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Svetlana vs. Svetlana

What's in a name?

In trademark disputes, enough to justify protracted and expensive litigation, as in the case of New Sensor Corporation v. CE Distributing, LLC, heard recently in US District Court in New York. At issue: the use of the name "Svetlana" on vacuum tubes distributed by both companies, but sourced from different factories.

In certain audiophile circles, Svetlana tubes have almost mythical status. Until four years ago, there was no doubt about their authenticity because the brandname applied only to tubes made in the Svetlana plant in St. Petersburg, operated by a Russian…

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John Atkinson heads across America's great plains toward Kansas to engineer a brand-new recording that he and Les Berkley document in A Mosaic of Music: Stereophile's Clarinet Quintet CD. For the new CD, JA returns again to Chad Kassem's audio Mecca, noting that "105 takes of the Mozart and 102 takes of the Brahms later, we had gotten everything down on tape in two days of intense music-making."

The Theta Citadel monoblock amplifier "is as handsome a monoblock as these jaded eyes have laid eyes on," says Jonathan Scull. But, he adds, "As we all know, it's the sound that counts." Not to be…

Media Servers to Increase Market

Flat-screen TVs were clearly the winners at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but bubbling under the surface at the trade show were signs that creating home networks using media servers to manage both audio and video content libraries will also soon hit the big time.

Confirming this hunch, market research and consulting firm Parks Associates (PA) predicts that "multimedia hubs" will reach mass-market status by the end of 2008, with more than 40 million units shipping to US households. The new, 90-page report, "Multimedia Networks in the Home: Analysis and Forecasts," includes…

Added to the Archives This Week

From the August issue, Robert Deutsch gives the Audio Research VS110 power amplifier and SP16L line preamplifier the full treatment. RD reveals how he finds products to review, and more importantly, what he found appealing in the ARC amp and preamp.

Is Art Dudley out to annoy Stereophile readers? He points out in Listening #8 that sometimes he just can't help himself. So what will it be this time: politics, format wars, or silly tweaks? No, Dudley decides to really get 'em going and review another Musical Fidelity product, the A3.2 integrated amplifier.

HE 2003 has come and gone,…

Carver Corporation Announces the Resignation of Three Directors

On January 28, Carver Corporation announced the resignations, effective January 21, 1998, of Mr. Thomas C. Graham and Mr. John F. Vynne as directors of the company so each can devote more time to his respective business. Carver Corp. also announced the resignation of Mr. Stephen M. Williams as a director of the company effective January 27, 1998. Mr. Williams is pursuing other business opportunities that preclude his continued service as a director of Carver Corp.

Carver Corp. also announced that it has been notified by the Nasdaq Stock Market that the company's common stock will…

Henry Kloss, Dead at 72

Photo: © Steven Stone (used with permission)

Henry Kloss, whose prolific hi-fi design and manufacturing career spanned a half century, died of a subdural hematoma on January 31, three weeks before his 73rd birthday.

Habitually clothed in khaki trousers and oxford cloth shirts, their button-down collars unbuttoned and sleeves rolled, Kloss (pronounced with a long o, to rhyme with "close") looked like someone familiar with tools. Indeed he was. As a boy, he was able to add rooms and bath fixtures to the Pennsylvania cabin he shared with his mother and two sisters.

After…

Grateful Dead Productions to MP3: Drop Dead

The Grateful Dead were the most enduring and most worshipped of all the rock groups who originated in the San Francisco scene of the 1960s. The Dead spawned Deadheads, a global family of loyal followers, who lived for the communal high of Dead concerts, where recording by fans was encouraged by the band and its management. Deadheads continue to share recordings of those concerts through a vast network, including several websites. Until recently, at least two of the sites had been providing MP3 transmissions at no charge.

The free tunes are part of a long-standing tradition. The making…

CD Recorders Fastest-Growing Category in Audio

More than a million CD recorders have been sold in the last 21 months, making the category one of the most rapidly developing segments in the history of the consumer electronics industry. The news was delivered by Philips executives at the end of August at the IFA trade and consumer exhibition in Berlin, Germany.

Two years ago, only a relative handful of recorders from a few makers were available to consumers. Philips, Marantz, and Pioneer were the first manufacturers to sell such products. But by June of this year, the category had exceeded the million-unit mark. Now at least 15…

Altec's Pennsylvania HQ Damaged by Fire

Engineering facilities and a finished-goods warehouse at Altec Lansing Technologies' Milford, Pennsylvania, headquarters were damaged by fire late Sunday, May 31. The blaze was said to have been exacerbated by severe weather. No injuries were reported.

Administrative offices weren't damaged. By Monday afternoon, engineering-department employees were back at work in other parts of the company's offices. No jobs will be lost because of the fire, Altec executives said.

The impact of the fire on Altec's business will be minimal, said president and chairman Edward Anchel, because the…

CES Moves High-Performance Audio Exhibits

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the producer of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), has finally confirmed the rumors that have been circulating for many weeks: The industry sector that CEA terms "high-performance audio" will move from its customary venue at the Alexis Villas (originally the Alexis Park) to the Venetian Hotel in 2007. In addition, "high-performance audio" and "high-performance home theater" will now be represented under the same umbrella.

According to the CEA's press release, distributed March 23, exhibitors in the new, combined home-…