News

Back in January of 2002, we reportedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/11252/index.html">reported; that loudspeaker manufacturer NHThttp://www.nhthifi.com">NHT; and DEQXhttp://www.deqx.com/">DEQX; (then known as ClarityEQ) had begun to co-develop a new line of active loudspeakers using DEQX's custom digital room">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10969/index.html">room correction technology. It's two years later, and NHT says it is finally ready to unveil the first speaker system incorporating digital signal processing (DSP) developed during the alliance.

Now is clearly crunch time for satellite radio. In the last year alone, over one million new subscribers have been added to front-runner XM">http://www.xmradio.com">XM Satellite Radio's service, bringing its total to approximately 1.4 million. The company projects that it will reach a total of 2.4 million subscribers by the end of 2004, thus ensuring its survival.

This week we have two John Atkinson speaker reviews from the February 2004 issue. First, JA gets his hands on the B&W">http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/204bw">B&W 705 loudspeaker, commenting, "When I heard about the company's new 700 series of speakers, based on the technology featured in their cost-no-object Nautilus series but priced to sell in the real world, I asked to review the $1500/pair 705."

Pure technology developments don't often have an audiophile angle, but a February 9 announcement from InPhase">http://www.inphase-tech.com">InPhase Technologies caught our attention.

UPDATE: On Monday, February 9, Tower Records, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Industry observers had predicted the move in the weeks leading up to the filing. MTS, Inc., as the company is officially known, listed "more than $100 million of assets and more than $100 million of debts in its filing," according to a report from Reuters news service. "MTS expects to emerge from Chapter 11 within 45 to 60 days. It plans to swap $110 million of senior debt for $30 million of new senior notes and an 85% equity stake. Existing equity holders would retain a 15% stake," the report continued.

Lehmann">http://www.lehmannaudio.de">Lehmann audio has carved out a small niche for itself in the analog market with the Black Cube phono preamp (first noted by Michael Fremer in the October 1998 issue of Stereophile). The company now hopes to reach a wider audience in the US and Canada for the Black Cube and the rest of its products with a new distribution arrangement between itself and Hudson">http://www.lehmannaudio.de/hudsonaudioimports/">Hudson Audio Imports.

SunnCommhttp://www.sunncomm.com">SunnComm; and others have been trying for years to find ways to prevent consumers from copying music discs. While their success in preventing digital copies has">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11754/index.html">has been mixed, lurking in the background was a problem many felt could never be solved.