Insider with Robert Harley – Arcam’s Universal, Steely Dan, Tube Quote

Anticipated Product Introduction Dec 13 – As I write this, the first examples of Arcam’s new DV139 universal player are hitting the market. Arcam’s marketing director, Geoff Meads, visited me last week with the $2995 unit, which plays all disc formats and includes the latest Anchor Bay Technologies 1080p video upconversion. Arcam has an enviable track record in producing multi-format disc players that deliver great sound on all formats. Watch for a review.

Interesting but Useless Audio Trivia

Back in the early 1980s, I read in the professional-audio press that the tune “Third World Man” on Steely Dan’s Gaucho album took a rather circuitous route to inclusion on the record. According to the reports, a studio technician accidentally recorded test tones over part of the 2″ multitrack master tape while everyone was taking a dinner break during the mixdown sessions. The tones over-wrote the first few bars of “Third World Man,

” and there was no safety master.

Donald Fagan and Walter Becker re-recorded the song from scratch