B-ST amplifier was no…
The holiday retailing picture looks promising, according to several recent reports. Both the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association and the Recording Industry Association of America were predicting up seasons after mid-year numbers came in higher than expected. Overall, retail sales were up 0.6% in November, reported the Wall Street Journal on Monday, December 14.
A strong increase in online sales has been accompanied by plenty of traffic in traditional stores and shopping malls. The ongoing comic opera in Washington, a military attack on Iraq, and economic crises in Asia and…
We reported last year about the new direction that Bang & Olufsen America has taken in distributing its products: the company has recently opened a series of branded BOA stores around the US. The strategy seems to have paid off. The company reports increased sales of more than 60% in the first quarter of its current fiscal year, and claims that individual shops reported an average sales increase of 20%.
BOA says it plans to open more than 185 shops in the US, Canada, and Mexico in the next three years, having recently celebrated the opening of its 40th store, in Dallas, Texas. The…
From the January 2004 issue, Robert J. Reina surveys the Epos ELS-3 loudspeaker, reporting at the outset, "I have not been this excited about an entry-level speaker in years." BJR explains, "In three areas, it exceeded in performance what I've heard from its competition."
Next we have Larry Greenhill listening carefully to the $14,799/pair Piega C8 LTD loudspeaker. LG writes, "It was only natural to test whether this Swiss full-range speaker could deliver 'what you should hear.'"
Also from the January issue, we file Paul Bolin's take on the Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 loudspeaker.…
In the world of computer operating systems, you've got commercial products from Microsoft, Apple, Be, Sun, and others in one corner, and open-source products like Linux in the other. The commercial products are released to the public as finished products (at least until the next "bug fix" is ready), usually for a fee, and their core software code is protected much like the recipe for Coca-Cola. If you don't work for the company producing the official version, then it's hands off.
Linux, on the other hand, is available as open-source code for developers all over the world to tinker with,…
Last week, Intel Corporation announced its membership in the DVD WG-4 Audio Working Group, and its support for the proposed DVD audio specification, as the next steps in bringing next-generation consumer-quality audio to the PC platform.
Intel is the first computer-industry representative invited to join the predominantly consumer electronics forum that has been meeting with music-industry representatives for the last two years. Intel supports the proposed WG-4 format as the most cost-effective and PC-friendly, and will provide input to the committee in its efforts to make this an accepted…
Cleveland's WMMS-FM built an enormous following of loyal fans by cranking out a steady stream of rock'n'roll---a stream now 30 years old. "The Buzzard," as the station at 100.7MHz is known, rode the wave of rock's ascendancy, and pioneered the classic rock format---one instantly recognizable by the heavy rotation of the recordings of such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, the Cars, Kansas, Boston, and Journey. Every major city in the United States has at least one such station. Throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s,…
There is a war of words—and numbers—being waged in the struggle over copyright infringement and the illegal copying of music. Downloading music is a boon to the music industry, claim some, because it leads to increased sales of CDs. Others present statistics that undeniably prove that downloading will be the death of the music business.
Who is right? As in most disagreements, the truth probably lies somewhere between the two most diametrically opposed views. On June 14, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry—the global equivalent of the Recording Industry Association…
Larry Greenhill wonders, "In crossing over into transistor products, would Conrad-Johnson be able to retain the simplicity, low distortion, and musicality of their tube designs?" LG fires up the Conrad-Johnson Premier 18LS line preamplifier to satisfy his curiosity.
For his review of Rogue Audio's Magnum M-120 monoblock power amplifier, Chip Stern offers some sage audio advice: "I'm a big believer in the notion that, if you can't hear a difference, why pay for it?" Stern wires up the Rogue amps, searching for those qualities that make a difference.
John Atkinson discovers that the $35…