Industry News
The Cable Company's 15th Annual Summer Against Hunger Campaign
August, 2010
Vinylphile is a proud sponsor of The Cable Compnay's
annual "Summer Against Hunger" campaign,
which raises funds in support of CARE. The following is
the text of this year's press release.
The Cable Company Announces the 15th Annual "Summer Against Hunger", an Audiophile fundraiser supporting CARE.
Once again for 2010, in our 15th year of organizing the Summer Against Hunger, 100% of purchases of sponsored products from The Cable Company in August will benefit CARE - guaranteed!
This dollar for dollar donation works due to leverage: The Cable Company donates a percentage of sales which are matched by sponsoring manufacturers. The 1:1 minimum donation is guaranteed by the generous participation of an anonymous audiophile donor, who is providing a funding match for total Cable Co. + vendor contributions, and who is also underwriting the collection of additional matching funds from other CARE donors.
In fact, in the last few years our customers' August purchases have not just generated a 1:1 donation to CARE. Rather due to the availability of match funding from third parties, as much as $4.20 was donated to CARE for each $1.00 in purchases from The Cable Company.
Aggregate donations during the 15 years of Summer Against Hunger including match funding are approaching $2 million, and have helped support CARE programs in some of the poorest parts of the world. In the last few years Summer Against Hunger donations have been earmarked for projects including the development of agricultural infrastructure in Madagascar, building schools in north central Nicaragua, and basic child survival nutrition and health programs in Sierra Leone.
We invite you to look through the details of this fundraiser by viewing our ad which is running in the issues of Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, and Vinylphile mailing in August at: http://www.thecableco.com/CCSAH2010hires.jpg. (You can click on the ad to enlarge it.)
The list of participating vendors appears in the ad.
Acoustic Sounds buys Classic Records
Salina, July 26th, 2010
Chad Kassem's Acoustic Sounds has purchased Mike Hobson's
Classic Records. Acoustic Sounds bought all of Classic's
inventory earlier this year, so this news doesn't come as
a huge shock. Mike Hobson will continue in an advisory
role to Acoustic Sounds to ensure a smooth transition.
This looks like it's good news: "Hobson always pushed the envelope to improve Classic's products instead of just accepting the current standards. It is an honor to now own Classic, and I intend to continue to use the innovations that Classic pioneered and the high standards they established," said Kassem.
I just hope that the acquisition means that the supply of Classic Records' titles is assured, and that the prices will fall back to their pre-acquisition levels...
Here's a link to the full press release.
Vinylphile Launch Party
Vernon, June 25th, 2010
To celebrate the launch of Vinylphile, we have teamed
up with one of our local audio dealers, The Hi Fi Attic,
to put on a launch party/open house. The party will be
held at the Hi Fi Attic's store on Friday June 25th from
4:30pm until about 9:00pm.
Several turntables and other audio goodies will be on display
and being demonstrated. Also, light refreshments will be served,
a door prize or two will be given away, and everyone is invited!
The Hi Fi Attic's address is 1005 Kalamalka Lake Road and their phone number is (250) 260-3336. Or you can email them at thehifiattic@shaw.ca. Below is a map to help you find the store; we hope to see you there!
CES and THE Show 2010
Las Vegas, January 7-10, 2010
One of the most important—perhaps the
most important—events on the audio calender is the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is trade-only
show held annually in Las Vegas. Manufacturers from all
over the world go to CES to show off their latest gadgets
and make product announcements. CES is so big that it takes
up several venues, but fortunately just about all of the high
performance audio exhibits are in one place: the Venitian.
Taking into account the limiting acoustics of a hotel room, quite a few of the rooms I visited had pretty good sound. But what really impressed me was the large number of exhibitors using vinyl as their (sometimes only) source. Forget about what the detractors would have you believe: vinyl's comeback is real!
As I said previously, my visit to CES was more about establishing relationships with people than it was about the gear per se, so I can't recall all the cool new products I saw, and I didn't take my camera with me. With those caveats in mind—and my apologies to any manufacturer I miss here—here are some of my recollections from the show (in roughly alphabetical order).Audio Research Corporation were playing tunes through the Reference Phono 2 phono stage, Reference 5 line stage, and their new DS650. The DS650 is a solid state Class D power amp, and is expected to retail at around $8,000. Continuum Audio Laboratories were playing their top-of-the-line Caliburn-Cobra-Castellon turntable and arm. Mated with an Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridge and Audio Research Reference electronics, the sound was sublime!
In the Convergent Audio Technology room, Ken Stevens was demonstrating his new SL-1 Legend tube preamp, a beefed up version of the SL-1 Renaissance featuring Black Gate capacitors in select locations, a Teflon PCB, a more sophisticated stepped-attenuator volume control, and a much heavier chassis. And down the corridor, J-Corder's bank of a dozen or so reel to reel tape decks were a reel (sic) treat for analogue lovers!In the Nordost room, Roy Gregory and Lars Kristensen were demonstrating their new Sort Kones, which will be available with a choice of three balls: aluminum, ceramic, and titanium. The sonic effects improve as one goes up the range, as Roy showed by playing a short passage of music, changing the cones, and then repeating the track. He also demonstrated the need for correct placement of isolation devices, by changing the configuration of the titanium-balled cones from two at the back and one at the front to two at the front and one at the back.
Oracle Audio were showing (and playing) the latest incarnation of their long-lived Delphi, the Delphi VI. Pass Labs were demonstrating the new two-chassis XP-25 phono stage and X260.5 monoblocks, and British turntable manufacturer from yesteryear, Revolver, hinted at a return to their turntable manufacturing roots... Simaudio were showing off their new Moon 300D DAC, and their retooled and renamed LP5.3 phono stage and its matching optional power supply, the PSX5.3, and finally Wadia Digital were playing music from their new "iPhone Ready" 171iTransport and previously-announced 151PowerDAC mini.Although they weren't an official CES exhibitor, MartinLogan did have a suite at the Mirage where Justin Bright showed me ML's recently introduced Motion Series of dynamic speakers (also on display was a new electrostatic hybrid, the specs and details of which have yet to be finalised). The Motion Series consists of six models: two bookshelf speakers, two centre channels, and two towers. Prices range from $200 each for the Motion 2 bookshelf speakers up to $1,500 for a pair of Motion 12 towers.
Over in the Flamingo, The Home Entertainment Show (THE Show) was taking place. A smaller and more intimate affair than CES, THE Show was also very busy. I only had time for a very brief tour: I spent far too long drooling over the vinyl on display at the various booths (Classic Records, Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct, The Elusive Disc, and Music Direct to name a few). I had the pleasure of having a quick chat with reviewer Myles Astor, and listened to Harry Pearson's talk on Saturday night.Well, that's about it for 2010's CES and THE Show; next year we'll have much better coverage of all the new goodies, especially those related to vinyl!
