07 / 30 / 01
Netherlands-based manufacturer
of electrostatic loudspeaker systems,
Final has announced their 0.2 Home Theater system for music and
cinema. With their satin finished aluminum frame mated with Final's transparent stator design, the 0.2 modular system is suitable for wall mounting and is expandable from two channels ($2,999 including sub and mounting brackets) to 5.1 channels ($5,999). The main channel panel is 47.2" H x 10.6" W x 1.25" D and weighs 16 lbs. while the center channel panel is 10.6" H x 25.6" W x 1.25" D and weighs 12 lbs. Frequency response for the system is rated
at 25 Hz to 28 KHz (+-3dB) with a 4 ohm impedance and 87 dB/w/m. A floor standing version is also available. US sales and marketing director Bob Rapoport stated "Electrostatic speaker technology has come of age. Since the 1960's, audiophiles have known that electrostats were the best because of their low mass diaphragms, which are lighter than the air they move. With startling speed and accuracy, they offer higher clarity and resolution than conventional magnet driven cones and domes. The KLH 9, the Infinity Servo-Static One, the Quad 57, and in more modern times the Martin Logan's, have all held respected positions as the best speakers of their day. In the 21st century, Final has re-invented the electrostat by "de-coupling" the internal electronics from the speaker cabinet, putting them into a separate component case that sits near the amp. This is a break-through. No electrostat in the history of the audio business has done it this way. The 0.2 presents consumers and the trade with new options for excellence where only a flat panel speaker system will do and state-of-the-art sound is mandatory."
07 / 27 / 01
Will future aging audiophiles with
normal hearing loss go Sci-Fi with the new bionics? A recent scientific breakthrough now being tested on those who are profoundly deaf allows them to hear once again via a new system that is not a hearing aid, but a device which converts sound into electrical impulses that sends them directly to the main hearing nerve within a human's head.
Due to timely advances within this new medical breakthrough, there has recently been a software upgrade to the system that is said to upgrade sounds heard from synthetic digital tones to more natural sounds. As time goes by this device could offer more sensitivity and resolution than normal human
hearing! The next audiophile system upgrade perhaps? FDA approval of this currently priced $50,000 unit is expected by the end of this year. Will we soon be seeing "bionic audiophiles" roaming the hallways of audio shows?
07 / 26 / 01
After various meetings Time Inc. is set to
acquire IPC Group Limited, the
parent company of IPC Media and owner of British magazine Hi-Fi
News, from Cinven for £1.15 billion. IPC publishes
approximately 100 magazines that generally focus on Home & Garden, Leisure
and Men's Lifestyle & Entertainment. IPC acquired Link House Media in 1998
which included the then named magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review,
later revamped visually and the name was shortened to simply Hi-Fi News. Time Inc. is also part of the
huge AOL Time Warner conglomerate who owns music-related properties such as
Winamp, AOL Music Channel, Spinner and recording label Elekra. Don Logan, Chairman and
CEO of Time Inc., said, "This is the perfect acquisition for AOL Time
Warner because it accomplishes key strategic goals for the company. With some
of the best known consumer publishing brands in Europe, IPC provides Time Inc.
with an important presence within the European consumer publishing sector.
This acquisition also furthers AOL Time Warner's goal of expanding our
operations outside of the U.S."
As protecting copyrighted music regardless of
the effects it may have on sound quality has been reaching a feverish pitch by
various record labels, Digimarc has
successfully secured their 25th U.S. patent (6,266,430) for watermarking
technology. This new patent includes the technology to embed digital
watermarks into audio and video content. Within the past year Digimarc has
filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Verance's DVD-Audio
watermarking technology. With the rush to watermark content by many labels, it
seems audiophiles are demanding to know how these new technologies negatively
effect the music content. Worse still, various labels are seeking to use
watermarking technologies on music recordings yet not informing the public to
exactly which music titles are copy protected.
07 / 25 / 01
B&W's new
Signature 800 ($20,000/pr) employs a sturdy cast aluminum
plinth that also contains the crossover components. The curved cabinet is wrapped with high-gloss Grey Tiger's Eye
veneer while the top and front surfaces are covered in Connolly Leather. The loudspeaker includes two 10-inch bass drivers with a down-firing Flowport (a specially designed air port). A new and improved version of B&W's FST woven Kevlar 6" cone midrange midrange driver is mounted to a sphere/tube housing of its own as is a 1" metal dome tweeter. Specifications are as follows:
Description:3-way vented-box system
Dimensions: Height: 1197mm (47.1in)
Width:450mm (17.7in)
Depth:646mm (25.4in)
Net Weight:125kg / 275lb
Frequency Response: 37Hz - 23kHz ± 2dB on reference axis
Frequency Range: -6dB at 25Hz and 50kHz
-3dB at 32Hz and 42kHz
Sensitivity: 91dB SPL (2.83V 1m)
Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms (minimum 3 ohms)
Power Handling: 50 - 1000W into 8 ohms
Drive Units: one 25mm (1in) metal dome tweeter
one 150mm (6in) woven Kevlar midrange
two 250mm (10in) paper/Kevlar woofer
Finish Cabinet: Real wood veneers Grey Tigers Eye
Dispersion: Within 2dB of response on reference axis
Horizontal: over 60° arc
Vertical: over 10° arc
Harmonic distortion: 2nd and 3rd harmonics (90dB, 1m)
<1.0% 45Hz - 20kHz
<0.5% 50Hz - 20kHz
Crossover frequencies: 350Hz and 4kHz
Max. recommended cable impedance 0.1 ohms
07 / 23 / 01
Internet delivery of music is thinning out as venture capitol money is drying up. Major Vulture
Capitalists and various companies are reaping the benefits of buying various web properties for pennies on the dollar.
The proverbial 600 pound gorilla, better known as AOL, has been busy with their
AOL Music Channel, Spinner and Winamp properties. Rated the #1 music destinations for June 2001 with approximately 23 million unique users, the AOL's Music Channel is hoping to the be the big fish in the Internet pond.
Meanwhile AOL's Spinner.com radio station-like content provides over 150 channels of original programming. Meanwhile AOL's Winamp player now has more than 90 million registered installations which is over three times that from a year ago.
Rival Internet music company Liquid
Audio, who only two months ago cut their staff by 40% due to lackluster financial
performance, is today releasing version 6.0 of their Liquid Audio Player. The new player allows users burn music to CDs, rip CDs into music files and access album art and other metadata. The new player also supports MP3, WAV and Windows Media audio formats.
Napster Inc., on the other side of
the scale, can now resume its song-swapping operations on the Internet due to a ruling by a federal appeals court on July 18. The decision was made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and it overturns a federal judge's order last week the demanded Napster remain offline until they can comply 100% with an injunction to remove all copyright music.
07 / 21 / 01
Music on vinyl
still seems to rule over the high-resolution digital counterpart. While quality
DVD-Audio and SACD software releases seem to be going at a painfully slow
pace, those who have invested in long-standing formats like vinyl are rejoicing as more new and reissue vinyl is being
released. In fact there is
multiples more new and reissue releases on vinyl than DVD-Audio and SACD combined! Universal Music has officially announced working with Speaker Corner, a German audiophile label, and will be releasing:
Limp Bizkit Significant Other
Guns And Roses Appetite For Destruction
Hole Celebrity Skin
Mamas & Papas If You Can Believe
The Police Synchronicity
Lynryd Skynryd Second Helping
Sonic Youth Dirty" & "Goo
Sting Mercury Falling
Cat Stevens Mona Bone Jakon
Meanwhile Blue Note will be hallmarking their 10th anniversary of their
Blue Series with five compilation LP releases. These releases will consist of
Best of Blue Brazil, Best of Blue Juice, Best of Capitol Rare,
Maximum Rhythm & Blue and lastly, New Blue. For those who love hard-core rock/metal will look forward to getting Metallic reissues on 180 gram vinyl.
Vertigo records is reported to be releasing over nine older Metallica titles pressed on vinyl LP. Pricing
of the Metallica releases should be approximately £13 for single LPs and £16 for two LP sets.
07 / 20 / 01
Goldpoint
now offers new mini-sized stepped attenuators designed by Arn Roatcap, Inc. that use either 1% Vishay-Dale or 0.1% Holco resistors. These compact 24-position attenuators are
offered in Series, Ladder, and Shunt designs. Mini-V (series type starting at $61 for mono), Mini-L (ladder type starting at $97 for mono), and Mini-H (shunt type starting at $61 for mono) come in
one to twelve channels of attenuation control, fully assembled or in kit form. Mini-V stocked values include: 10K, 25K, 50K, 100K, and 250K. Blank switches with printed circuit boards attached are also
offered for user customizable controls. Due to their small size, they are only 1.25" tall by 1.65" wide. Other features include precision Swiss made switch components, smooth turning torque, and hard-gold plated switch contacts with low contact bounce which are said to reduce "pop" and "clicks".
07 / 19 / 01
Linn
has released three new high-end loudspeakers called the Espek (pictured right), Ekwal and Melodik. All the new units employs Linn's advanced driver and crossover technology within a sturdy, high-density cabinet to insure high quality music reproduction. The Espek is a dual-ported floor-standing loudspeaker for both passive and active playback. Features include a soft dome tweeter with neodymium magnet,
polypropylene bass/midrange driver with "dual field shaping magnets" and a rear bass radiating driver. The crossover can be
configured for single wire and amplification or bi-wire and bi-amplification.
Linn's new dual-ported Ekwal ($1,150) is also designed for passive and active playback. Designed for vertical or horizontal operation due to slim cabinet design that holds two
midrange/woofer drivers with a center mounted tweeter, the Ekwal is for multi-channel Home Theatre Systems that employ a subwoofer and can be used as a center channel within larger surround sound systems. The Linn Melodik twin 12" Isobarik subwoofer ($4,195, pictured right) features an omni-directional design to insure room filling deep bass reproduction. Linn claims "The versatile design of the Linn
Melodik enables vertical, or horizontal operation for floor standing, rack or video-wall mounting. The Linn Melodik can stack for commercial multi-media applications and provides an invisibly large and clean sound with even the most compact of main loudspeakers."
Can babies in the womb recognize music they heard
once out of the womb? Seems the answer is yes as Alexandra Lamont, who is a lecturer at Britain's University of Leicester within the psychology department, was being showcased within a recent BBC television show called "Child of Our Time". This TV show features twelve expectant mothers who each chose music to play for their in-the-womb babies that were three months away from birth. As now one year old
children, eleven of them were scientifically tested to see if they could recognize
the same music as played for them while they were still in the mother's womb 15 month's earlier. The now one year old children seemed to show a distinct preference for the music that they heard while in the mother's womb over other music that was also played
during this test. Maybe audiophiles are not born, they are formed within the
womb.
07 / 18 / 01
The U.S. Copyright Office yesterday decided to issue an order whereas only certain webcasters are allowed to participate in the rate-setting process for online music services that will begin on July
30th. While this new ruling will not affect ongoing litigation between webcasters and the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) concerning eligibility to participate in the proceeding, the countdown has begin for a face off between the RIAA who represents major labels and webcasters who are hoping to distribute music online. In May the RIAA filed a motion with the Copyright Office in hopes to block the participation of seven webcasters, including Launch Media, Listen.com and MusicMatch. For now the RIAA is asking for a rate multiple times higher for webcasters than they ask for normal airwaves radio
stations.
On a separate audio note, RIAA is also asking for information concerning their new "Request for Information on Audio Fingerprinting Technologies". While the RIAA has been accused of blocking a
scientific paper from being presented by Professor
Felten concerning removing digital copyright protection, now the RIAA wants to know how others will be able to block music from illegally appearing on Internet services such as Napster due to new "Fingerprinting" technology for their approval. In other words, the RIAA now wants to know about other protection technology so that they might decide to approve of it. Sadly, under clause 6.1 titled "No Obligations" the RIAA paper states "RIAA and IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reserve the right to cancel this RfI (Request for information) at any time for any reason, to select none, one, many or all responses for further analysis.". To read the entire request
please click here (free Adobe Acrobat plug-in needed).
Thor Audio
has announced their new TPA-60 power amplifier ($15,990) . This unit produces 60 watts of power by employing four EL34 tubes, with two 12AT7 and one 12AU7 used for
pre-amplification and other duties. Input impedance is 100Kohms, loudspeakers output has taps for both 4 and 8 ohms loads while the overall frequency
response is claimed at 10Hz to 60kHz (+- 0.1 dB). A 1/4" thick tempered safety glass sits directly in front of the output tubes, though it is also on a row of blue LEDs and tinted gel for
aesthetic beauty. Lettering, knobs and the wall behind the output tubes are available in either standard chromed silver or 24k gold ($750 option). The TPA-60 features top loading fuse replacement, bias adjust controls and a built-in bias meter. Bias settings are made via a toggle switch that automatically shunts the input to ground. A five year warranty is included with the Thor Audio TPA-60.
07 / 17 / 01
Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg,
born in 1941, died of an apparent massive heart attack on Monday, July 16th. Gizmo
is best known for his colorful writings within his Triode Guild website and also
his joy of working with various audio manufactures as a paid consultant to help
them promote their audio products to reach music lovers worldwide.
Enjoy the Music.com was one of the many homes
of Gizmo's Triode Guild helping to spread his message of musical ecstasy. No date has been set
for his funeral at this time which is planned to be held in New York. Gizmo's flamboyant style
and enthusiasm will be missed by his readership.
PS Audio is now offering Power Port Upgrade kits for those who have older P300, P600 or P1200 power filters. While Power Plants made after July 16th include their Power Port electrical outlet, current owners can upgrade their own units without sending them back to PS Audio. The new pricing for PS Audio Power Plants that include the Power Port electrical outlets are: P300 goes to $1,245, the P600 goes to $2,395 and the P1200's remains at the same price. Upgrade kits for owners of older Power Plants P300, the upgrade kit with three Power Ports cost $99.95, P600 upgrade kits include five Power Ports and cost $199.95 while P1200 upgrade kits
include three Power Ports and cost $99.95.
07 / 16 / 01
Aperion
Audio, formerly EdgeAudio, has added new sonic and aesthetic improvements to their
satellite speakers and 12" self-powered subwoofer. The Aperion Audio 502D ($189) satellite speakers, rechristened the 512D, and the SW-12/250 subwoofer ($599) now employ a new dual composition enclosure comprised of an interior using 1" HDF (high density fiberboard). HDF is quite solid and is said to lower cabinet vibrations that negatively effect music reproduction. The exterior is covered with
furniture grade cherry hardwood. Improvements to Aperion's self-powered subwoofer include cross bracing within the cabinet of the SW-12/250 plus an improved 250-watt amplifier. Other features include five-way binding posts for the high level inputs and outputs, RCA connectors for the low level inputs and outputs, variable crossover with a range of 40 - 160Hz and a 0 180º variable phase control. Frequency response for the revised subwoofer is 20 - 180Hz ±3dB and sensitivity is rated at 92dB. The subwoofer measures 20.5"
x 15" x 21.5" (HxWxD) inches and weighs 66.25 pounds. The Aperion Audio 512D satellite speakers are available in main/surround (512D-LR) and center channel (512D-C) configurations. They feature a Vifa 5-1/4-inch mid-woofer and a Vifa one-inch soft dome tweeter coupled by a DiAural® circuit. The drivers are housed in Aperion Audio¹s new ported cabinet, now 1" thick compared to the previous 3/4-inch design. The 512D-LR measures 11"
x 6.75" x 7.25" (HxWxD) inches, while the 512D-C measures 6.75"
x 11" x 7.25" (HxWxD) inches. Each weighs 11 pounds. Frequency response is 60Hz 20kHz ±3dB and sensitivity is rated at 86dB with a recommended power is 50 150 watts.
According to
figures released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), manufacturer-to-dealer
sales of home theater surround sound speaker systems more than doubled to $9 million in May
2001. Audio sales of tuners and power amplifiers, many of which are equipped with surround sound processing, posted gains of 15 percent and 26 percent, respectively, during the month of May. Amplifiers with surround sound processing lead the category with gains of 39 percent to $1.3 million in unit sales. Surround sound loudspeaker systems sales represents an increase of 125% over May 2000, with sales of five-speaker packages increasing dollar volumes a phenomenal 479% over the same period last year. Total factory-to-dealer sales of these packages accounted for $2.4 million in revenues for manufacturers, up from $410,000 in May of 2000. "The increases in aftermarket autosound and home theater component sales are evidence that consumers want to get the most out of their entertainment experience, regardless of location," said Sean Wargo, senior industry analyst for CEA. Sean continues by saying "Despite an overall drop in audio sales for the month of May, the long term outlook for the audio industry remains optimistic as consumers continue to enjoy all the benefits digital audio has to offer."
07 / 14 / 01
While the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) has been denying sending a
threatening letter to Professor Edward Felten from releasing his paper concerning how to defeat various music protection schemes, Felton has filed a lawsuit against the RIAA. Now
the RIAA is asking for a dismissal of the lawsuit against them by
Professor Felten. To quote the motion submitted to the District Court of New Jersey "Defendant Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA), did everything it reasonably could to assure Plaintiffs there was no controversy between them and the RIAA with respect to matters identified in the original Complaint. Plaintiffs’ true agenda, however, is not to adjudicate a real dispute but to obtain favorable press attention and to secure an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Plaintiffs have therefore filed an Amended Complaint full of vaporous imaginings and chimerical fears. We respectfully submit that even the Amended Complaint fails to pass muster, and must be dismissed under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure."
This court case is of great concern due to the implications it may cause for future
scientists to publish research and how this concerns the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and First Amendment rights. The entire RIAA legal motion paper as handed to the District Court of New Jersey
yesterday and can be seen by clicking here
(PDF).
Furthermore, while many in the audio industry seem to be removing themselves
from this important news development that greatly concerns future findings, Enjoy
the Music.com is the only audiophile
website to publish the complete scientific papers that Professor Edward Felten
was to present earlier this year. To see Professor Felten's paper click
here. If you would like to see the letters Felten has received, click
here.
07 / 13 / 01
Internet song swapping website
Napster has settled with high profile heavy metal band Metallica and also with rapper Dr.
Dre. Settling the copyright infringement suits, details undisclosed, both Metallica and Dr. Dre have also agreed to participate in allowing Napster to sell some of the musicians copyrighted material. Lars Ulrich, drummer for
Metallica said "'Our beef hasn't been with the concept of sharing music. The problem we had with Napster was that they never asked us or other artists if we wanted to participate in their business." Napster founder Shawn Fanning who is a big fan of Metallica said "It's time to end the court fight and shake hands. We're pleased this chapter is behind us."
Among the twelve musicians soon to be inducted into the Country Music Association's Hall of Fame during a dinner on October
4th include the Delmore Brothers, Don Gibson, Homer & Jethro, the Jordanaires, Don Law, the Louvin Brothers, Ken Nelson and Webb Pierce, Everly Brothers, Sam Phillips, Waylon Jennings and "Whisperin'" Bill Anderson. This is the largest group to be inducted in a year's time. Bill Anderson said "I can't talk for grinning. I've tried never to get caught up in wondering about this sort of thing, but now that it's happened it is very exciting."
07 / 12 / 01
MartinLogan has just introduced their Aeon electrostatic
panel loudspeaker ($2,995) that employs their patented CLS (curvilinear line source) technology. With a footprint of less than one square foot, the Aeon is claimed by
MartinLogan to "deliver dramatic bass detail and attack with its state-of-the-art new woofer, next generation enclosure materials and improved construction techniques". Gayle Sanders, President of
MartinLogan said "With its accurate soundstage, explosive dynamics and openness, the Aeon excels as a stereo main, home theater front or effects channel in a myriad of room sizes and configurations." Gayle continues "At $2995 this is truly the most accurate, versatile and refined transducer in its class today." The Aeon is available in a variety of hand-finished trim options, the Aeon is supplied with ETC spikes for maximum bass performance and toolless binding posts for cable attachment.
Specifications:
Frequency Response: 43-22,000 Hz (± 3dB)
Dispersion Horizontal: 30 degrees
Dispersion Vertical: 37" (94cm) line source
Sensitivity: 89 dB/2.83 volts/meter
Impedance: 4 ohms, 1.32 at 20kHz
Crossover Frequency: 450 Hz
Components: Custom wound audio transformers,
polypropylene capacitors, air core coils
Woofer type: 8" high excursion, high rigidity cone with
extended throw driver assembly, non-resonant
chamber format.
Power handling: 200 watts per channel
Weight: 55.5 lbs/each
Dimensions: 58" x 10" x 16" (HxWxD)
In a San Francisco federal court yesterday U.S. District Court Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled that
popular song-swap service Napster is not allowed to resume operations unless it can improves its song blocking technology to achieve better than a 99.4% success
rate. While the Napster has been offline for just over a week, their engineers are working on databasing their fingerprint
technology that can identify copyrighted songs and prevent them from being swapped on the Napster service. CEO of the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Hilary Rosen said "While we appreciate that Napster is attempting to migrate to a legitimate business model, its inability to prevent copyright infringement from occurring on its system has only hampered the development of the marketplace in which it now hopes to compete."
07 / 11 / 01
Monsoon,
known for their inexpensive flat panel computer
loudspeakers, is now offering a complete stereo/home theater loudspeaker line.
Employing flat panel technology, their top of the line FPF-1600 ($1,899) is a three-way flat panel home audio system
that is said to provide high-quality imaging using their state-of-the-art PFT
(Planar Focus Technology). These dipole-radiating transducers and a thin polymer
diaphragm are mated to two 8" long throw polypropylene cone woofers. Monsoon also offers the
lower line FPF-1000 ($1,199) that employs one Sonigistix PTW-500 tweeter, two Sonigistix PTR-700
midrange unit and two 6.5" long throw polypropylene cone woofers. Monsoon's
basic model FPF-600 ($699) uses one Sonigistix PTW-500 tweeter, one Sonigistix PTR-2000
midrange and a 6.5" long throw woofer.
FPF-1600 Specifications:
System: 3-way
Tweeters: two Sonigistix PTW-500 Planar Magnetic Transducer
Mid-Range: four Sonigistix PTR-2000 Planar Magnetic Transducer
Cone Woofers: two 8" long throw polypropylene cone,
magnetically shielded, injection molded, non-resonant
frame
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 90 dB
Frequency Range: 30Hz - 20kHz (-6dB)
Nominal Impedance: 4 Ohms
Crossover Frequencies: 300 Hz and 5 kHz
Recommended Amp Power: 30 - 300 Watts
Dimensions: 65"H x 12"W x 14"D
Cabinet Configuration: Bass Reflex, low compression port
Cabinet Volume: 30L
Input Terminal: three-way binding post, bi-ampable/bi-wireable
Cabinet Finish: Black
Blade Finish: Walnut Veneer or Black
Grill Finish: Matte black perforated metal
The music business is ebbing and flowing as BMG Entertainment will be laying off
employees due to ending their year (June 30) with a deficient of $150 million. Meanwhile online music service
MusicMatch is said to be laying off 40 "non-essential positions" full-time employees (approximately 25% of their staff).
World leader in desktop computer operating systems Microsoft is looking to make a deal with the new Pressplay
venture. Sony Music Entertainment and the Universal Music Group. Pressplay has already partnered with popular online portal Yahoo in April 2001 and Microsoft is hoping to be Pressplay's next part for this online music venture.
Speaking of Sony, looks like their marketing department will be under new leadership as
outcries from many reputable sources are not allowing Sony to blatantly lie to consumers. This comes from concerns due to Sony's shady marketing scheme within their movie sector where they used totally falsified critic comments to promote their movies.
BMG is hoping to be the one-stop shopping place for online music as they are restructuring the popular online Napster service to make it fully
legitimate plus also developing their BeMusic initiative. BMG also is looking to enhance CDNow and the music club division of BMG Direct. Furthermore, BGM has also acquired online music storage website Myplay Inc. In total, this brings BMG an outstanding 23 million subscribers and customers for Bertelsmann’s eCommerce group.
07 / 09 / 01
Linn's new
5125 "Class V" power amplifier provides five channels of
amplification. Due to the efficiency of "Class V" power, the amplifier operates at cool temperatures to provide 125 watts
per channel into 8 ohms, 250 watts per channel into 4 ohms or a maximum output of up to 500 watts are available with all five channels driven. According to Linn "Class V amplification combines three key Linn technologies - fast Switch Mode Power Supplies, high-density linear power amplifiers and digitally controlled signal processing. Class V operation modulates the Linn Switch Mode Power Supply output to deliver true audiophile performance while
minimizing waste heat. The Linn 5125 is immune to mains power interference and irregularities." While the 5125 can be used to provide five channel of amplification within a
standard surround sound system, the 5125 can also accept standard Linn stereo and mono active cards. Both black and silver finishes are available.
Specifications:
. 5-channel Class V modular power amplifier
. Voltage range 115 > 230 VAC
. Power consumption in standby 10W
. Maximum power output per channel 250W into
4 Ohms and 125W into 8 Ohms
. Dimensions H 75mm x W 381mm x D 354mm /H 3 inches
x W 15 inches x D 14 inches
. Weight 6kg (13 lbs.)
Price Information:
UK: £1,750
USA: $2,750
Germany: DM5,600
Sweden: 27,000Kr
Norway: 25,000Kr
Denmark: 23,000Kr
07 / 03 / 01
Stereophile's parent company, Peterson Publishing, is part of
Emap Plc who has been trying to sell off their financially struggling American sector for some time. It has been officially
reported that the U.S.A. sector has been sold to Primedia for $515 million USD.
Primedia publishes such titles as New York, Seventeen, Soap Opera
Digest, Modern Bride and Audio Video Interiors. Of course Emap was happy to sell the
U.S.A. division as their former chief executive, Kevin Hand, resigned in May 2001 after announcing a staggering
£545 million reduction in the value of the U.S.A. sector. An additional £126 million
loss is expected upon the sale of the Emap U.S.A. division to Primedia. As reported in
Enjoy the Music.com
on April 5th, Emap Plc shares hit a new low for five years. John Atkinson, editor of
Stereophile magazine wrote "This represents a closing of the circle for the magazine, as Primedia tried very hard to acquire
Stereophile and Stereophile Guide to Home Theater three years ago, only to be outbid by
the then Petersen Publishing." Emap Plc originally bought American
conglomerate Peterson Publishing for $1.2 billion USD in 1997 to sell the Emap
U.S.A. for only $515 million USD yesterday.
07 / 02 / 01
As reported first worldwide by Enjoy the
Music.com in early January during our CES 2001 show
coverage, Threshold has been bought out by a new company. This new company,
Threshold Pro, has now released the new Stasis 7.0 ($7,000). This new unit produces 100 wpc/2-channel and is said
to be based on Threshold's previous model T200, yet mainly with output stage changes. Owners of the older T200 can upgrade
their unit to full Stasis 7.0 for $3,200. While the new Threshold will not honor the warranty of the older Threshold
gear since many solid-state amplifier's output devices in such models are no longer available, the new Threshold company has said to
Enjoy the Music.com editor Steven R. Rochlin that they will seek to fix older Threshold units on a case by case basis.
Some for free, most repairs for a fee (if parts are available).
High-Performance Audio Reviews
