News

We were saddened to learn of the death of inventor and audio engineer David Blackmer. The founder of dbx and Earthworks">http://www.earthwks.com">Earthworks Audio Products, Inc. died at his home in Wilton, NH on March 21. He was 75.

EMI">http://www.emigroup.com">EMI Group PLC has gotten serious about surviving in a depressed market. In the wake of a disastrous multimillion-dollar payouthttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11265/">payout; to pop singer Mariah Carey, the UK music label has announced sweeping cutbacks in its workforce—including many American executives—and in its roster of artists.

"Even right out of the box, it's obvious that the Wadia">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/540/">Wadia Digital 861 CD player is something special," writes Brian Damkroger in this month's issue. "Its heft and finish are beyond the usual high-end standards." But how about the sound?

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.

If Senator "Fritz" Hollings has his way, coming generations of electronic products will monitor their users' behavior and report possible copyright violations to some governmental regulatory agency. That's one of the more ominous provisions in Hollings' Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), introduced for consideration by the US Senate the third week of March. The bill goes far beyond the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in 1998.

Michael Fremer gets a chorus of oohs and ahhs as he sets up the Hovland">http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/535/">Hovland Sapphire power amplifier in his listening lair. While the Hovland is certainly a sweet-looking amp, MF rightly points out that "looks alone don't sell hi-fi equipment in the specialty audio market—especially when you're asking $7800 for a 40Wpc two-channel amplifier."

Chad Kassem is a true audio renaissance man. For years he has headed Acoustic">http://www.acousticsounds.com/">Acoustic Sounds, supplier of select recorded musical treasures from a variety of audiophile and specialty labels. Kassem also has his own label, Analogue Productions, which produces reissues, revivals, and a series of original recordings under the label APO Records.