News

It's safe to say that few audio engineers are more famous than Ray Dolby. On May 1, the founder and chairman of Dolby">www.dolby.com">Dolby Laboratories was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, joining such luminaries as Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and the phonograph.

Last week, Primedia announced the next in a series of editorial upgrades to its Home Technology & Photography specialty group. The group is redesigning its Stereophile Guide to Home Theater magazine to become Stereophile Ultimate AV (new URL: www.ultimateavmag.comhttp://www.ultimateavmag.com">www.ultimateavmag.com;) starting with the June 2004 issue. Hitting newsstands May 11, the redesigned magazine will feature 16 pages of new and expanded editorial content for high-end audio/video enthusiasts, more advertisers, and an enhanced consumer-friendly design.

We were startled to receive an email announcement recently informing us that Scot Markwell, long-time set-up and equipment maven for The Abso!ute Sound's erstwhile editor Harry Pearson, had joined the staff at www.themusic.comhttp://www.themusic.com">www.themusic.com; to manage its Gear Shop division.

Paul Bolin revisits planet Halcro to review the company's dm10">http://www.stereophile.com/amplificationreviews/404halcro">dm10 preamplifier. As PB notes, "After designing an amplifier that turned much of the audio world on its head, Halcro's head honcho, Bruce Candy, turned his attention to developing a preamplifier to match what he'd already wrought."

"Clean Slate" ends: As of early April, the US music industry no longer offers amnesty to confessed downloaders. Begun in September by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the "Clean Slate" program's intent was to discourage music fans from continuing to gather freebies online by promising exemption from copyright infringement lawsuits if they signed statements that they had removed shared music files from their computers. More than 1100 music fans signed, but Eric Parke of Novato, CA sought an injunction against the program on the grounds that it was a "fraudulent business practice." The RIAA responded by halting the amnesty effort and asked the judge in the case to dismiss Parke's lawsuit. Trade group officials promised to uphold their part of the bargain for those who signed.

If you're a retailer harboring visions of including Klipsch Audio Technologies' products among the offerings in a deep-discount website, forget it. Likewise, reconsider if you've been tempted to buy Klipsch products at unbelievable prices from such a site. And if you're a Klipsch dealer with some overstock, don't take the bait if someone with a website offers you cash for a bulk deal, don't even think about it—because Klipsch is one company that takes the gray market seriously.

In mid-April, Texas Instruments and Intel announced developments likely to improve the experience for many music fans in the near future. TI announced the industry's highest performance four-channel audio digital–analog converter (DAC), and Intel released the final v1.0 specification for "Intel High Definition Audio."