News

In our final bonus video interview from Montreal Audiofest 2026, Robert Schryer speaks with Barcola Bistro Audio and Harmonic Audio owner (and chef!) Fabrizio Caprioli about the gear shown in Harmonic Audio's nook at the show, including the refurbished H.H. Scott 130 preamplifier, the Harmonic Audio Bowie amplifier, and Harmonic Audio Mellophone horn speakers. Caprioli also describes how Barcola Bistro Audio is both a fine record shop and fine dining Italian restaurant.

One would think that the Internet was growing crowded with online music retailers such as CDnow/N2K, Amazon.com, EveryCD, and Tower Records, just to name a few, all hustling CDs. But the lure of gold in them e-commerce hills is hard to resist. Last week, barnesandnoble.comhttp://barnesandnoble.com">barnesandnoble.com; jumped into the fray and announced the launch of its own Music Store, featuring what the company describes as the first "online classical music superstore." Notably late to market with its online bookselling franchise, barnesandnoble.com hopes to gain ground against arch-rival Amazon.com by expanding beyond books and better focusing on niche markets.

Tuesday, November 6, Basil Audio (22183 Villa Oaks Lane, Saratoga, CA 95070) is holding its first annual "It's About the Music" event. The open house will begin at 10am, with demonstrations available until 10pm. Representatives from Focal, Naim Audio, and McIntosh Laboratory will be on hand to demonstrate their products and answer questions. Manufacturer presentations will take place 7–9pm. Among the highlights will be the first North American demonstration of Melco's N100 Digital Music Library.

AudioVisionSF (1628 California Street, San Francisco) and Lavish HiFi (1044 4th Street, Santa Rosa) are holding loudspeaker set-uos today, 7:30–9:30pm (AVSF) and tomorrow, 2–7pm (Lavish) featuring Benno Meldgaard (Chief Designer, pictured above at the 2014 RMAF) and Michael Vamos of GamuT.

Back in June, we reported on the http://stereophile.com/news/060605BBC/"> BBC's "The Beethoven Experience", described as "a bold experiment in whether or not free music stimulates legitimate music sales or suppresses them." Last week, The Independent published a terse 200-word article, reporting that the Beeb had downloaded one million files during the Experience, and stating "The initiative has infuriated the bosses of leading classical record companies, who argue the offer undermines the value of music and that any further offers would be unfair competition."

Starting on Sunday, June 4, and continuing through Friday, June 10, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will broadcast all of Beethoven's">http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/beethovenexperience/pip/archive/">Beethoven… compositions as "The Beethoven Experience."

At massive gatherings like the Consumer Electronics Show, some truly newsworthy developments by small companies go unnoticed, overshadowed by splashy launches put on by bigger firms. One such is Be">http://www.be.com/">Be, Inc.'s "Home Audio Reference Platform" (BeIA HARP), an all-purpose computer audio system. HARP will let computers access and broadcast Internet-based audio and services, and will also let them play CDs, tapes, and LPs.

UK newspaper The Telegraph reported March 3 that Sir Paul McCartney has signed a $6 million deal to release the Beatles catalog to iTunes for downloading. While The Independent and the Daily Mail have also reported the same thing, there has been no confirmation from Apple, EMI, McCartney, surviving Beatle Ringo Starr, or the families of deceased members John Lennon or George Harrison.

Conventional wisdom has it that, compared to men, few women express much interest in consumer electronics, and especially audio equipment. In fact, according to Consumer Electronics Association statistics, women accounted for only 22% of the $81 billion spent on consumer electronics in 1999. Prognosticator Jupiter Communcations predicts that, in spite of this, women will account for 46 million online buyers by 2003, and will overtake men in online purchasing.

"Pints With Ayre," the series of videos produced by Colorado manufacturer Ayre Acoustics, has been regular viewing chez Atkinson during these pandemic times. Covering subjects like volume control design, amplifier gain stages, audio transformers, and listening tests, the series presents sometimes esoteric technical subjects in an easy-to-grasp manner.

In the latest episode of “Pints With Ayre,” I was invited to talk about a subject close to my heart, the how and why a review magazine’s reviews should be accompanied by measurements. You can find my current thoughts at the link in this article. I don’t think I gave too many secrets away!