Focal Diva Mezza Utopia Active Wireless Loudspeakers Unveiled
Focal has just announced the Diva Mezza Utopia, a larger and more powerful sibling to the Diva Utopia active wireless speaker system it debuted last year. The new addition maintains the Diva Utopia form factor and aesthetic while upping the size of the four woofers from 6.5" to 8" and power from 400W to 500W per speaker. The result is a speaker system Focal states will "effortlessly fill" rooms up to 1076 sq ft. in size with sound.
Focal-JMlab Does It All In-House
A four-day break between the Top Audio Show in Milan (September 14–17) and the Hi-Fi News Show in London (September 22–24) presented the perfect opportunity to accept a longstanding invitation from speaker manufacturer Focal-JMlab to visit its manufacturing facilities in France.
Focus On Multi-Channel Music At AES
Multichannel music was addressed by several seminars at this year's AES. On Friday, the Center Channel Challenge convened with a trio of recording engineers moderated by DTS's Jeff Levison.
Fooled by Fauxharmonic?
Can audiences tell the difference between a computer-generated orchestra and the real thing? Just how far have digital sampling and loudspeaker technologies advanced?
Fortuna Offers Pre-loaded Classical Server
On May 4, Fortuna">http://www.fortunaclassical.com">Fortuna Classical Music announced release of their Maestro music server, "the first and only music player for the classical music enthusiast." Maestro's launch coincides with a major two-page centerfold spread in the June issue of Gramophone magazine's North American edition, followed by a single-page Gramophone advertisement in July that will include a promo CD.
Franco Serblin
Photo of Franco Serblin courtesy of José Victor Henriques of HiFi Club Portugal
We are saddened to learn that Franco Serblin, founder of Italian loudspeaker manufacturer Sonus Faber, passed away on Easter Sunday, March 31, at 73. Larry Greenhill interviewed Franco Serblin in June 1992 for Stereophile. We will add more details as they become available.
Fred Kaplan Debuts Jazz Blog
When Fred Kaplan made his Stereophile debut with his review of the Rogue">http://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/307rogue">Rogue Audio Atlas power amplifier last March, our scheme was also to publish his writings on the music that fuels his soul, jazz. Starting this past weekend, you can find Fred's thoughts on recordings, concerts, musicians, and the music at http://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplanhttp://blog.stereophile.com/fredkaplan/">http://blog.stereophile.com/fr…;.
Frederick Fennell, 1914–2004
Audiophiles everywhere were saddened to learn of the death of Frederick Fennell on December 7. He was 90, which made him only a few years senior to the process of electrical recording—an art form in which he made quite an impact.
Free Download from John Marks Records
Classical music retailer Arkivmusic.com is making available for download this holiday season four CDs from John Marks Records: the three Rejoice! A String Quartet Christmas CDs and Songs My Mother Taught Me, from violinist Arturo Delmoni and some of his friends.Click through for a free FLAC download.
Free Music Service Disappearing?
A quickly established favorite among music fans, the CDDBhttp://www.cddb.com">CDDB; website provides comprehensive information for tracking who and what appears on just about any CD in existence (see previoushttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10438/">previous;). But as users of the service are discovering, the company that now maintains the database, Gracenotehttp://www.gracenote.com">Gracenote;, is starting to change the rules of access.