The SoundStage! Network

US-based MartinLogan has introduced the new Ethos loudspeaker priced at $6495 USD per pair. The Ethos features a 44" x 9.2" XStat electrostatic transducer panel derived from the company’s flagship CLX design and an 8" DSP-controlled woofer that is powered by a 200W class-D amplifier. MartinLogan claims bass extension down to 34Hz from the woofer and controlled dispersion from the electrostatic panel over a 30-degree window.

Initially, the Ethos woofer cabinet will be available in three real-wood finishes: Black Ash, Dark Cherry and Flamed Teak. MartinLogan says that custom finishes will be available for it soon, and that the new Flamed Teak finish will become a standard finish on other MartinLogan products by late 2010. The Ethos is built in North America and is available now.

MartinLogan website

Canada's Bryston has announced the BDP-1 digital music player, a companion to the company's well-regarded BDA-1 digital-to-analog converter. The BDP-1 is Linux-based and provides access to high-resolution audio files saved on either USB thumb drives or USB-based hard drives. Resolutions of up to 24-bit/192kHz are supported. The BDP-1 connects to an external DAC through AES-EBU or BNC digital outputs.

Explaining the BDP-1, Bryston's James tanner stated, "The BDP-1 is a technically sophisticated component incorporating state-of-the-art solid-state electronics that link up to your home network and may be controlled by a variety of graphic interface devices (e.g., laptop, Netbook, PC, PDA, iPhone, web browser, etc.). The BDP-1’s graphic interface operates under 'open source' software protocols, ensuring long-term future proofing and compatibility with the widest possible range of other digital devices as they are developed. We will also be developing our own Bryston web-based MPD client. The main point to understand here is the BDP-1 is accessing the digital files from the attached USB drives(s) directly and not streaming files on the network. The network is only used to interface your library storage on your remote (iTouch, laptop, notebook, etc.) or using a web browser on your computer as the interface. This approach eliminates all the issues inherent in streaming high-resolution digital files over the home network."

The price of the Bryston BDP-1 is expected to be $2100 USD.

Bryston website 

Plácido Domingo adds a new role to his extensive recorded repertory with an all-new opera recording available from Deutsche Grammophon on June 8, 2010. That recording of Leoncavallo’s I Medici will be the only complete recording available.

Premiered just a year after the wildly successful Pagliacci, I Medici was Leoncavallo’s most ambitious work and included historical characters and settings, a tragic love triangle, and numerous cross-references with the works of Wagner and other composers. The 1893 premiere of I Medici featured world-class artists such as Francesco Tamagno, Verdi’s first Otello, in the demanding role of Giuliano. The exhausting and lengthy role for the tenor is one of many reasons why the opera is not more frequently performed. Plácido Domingo, himself a celebrated Otello, has brought the role of Giuliano back to life.

Taking his lead from Wagner and the Ring cycle, Leoncavallo set out to write a trilogy of operas (to be titled Crepusculum) to celebrate Italian culture and history. I Medici is the first and only completed installment of the proposed trilogy. While drawing inspiration from the most Italian of subjects, namely the Renaissance and the Medici family, Leoncavallo simultaneously owed a great debt to Wagner with references to The Ring, Tristan und Isolde and the Siegfried Idyll. In another tribute to Wagner, Leoncavallo composed not only the score but also wrote his own libretto.

Deutsche Grammophon recorded the entire opera in Florence, Italy.

DG website

Eagle Rock Entertainment has announced the August 31 release of Red Velvet Car, the first new studio album in six years from the popular Seattle-based band Heart. 

For their first new album since 2004's Jupiter's Darling, Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, often described as the first ladies of arena rock, have taken an acoustic approach to a collection of songs inspired by the world around them, arranged for an assortment of string instruments, including guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle, viola, cello and autoharp, all played by Nancy Wilson and the album's producer, Grammy winner Ben Mink.

Nine of the album's songs were written for and appear for the first time on Red Velvet Car. The album's closer, "Sand," is a newly recorded version of a song originally written and recorded by the Lovemongers, the Wilson’s 1990s all-acoustic side project.

Tracks on Red Velvet Car will include "Death Valley," "Safronia's Mark," "Red Velvet Car," "Queen City," "Sunflower," "Wheels," "There You Go," "WTF," "Hey You" and "Sand."

"This album feels so right for the times," says Nancy Wilson. "We can't wait to share this one with the world!"

Heart will be performing songs from Red Velvet Car, as well as classics from the band's repertoire, in headline concerts across the U.S. and Canada from July through September.

Heart website