There aren't many celebrities in the world of HD hardware -- even dropping names like Joe Kane or Mark Levinson at your next dinner party is likely to produce blank stares. But if your speakers have a tweeter flanked by two midrange drivers, chances are that you're the beneficiary of the "D'Appolito Array." Joseph D'Appolito came up with this arrangement (along with a 3rd-order crossover) to even out the horizontal dispersion; important in getting the sound to stay the same across the wide swath in front of your display. A long-time consultant to several companies, Dr. D'Appolito has moved exclusively to Snell as its chief engineer. We wish Dr. D'Appolito great success at Snell, and hope that he continues to share his insights with the audio community at-large.

[Image courtesy Stereophile]

Talk about needing a roster to tell the players apart! RHJ International -- which owns some 49-percent of the D&M Holdings hydra (Denon, Marantz, Boston Acoustics, Escient, MacIntosh and Snell) -- has accepted an offer from Bain Capital to the tune of ¥510 ($4.74) per share in a buyout bid. But earlier reports that pinned Kenwood as a partner to Bain in this effort have been denied by Bain. There's some goings-on here, for sure. First, we haven't seen any dealings involving the 12-percent stake that Philips has in D&M. Also, the soon-to-be JVC Kenwood Holdings states that it has not decided on whether it will invest in D&M; which corroborates pretty well with the latest Bain statement that Kenwood is not involved, and there are no ongoing talks of future involvement. Corporate squabbling and conspiracy theories aside, we just hope that the D&M brands come out unscathed.

Though we're not exactly sure if Marantz will be a wholly owned subsidiary of D&M Holdings for much longer, the boutique brand is still planning to strut its stuff at the upcoming Audio Karma Fest in Michigan. Reportedly, the outfit will be showcasing a number of luxurious components from its Reference Series, include the $3,199 SC-11S1 preamplifier, $4,199 SM-11S1 power amplifier, $3,699 SA-11S2 SACD player and the all new $2,599.99 AV8003 Networking AV Preamp / Processor. For those lacking the requisite scratch, the slightly less magnificent SA8001 SACD player ($899.99) and PM7001 integrated amp ($599.99) will also be around. Word has it that all of the items will be demonstrated on Snell loudspeakers, which all in all should deliver a fairly blissful experience.

While the roster of storied high end names is pretty long, don't think for a minute that the blue-blood part of the market has not experienced consolidation. D&M Holdings is a prime example of this: D&M's owner, RJH International, has managed to fit Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, Boston Acoustics, Snell and Escient under one umbrella over the years. And now RJH is looking to cash in on the concentrated dollop of high end, offering up 49-percent of its shares in D&M. Philips has agreed to offer its12-percent stake to a winning bidder as well. Our math tells us that's more than a controlling percentage. Harman International, apparently satisfied with its own high end roster (including Harman Kardon, Infinity, Revel and Mark Levinson), has bowed out of bidding. That leaves Bain Capital (Kenwood) and Best Buy as the most prominent bidders, both of which scare us a little. One of the things we really enjoy about the D&M brands is the individual "personalities" behind them, and that's a credit to the management overlords. There's no guarantee that this variety of flavor will survive an en masse transition to new ownership.

If you're yearning for yet another all new, totally extravagant loudspeaker, Snell Acoustics has got you covered. Debuting at CES, the Illusion Series LCR was designed to match the firm's acclaimed Model A7 Reference tower (which we're hoping to spot at CES) and features a three-way design and the company's D'Appolito array. According to Snell, the Illusion series speakers are "the most accurate, linear, and dynamic" the company has ever created -- pretty bold words, we'd say. 'Course, they are individually calibrated and priced at $10,000 apiece, so think long and hard about whether or not you want glossy black or practically any other color in the world before pulling the trigger.