News

Last month, we reportedhttp://stereophile.com/news/012405roundup/">reported; that audio engineers with a yen for magnetic tape were hoarding their remaining stockpiles in the wake of the Chapter 11 restructuring–inspired shutdown of the Quantegyhttp://www.quantegy.com">Quantegy; plant in Opelika, Alabama. What a difference a month makes! Two new sources have come to the rescue.

See, touch, and demo the next generation of personal media players, home networking solutions, HDTV, digital music, and more—all under one roof.

Music buyers will find a new report issued by Parks">http://www.parksassociates.com">Parks Associates both interesting and disturbing. Interesting in what it purports to reveal about consumers, and, as we shall see, disturbing in how the music industry is being urged to interpret the data.

Bill Leebens and Ole Lund Christensen, organizers of the Audio Asylum Asian Tsunami Victim Support Auction, announced today that the fund-raising drive will end Monday, February 28.

ListenUp NHT: NHT's 75W M-00 powered two-way studio monitor has long been an audiophile favorite for the title of "best computer loudspeaker"—not that the competition has been all that fierce. The Benicia, CA–based loudspeaker manufacturer recognized that the powered monitor, initially marketed direct to recording engineers and in-home studio owners, was selling beyond its target audience and repositioned it as part of its PC Hi-Fi line. When Walt Stinson, co-founder of Colorado-based Audio/Video chain ListenUp discovered the M-00s when he was searching for something to pair with his portable player, he was so taken with their performance that he called ListenUp's marketing manager, Phil Murray, and told him that the chain had to carry them, because they were "simply the best multimedia speakers, bar none."

Youth may not be the only thing that's wasted on the young. Many recent studies have shown that as people age, they have increased difficulty getting a good night's sleep. A new study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing indicates that listening to soft music may help people with sleep disorders to fall asleep faster.

CBGB, the legendary Bowery club frequently cited as the birthplace of America's punk movement, is the latest in a growing list of urban nightclubs getting priced out of the neighborhoods they helped create. According to a February 11 article in The Village Voice, CBGB's lease will end in August, and its landlord wants to see the club's monthly rent increase from $20,000 to $40,000.