The <A HREF="http://www.hovlandcompany.com">Hovland Company</A> is no more. Less than 10 full years after its incorporation, the manufacturer of highly coveted Hovland Musicap propylene-film and aluminum-foil capacitors and visually striking electronic components has dismissed its staff and closed the doors of its manufacturing facility and headquarters in Los Angeles.
<A HREF="http://www.bluecircle.com">Blue Circle Audio</A>, the Ontario-based company that has championed the use of "no frills" packaging and solar powered devices, recently issued the latest addition to its line of minimal cosmetics audiophile products. The <A HREF="http://www.bluecircle.com/index.php?page_id=9573">BC301FY preamplifier</A>, which looks nothing like other companies' products, dispenses with the standard aluminum or steel box, engraved logo, designer controls, and other cosmetic frills. Housed in nine ABS cans—a type of heavy-duty plastic commonly encountered in drainage and sewer piping—its packaging is said to reduce consumer cost by over 40%.
<A HREF="http://nhthifi.com/">NHT</A> is back. Less than five months after the veteran speaker company, aka Now Hear This, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/nht_takes_a_break/">declared</A> that it would sell off remaining inventory, pay its bills, and spend time rethinking its future, it has regrouped and returned with a new marketing approach.
On June 2, <I>Stereophile</I> reported that HDGiants.com, formerly known as MusicGiants.com, had <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/bust_and_booms_on_the_download_front/">… for Chapter 11 bankruptcy</A>. The future of the high-quality music and video download site that had most recently begun offering "Super HD" 24-bit surround-sound downloads was unclear.
The most comprehensive seminars ever devoted to high quality computer-based playback in the home will take place at the fabled headquarters of Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA the last weekend of June. Entitled <A HREF="http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Computer-Audiophile-Symposium… Audiophile Symposium: From Performance to Playback</I></A>, the two "identical" seminars are scheduled for Saturday, June 27 from 3–7pm, and Sunday, June 28, from noon–4pm. Admission to each seminar is $279.00.
With good news to share about new downloads, let's dispense with the downer first. As <A HREF="http://www.twice.com/article/CA6661607.html?nid=2402&">reported by Twice.com</A>, HDGiants, aka MusicGiants, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US Bankruptcy Court on May 18. Although the site, often praised by <I>Stereophile</I> as a leader in CD-quality and high-resolution music and video downloads, still appears to be operating, the layoff of its sales and marketing staff raises serious questions about its future.
After four years of virtual inactivity, new and updated Aragon and Acurus high-end amplifiers, preamplifiers, and processors are slated to return to the marketplace. The long-established brands, which have been the property of Klipsch since 2001, are now in the hands of two enthusiastic veteran Klipsch electronics engineers, Rick Santiago and Ted Moore of <A HREF="http://www.indyaudiolabs.com">Indy Audio Labs, LLC</A>.
Despite the recent affirmation by <I>Stereophile</I>'s Kalman Rubinson that the Super Audio Compact Disc remains "the best available all-around physical medium for music" (May 2009, p.47), audiophiles in the US continue to declare it a dead format. Regardless, independent record producers such as Jared Sacks, founder and managing director of Holland's Channel Classics Records, continue to champion and promote SACD.
Two unusual download sites now offer high-resolution 24-bit files for audiophiles with a taste for adventure. The first, the UK's <A HREF="http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/sos">B&W Music Club</A>, is a one-album-per-month subscription service that premieres complete, audiophile-quality albums in a wide variety of genres chosen and recorded by "curator" Peter Gabriel. The second, <A HREF="http://www.hifitrack.com/en/">HifiTrack.com</A>, is a Hong Kong-based site that offers Chinese and Asian traditional and pop music, Zen and meditation music, and Chinese-flavored Western pop, jazz, and classical.
"It's time to turn down the lights: NHT is going quiet."