|
|||||||
| News On the K A B Homefront * * KAB Celebrates 19 Years Serving The Record Collector and Sound Enthusiast * * |
| Jan 1, 2011 Presidents Statement First the bad news. On Dec 7 2010, Panasonic announced to the distribution network that the SL1200 series of turntables will cease. In actuality it looks like August was the last production month for these turntables. Vestax also ceased production of the archival belt drive BDT2600, a workhorse that has been in production since early 2000 when it was first introduced as the BDT2000. Loss of this model also leaves a gap in the 16" market since that was the table we used to make our Transcriber II. KAB enters the source switching market with the RSX-1 Remote Analog Switch. This battery operated very hi quality switch permits bi directional switching of 2 sources using a wired remote. This allows the switch box to be connected with the shortest possible leads and the remote to be located anywhere it is convenient. The RSX-1 can also be configured to do mono/stereo switchin Analog playback continues to be our main area of concentration. Analog appears to have established itself as the medium of true fidelity. With all the promise that digital offers, The mass public seems content to trade off fidelity for features. Alexander Graham Bell enjoyed better fidelity with his phone then most do today with digital cell phones. Compressed video and audio are the norm. And while all the features and interactivity are nice, some of us still want fidelity. What will the giants do if the world suddenly demands fidelity. Could they even deliver it? I wonder? My guess is, if you use up all the bandwidth offering low fidelity features, there will be little bandwidth left to offer fidelity. We are beginning to see some DVD issues in true 2 channel, 24 bit/192kHZ, re-issues are rare, so if you collect music before 1985, you will continue to need a good turntable, cartridge and phono preamp.KAB will continue to support analog reproduction. We seek to offer the best performing products commensurate with good value and consistency in manufacturing. We will continue to place a high value on specifications and build quality. You can get a million opinions on what something sounds like, but until you have performance metrics, you cannot know very much about true performance and build consistency. As I am fond of saying, "No two people hear the same thing, the same way, twice." Buying an audio product base solely upon what someone else says it sounds like is no different really then just rolling dice. Hearing something for yourself is the only meaningful subjective opinion that counts. And when that is not possible, specifications will stop you from making a move backwards. Never let someone tell you that specifications are meaningless. They are a contract between you and the maker. They insure that unit 1 is the same as unit 1000. And most of all, they insure that what you are getting is at least as good as what you already have. There are growing reports that the current over use of personal communication devices is taking a toll on attention span. Some are reccomending using these devices less. Our industry should encourage Listening as a good way to recharge the imagination and give it a break from all the things that interefere in our lives. Learning to listen again could be the spark that helps grow our hobby. |
| New Items Of Interest. - Trends Audio DAC - Musiland DAC - KAB RSX-1 Remote Source Switch - Grado Phono Cartridge and Preamp |
|
K-A-B |
 |