News

In a press release issued just a few minutes ago, the organizers of the Montreal Audiofest announced plans to reschedule their postponed show for 15–17 May, the original dates of the now-canceled High End Munich show.

Stereophile is partnering with the Festival Son & Image, to be held in Montreal, Canada, Thursday April 3 through Sunday, April 6. The first day is for trade and press only—public admission starts on Friday at 11am. More than 120 brands will be demonstrated in rooms on 11 floors of the Sheraton Centre hotel in downtown Montreal, and the Show's keynote speech is being given by Monster Cable's Noel Lee at 10am on the trade day, Thursday April 3.

One of the most important sopranos of the early music movement—truly one of the great singers of our time—has died. Montserrat Figueras, who together with her husband, viola da gamba master Jordi Savall (left in photo), revivified vast amounts of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque repertoire, succumbed to cancer at age 69.

Diagnosed over a year ago, Figueras continued to record and perform through August. She died at her home in Bellaterra, Spain, with her husband and children Arianna and Ferran at her side.

It had to happen eventually. Britain's internationally successful loudspeaker manufacturers tend to be highly geared exporters, with overseas markets often accounting for 80-90% of sales. The dramatic downturn in sales across virtually all Asian markets, alongside the collapse of the Russian ruble and an ever-strengthening pound sterling, has been making life very tough indeed.

Despite our best efforts, things can still go awry with Stereophile's "Recommended Components" listing, the most recent edition of which appears in the current, April 2002 issue. I reported a couple of errors a">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11289/">a couple of weeks ago and now, sadly, I have more corrections to offer.

Specialty audio manufacturers did better than expected in 1997, with factory sales as high as $1.4 billion, as reported last">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10148/">last week. More figures from the Consumer">http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association indicate that the High End's good fortune is part of a bigger trend.

Each month Sony Corporation announces what seems to be an even more drastic cure for its lingering financial malaise. On Tuesday, October 28, the Japanese industrial giant announced that it would reduce its workforce by approximately 13% over the next three years, cutting some 20,000 workers from its payroll, 7000 of them in Japan.