MartinLogan, well-known in the high-end audio community as a manufacturer of large, expensive electrostatic line source loudspeakers, announced this week that it is entering the headphone market with a new in-ear headphone called the Mikros 70. According to MartinLogan, these in-ear headphones were designed by their engineering team – presumably as compared to other companies who buy off-the-shelf from China and stamp their logos on them.
News
Onkyo Jumps Into Streaming
Onkyo announced on Tuesday that they have jumped into streaming big time by upgrading their iOS and Android apps to add high-quality streaming capability via a wireless network to Onkyo network receivers. The company has also announced a Bluetooth USB adapter that allows any Bluetooth enabled device to stream to the consumer’s Onkyo network receiver.
But Onkyo didn’t just add “plain vanilla” streaming, they added quality streaming… [Read more…] about Onkyo Jumps Into Streaming
June Housing Starts are Up Again, Is it Time for the ‘R’ Word Yet?
The Commerce Department released today new housing starts data for the month of June, and we may be close to using that long sought after “R” word – Recovery. Largely positive – housing starts overall for June reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 760,000 units or 6.9% over May’s revised rate of 711,000 units. Still, the picture for single-family starts – an economic driver for our industry – while still positive, is a little more moderate.
Can housing now be a bright spot in an otherwise cooling economy? [Read more…] about June Housing Starts are Up Again, Is it Time for the ‘R’ Word Yet?
Eli Harary, Ex-D&M, Launches AudioXperts
Well-known industry personality Eli Harary, formerly with D&M’s Boston Acoustics division (which he left in June 2011), announced today that he is forming a new company called AudioXperts. AudioXperts will offer a “collection of unique designer/consumer-friendly high performance audio solutions.” Harary, the new company’s President, has assembled a team of…presumably…audio experts, to assist him in this endeavor.
Joining Harary at AudioXperts…
High-End Electronics Retail Innovator Mike Kay Dies
UPDATED 7/17/12: New family wishes (see below)
You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been – and, to this day, our industry stands on the shoulders of giants such as Avery Fisher, Saul Marantz, and Sidney Harman. But even these industry greats couldn’t do it alone. If it weren’t for their retail partners…pioneers in their own right…no one would have purchased their marvelous inventions. And that’s why our roster of most prominent industry heroes must include people like Michael Kakadelis…better known as Mike Kay…owner of Manhattan’s Lyric Hi Fi & Video, who passed away last Saturday. [Read more…] about High-End Electronics Retail Innovator Mike Kay Dies
Rotel Launches the Ultimate Insider’s Guide to High Performance Home Theater
Rotel announced today that is has published an all-new edition of its popular home theater bible, now called Rotel’s Ultimate Insider’s Guide to High Performance Home Theater. This new guide is written by Len Schneider, CEO of TechniCom Corporation and a fairly well-known technical writer in the industry. [Read more…] about Rotel Launches the Ultimate Insider’s Guide to High Performance Home Theater
If You Want Real Unity – You’ve Got to Get Engage[d]
One of the more interesting stops we made during our rounds at last month’s 2012 CEA Line Show was to see a new company with a brand new product not yet on the market…but coming soon. That company, Engage Audio Design, has announced and shown a simplified total home theater package called Unity Home Theater. If the actual shipping product adheres closely to the prototype shown at the show – they just may have a real winner on their hands!
What’s so great about Unity? You’ve got to read on…
[Read more…] about If You Want Real Unity – You’ve Got to Get Engage[d]
Continuing to Ramp-Up, 3vNet Announces Its Pick for Director of U.S. Sales
Director of U.S. Sales, 3vNet
New industry player, 3vNet – formerly known as Colorado vNet – announced today that it has selected a Director of Sales. According to the company, Matt Curtin is the company’s new Director of U.S. Sales, effective immediately, and will take over directing the sales activities of the company’s independent sales representatives. [Read more…] about Continuing to Ramp-Up, 3vNet Announces Its Pick for Director of U.S. Sales
CEA Line Show Next Gen TV Panel Talks Tech, Specialty Retail, and Apple iTV
At last month’s 2012 CEA Line Show in New York City, tucked amongst the many manufacturer’s press conferences was a variety of panels discussing what the CEA purported to be today’s top issues. One such panel, the Next Gen TV panel, talked about…as you might imagine…emerging TV technologies like OLED, 4K resolution, and Internet-enabled TVs. Many in our business would suggest that this is old news. But things got more interesting when the panel strayed from technology topics and veered into a variety of industry issues, such as TV makers technology roll-out strategies, the politics of 4K, and Apple entering the TV business. [Read more…] about CEA Line Show Next Gen TV Panel Talks Tech, Specialty Retail, and Apple iTV
SpeakerCraft Crafts a New Kind of Speaker
At the CEA Line Show last month, we saw a whole spectrum of exhibitors, including: 1) Unknown brands vying to get the attention of the tech press; 2) Well-known brands showing products again that have already been announced and shown; 3) And then there were a couple of surprises – well-known companies showing entirely new products or product categories. SpeakerCraft, a well-known predominantly custom integration supplier, surprised us with a new product in a new category for them…they call it Protegé.
