A new development took place last week. In a joint communiqué issued March 7, MJI and its largest shareholder, Royal Philips Electronics, and Denon Ltd. and its largest (98%) shareholder, Ripplewood Holdings LLC, announced the establishment of D&M Holdings, Inc. D&M will be a joint holding company created to merge the operations of Marantz and Denon. The transaction is expected to be…
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A year ago, Marantz gained full command over its own operations when Philips reduced its participation in the company from 50.5% to 49% by selling 1.5% of the shares to Marantz Japan Inc. (MJI).
As I explain in the current issue's "As We See It" column, I decide on the ratings of the equipment featured in Stereophile's "Recommended Components" listing after consultation with the reviewers, taking into account the original review comments and, sometimes, my own experience.
But despite our best efforts, things can still go awry. This was the case with the Final Laboratory Music-4 phono preamplifier, which was rated Class C in the April 2002 list (Vol.25 No.4, p.100). This rating was suggested by Michael Fremer, who had reviewed the model in our January issue. Unfortunately, while…
Wes Phillips explains that Adcom is one of those companies that is easy to take for granted. "To break through our complacency, Adcom would have to produce an outright unlistenable turkey—or a product that raised the bar so high that any audio manufacturer would get a hernia just thinking about raising it again."
Has the bar been sufficiently raised? Read Wes's equipment report on the Adcom GFP-750 preamplifier to find out. A hint from Wes: "Well, brace yourself, Bridget—Adcom's GFP-750 is a solid-state preamplifier/passive line controller that will demolish your expectations."
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Texas Instruments has released a new chip that advances the performance of high-resolution digital audio while limiting consumers' ability to enjoy it.
This seemingly paradoxical situation is part of the design of the TSB43CA43A, a second-generation device in the company's "iceLynx" family of products. The TSB43CA43A (also called the "iceLynx Micro") enables the transfer of high sample-rate digital audio data between A/V receivers and DVD-audio/Super Audio CD players—including multichannel material—using only a single IEEE 1394 FireWire cable.
It's a big leap in installation elegance…
We were startled to receive an email announcement recently informing us that Scot Markwell, long-time set-up and equipment maven for The Abso!ute Sound's erstwhile editor Harry Pearson, had joined the staff at www.themusic.com to manage its Gear Shop division.
Markwell, an Air Force veteran and audio lifer, has been widely acknowledged as one of the leading turntable set-up technicians in the industry, as well as an audio generalist, familiar with a staggering range of audio exotica of every stripe. After all, it was his job to tweak and fine-tune the best of the best for Pearson himself—a…
The proposed merger of the music divisions of Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann AG may win approval from European Union regulators, according to reports from Brussels on June 18.
The news is something of a turnaround, considering the generally negative spin given the proposal by most previous reports. Over the past two weeks, European Commission (EC) investigators determined that antitrust regulators had misinterpreted data on music distribution and sales, according to one news source. Mario Monti, head of the EC antitrust panel, was expected to announce a go-ahead for the Sony Music/…
An expanded alliance between one of the High End's most respected speaker manufacturers and one of the most aggressive upscale retailers should bode well for both partners—and for music lovers nationwide.
On September 18, Lawrence, KS–based electrostatic loudspeaker maker MartinLogan announced an expansion of its marketing agreement with the Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, whose continuing merger-and-acquisition program has gathered many successful local retail chains under its corporate umbrella. The deal will put MartinLogan's strikingly-designed, transparent "curvilinear line source…
Is the music industry in the early stages of a turnaround? Sales of recorded music in the US declined by less than 1% in 2003, according to figures released December 31 by Nielsen SoundScan.
"Less than 1%" could be interpreted as "holding steady," given the music industry's prolonged decline in sales. The 0.8% drop in unit sales was an abrupt change after a three-year downward spiral. It's unclear, however, whether this is a long-term trend or a temporary phenomenon.
Total CD album sales in 2003 were down 2% compared to 2002, which in turn was off 8.7% compared to 2001. Countering…
One area where DVD-Audio so far has an advantage over SACD is on the computer. To date there are no SACD-compatible personal computers on the consumer market, allowing the playback of a single-layer stereo or multichannel DSD format disc. One can, however, play a DVD-Audio disc on a PC using, for example, a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card.
But what about ripping a multichannel DVD-A disc to a PC? Creative Technology announced last week that it has solved that problem for music fans—sort of. The company says that it is now selling "the only THX-certified consumer sound card capable of…
Several writers take turns with the Apogee Duetta II loudspeaker, beginning with Alvin Gold in 1986. Anthony H. Cordesman exclaims, "The Duetta II breaks so much new ground, and is so obviously a superb speaker system, that it simply would not be fair to you readers to put off reporting on this speaker until the next issue."
Next, Corey Greenberg stuffs all of his favorite music into the Proceed CD Library. Greenberg concludes, "Being able to play any combination of your 100 favorite CDs, all from the comfort of your listening chair, is almost embarrassingly regal."
For 1991's…