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Linn launches £25,000 turntable made out of whisky casks
Aside from enjoying a wee dram while listening to The White Album, we didn't think there was a better way to combine our love of whisky and high-end audio gear. Linn, on the other hand, decided to celebrate its 40th birthday by teaming up with fellow highland brand Highland Park to produce something really special. The pair are recreating Linn's flagship Sondek LP12 turntable, but on a wooden plinth crafted from some of the distiller's solid oak scotch whisky casks. Naturally, only 40 of the units will be produced, each one setting you back £25,000 ($40,000) -- but hey, at least you get a 40-year-old bottle of Highland Park (worth £900) thrown in for good measure.
Linn promises big sound from its new compact Majik 109 speaker
The Scottish company Linn has always made its own way in the audio world, stretching all the way back to its classic Sondek turntable. The new Majik 109 speaker isn't really revolutionary (few speakers are), but the small 3-way monitor does have some unique features, including Linn's 2K tweeter+supertweeter array to handle the treble and beyond. Big sound is promised from the little box, and there's an upgrade path will carry you along bi-wiring and ultimately, an active configuration. Being a Linn product, you know these speakers will keep your toes tapping long after you pay off the $1590 asking price per speaker.
Ziff Davis reorganizes, changes review scoring
With the recent departure of Editorial Director John Davison to start-up web portal What They Like, Ziff Davis has done some behind-the-scenes shuffling of the staff behind its gaming properties. According to a press release (partially re-posted on James Mielke's blog), the online and print sides of the operation have been merged together and re-split into three new groups: "Videogames," headed by Electronic Gaming Monthly's James Mielke; "PC games," headed by Games For Windows' Jeff Green; and "Video," headed up by GameVideos' Demian Linn. Each group will funnel content into Ziff's magazines and online properties, including 1UP.com.More apparent to the average reader will be the change to Ziff's grading system, from a 10-point scale to an A+ through F letter grade. The change isn't just on a going-forward basis either -- according to the release, "all previously scored games on 1UP.com will also be converted to the new letter scale." Historical revisionism at its finest!
