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.
CES Pre-Show Events Offer Glimpse of Near Audio Future
Your dauntless reporters---Tom Norton, Steven Stone, Michael Fremer, Bob Deutsch, Larry Greenhill, Jon Iverson, and Barry Willis---have shown up on schedule for Philips Electronics' 1999 kickoff press conference at the Desert Inn's Grand Ballroom II, attended by a hundred or so other journalists.
CES: Day Three
The Alexis Park
Packing for Vegas, I assured my wife that it might be cold but it would be a dry cold. Unfortunately, this has absolutely no truth when it is raining cats and dogs, so I stumbled into Quartet Marketing's room chilled and soaked. I felt as though things couldn't get any worse—and I was right. Stirling Trayle pulled a long espresso out of his machinetta and settled me down in front of a pair of the $1150/pair Amphion Heliums Robert J. Reina reviewed in the January Stereophile. Go juice and music: life immediately got better.
Packing for Vegas, I assured my wife that it might be cold but it would be a dry cold. Unfortunately, this has absolutely no truth when it is raining cats and dogs, so I stumbled into Quartet Marketing's room chilled and soaked. I felt as though things couldn't get any worse—and I was right. Stirling Trayle pulled a long espresso out of his machinetta and settled me down in front of a pair of the $1150/pair Amphion Heliums Robert J. Reina reviewed in the January Stereophile. Go juice and music: life immediately got better.
CES: No Easy Anwers for High-End Growth Problems, Panelists Agree
The music business is a $13-billion-a-year industry, but the high-end audio industry reaches only a tiny fraction of the music lovers that number represents. "Everybody loves music, so why don't they love specialty audio?" was the question addressed to a group of industry experts at one of a series of AudioCafe.com-sponsored">http://www.audiocafe.com/">AudioCafe.com-sponsored panel discussions on Friday, January 7, at the Alexis Park, during the 2000 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
CH Precision's C1.2 DAC/Controller Joins Their Line-Up
CH Precision made a move equally smart and enlightening. Rather than devote endless minutes to introducing the new CH Precision C1.2 DAC/Controller, they harnessed many of their finest components together for a demo, which Jim Austin attended at a different time, in which Kevin Wolff compared the sound of various silver disc formats. Thanks to the wise music choices of Kevin Wolff and Roy Gregory, it was time well-spent.
Challenges to Watermarking Continue in Wake of London Tests
The Secure">http://www.sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) will soon move into Phase II of its evaluation of digital audio watermarking, following listening tests conducted in early July at Sony's Whitfield Street Studios in London and administered by Sony VP of engineering Malcolm Davidson. A soon-to-be-published report from Paul Jessop of the International">http://www.ifpi.org/">International Federation of Phonograph Industries reveals that the participants in the tests—almost all of them audio-industry professionals or journalists—averaged just slightly better than 50% in their abilities to detect the watermarks.
Changes at dCS
English digital audio company dCS has announced a major change in its management and ownership structure. David Steven, marketing manager for the last four years, has purchased the majority shareholding in the company. Derek Fuller, who was the business manager, has left the company, while Mike Story, dCS's founder, will continue as chief digital designer. A dCS press release says that the change should result in "products and programs that have a much more customer-centric focus."
Changes at Manley Laboratories
Last week it was revealed that David Manley has resigned as president of Manley">http://www.manleylabs.com">Manley Laboratories and has assigned his total shares in the company to EveAnna Manley as part of an agreement signed June 10, 1999. EveAnna Manley has officially assumed the duties of president, CEO, and sole owner of Manley Laboratories, Inc. A press release states that David Manley is no longer associated or affiliated with Manley Laboratories, Inc., and that EveAnna Manley has been de facto operating CEO of the company since David Manley's departure in 1996.
Changing Partners in Audioland
The new year ushered in several significant personnel changes for the audio industry.
Channel Classics Continues With SACD
Despite the recent affirmation by Stereophile's Kalman Rubinson that the Super Audio Compact Disc remains "the best available all-around physical medium for music" (May 2009, p.47), audiophiles in the US continue to declare it a dead format. Regardless, independent record producers such as Jared Sacks, founder and managing director of Holland's Channel Classics Records, continue to champion and promote SACD.