Happy New Year - a Little Early!
We're celebrating the imminent arrival of our January 2017 issue, chock full of great stuff. MartinLogan's superb Renaissance ESL15A electrostatic is featured on the cover but we also have a rave review of B&O's groundbreaking BeoLab90 speaker, measurements of Auditorium 23's retro Cinema Hommage speaker, reviews of headphone amplifiers from Audeze and Woo Audio, and an interview with a veteran of both the audio and music industries, Joe Harley of AudioQuest and Music Matters.
Happy New Year: Sony Settles Root Kit Suit
Sony BMG has agreed to settle a NY-based group action lawsuit triggered by the company's use of two different digital rights management (DRM) technologies. Click">http://www.sunbelt-software.com/ihs/alex/sonysettleme23423423434nt.pdf"… here to download a .pdf version of the 42-page Motion and Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiff's Application for Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement.
Happy Record Store Day 2012
Today is officially Record Store Day. Go out and visit your local record store. Here's a short film to get in the mood.
Harbeth, Dynaudio Mark 25th; Onkyo Goes Wireless
At least two renowned loudspeaker manufacturers commemorate their 25th anniversaries in 2002 and both are celebrating with new product releases.
Hard Rock Muzak?
In a world where brand is everything and making money is the bottom line, it should come as no surprise that if there's a buck to be made, any deal is possible. But who would have imagined, 30 years ago, that the bad boys and girls of rock'n'roll would be married to the then-much-scorned icon of safe, watered-down elevator music?
Hard Times Ahead for Small Classical Labels?
Many small classical record labels are facing an uncertain future in the wake of a decision by Tower">http://www.towerrecords.com">Tower Records to put three classical distributors on buying hold. News of the decision, and discussions about its ramifications, have circulated on the Internet after an internal memo was leaked on May 1. The memo from company headquarters ordered store buyers at all 113 Tower stores in the US not to purchase from Allegro, Harmonia Mundi, and Qualiton, until receiving further notice. The three distributors represent dozens of small independent jazz and classical recording labels.
Hard-Disk Audio
Hard-disk–based audio systems having been gaining traction in recent months, with a half-dozen consumer electronics companies announcing or selling products. These new components model what savvy computer users have been hacking together for years—a software-controlled music library based on hundreds or thousands of CD or MP3 files stored on a hard disk.
Harman Buyout Ends in Settlement
When Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs decided to call">http://stereophile.com/news/092407harman/">call off their projected">http://stereophile.com/news/043007harman/">projected $8 billion takeover of Harman International Industries, Inc., industry experts predicted the audio company would take the two financial firms to court, if not to gain the $225 million termination fee, to force them to abide by their material adverse effect statement and complete the transaction.
Harman Buyout Scuttled?
The Goldman Sachs Capital Partners/Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. $8">http://stereophile.com/news/043007harman/">$8 billion buyout of Harman International Industries, Inc. announced last April may not go through, according to "two people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg.com reported September 21.
Harman closes Sound United deal
Today, Harman said that it has completed its acquisition of Sound United, adding Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Classé, Definitive Technology, Polk Audio, and Boston Acoustics to its portfolio.