New US Distributors for Quad and EMM Labs
More changes coming to The">http://www.internationalaudiogroup.com/">The International Audio Group as it continues to sort its product lines and distribution plans. Starting February 1, 2006, IAG has assigned sole US distribution of its Quad branded products to newly formed Taiga LLC.
New Website!
It's been a while since the Stereophile website was freshened up. Probably too long. So this time we decided to start from scratch and combine the stack of reader suggestions we've received with the thousands of articles and other features already online to create something that we hope scratches your audiophile itch better than ever.
New York Goes Avantgarde
There may be thousands of audio manufacturers around the world, but there are only a handful of ways for them to sell their products. These include your traditional bricks-and-mortar dealer network (everything from small audio boutiques to mass-market chains), the online or mail order retailer, direct sales via the Web or catalog, or direct sales via a company store.
New York Show Starts Friday 4/13
"New York, New York, It's an Audio Town!" After far too many years without a large-scale audio show, New York City is about to get a taste of what regularly enriches the lives of audiophiles in other major centers around the world. The first, hopefully annual New York Audio and AV Show, brought to you by the same Chester Group that mounts audio shows in the UK, Australia, and Sweden, and by T.H.E. Show USA, takes place in Park Avenue's grand Waldorf=Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Avenue on Friday April 13Sunday, April 15.
New York Technics Events Thursday & Saturday
Thursday, March 3, 6:30pm8:30pm, Adirondack Audio & Video (340 East 57th Street, Suite 1D, New York City) and Saturday, March 5, 2pm5pm, Value Electronics (35 Popham Road, Scarsdale) will be hosting the first public demonstrations of Technics' highly-anticipated SL-1200GAE turntable.
Newly Merged AOL Time Warner Will Promote Music
A billion-dollar loss for the parent company may be a big gain for performers under contract to Warner">http://www.wmg.com/">Warner Music Group, who will benefit from cross-promotional efforts aimed at millions of America">http://www.aol.com/">America Online subscribers beginning this month.
News Flash: Oppo now plays DSD files
There has been a lot of buzz lately generated by show demonstrations of DSD recordings played directly from files and as the opportunity to download DSD files is expanding. The reactions of our writers have ranged from "impressive," to an "epiphany," to my own delight reported in the upcoming May issue of Stereophile. The hardware used has been mostly professional (Sonoma workstation) or semi-professional (Mytek Stereo 192-DSD) or, at the very least, costly enough for the unconvinced to hesitate. Now, in one fell swoop, Oppo has made this possible at no cost at all for those of us who own an Oppo BDP-103 or BDP-105.
News from Cirrus Logic
http://www.cirrus.com"> Cirrus Logic has initiated cutbacks in its workforce and other cost-reduction moves that are expected to save as much as $12 million annually. The Austin, TX–based semiconductor company stated May 15 that the measures are part of a general restructuring of its business model, in which its magnetic storage chip business will be de-emphasized in favor of its semiconductor business. Cirrus is the parent company of Crystal Semiconductor, maker of many high-performance digital audio chips.
Next Stop: Munich. AES Folds Its Tent in SF
Day Four at AEShttp:www.aes.org/">AES;. The crowds were somewhat thinner, but the convention floor was still buzzing, still incredibly busy right up to 4pm, the official break-down time. I spent a couple of hours strolling the floor with Vacuum">http://vacuumtube.com/">Vacuum Tube Valley's Eric Barbour, who works another side of the thermionic street as an application engineer for Svetlana, the Portola Valley, CA-based importer of Russian-made tubes. Svetlana will soon be making the ubiquitous 12AX7 and other popular tubes in its St. Petersburg factory, he told me. Instability in Russia has hindered production recently, but Eric said all such problems have been solved. He also mentioned that VTV has moved to new offices and should soon be published quarterly. I stood by as he made a sales call at the Millennia">http://www.mil-media.com/">Millennia Media booth.
NHT "Regularizes" Its M-00!
Audio professionals and "prosumers" with home studios have long sung the praises of NHT's compact powered monitor, the M-00 (affectionately called "the moo"); powered subwoofer, the S-00 (don't make us say it); and passive volume control, the PVC (a JA favorite). Until July 18, however, these products were only available at studio suppliers and professional audio sales centers. NHT, acceding to "growing demand and an evolving market," will now allow its specialty audio dealer network to offer the formerly Pro products to their clientele as part of NHT's PC Hi-Fi line.