63-419: High fidelity or hi-fi is most commonly a term for the high-quality reproduction of sound or images. High Fidelity or Hi-Fi may also refer to: High fidelity High fidelity (often shortened to Hi-Fi or HiFi ) is the high-quality reproduction of sound . It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion , and
126-581: A driver of inflation for grocery prices. In August 2024, it announced it would be probing grocery prices to look for anti-competitive behavior and price gouging at chain supermarkets. In 2023, the FTC proposed a new rule that would ensure that the cancellation process of subscription services is as easy as the process of signing up. On October 16, 2024, the FTC announced the new rule, dubbed "click to cancel", requiring companies to make subscription services "as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it
189-450: A fact that was only disclosed in legalese, buried within the end user license agreement. The FTC secured a consent decree in the case. In In re Gateway Learning Corp. the FTC alleged that Gateway committed unfair and deceptive trade practices by making retroactive changes to its privacy policy without informing customers and by violating its own privacy policy by selling customer information when it had said it would not. Gateway settled
252-480: A fine of US$ 50.1 million on OMICS companies. OMICS' lawyer said that this was an unfair allegation and that OMICS would sue FTC for $ 3.11 billion in damages, saying it had caused loss of revenue and reputation. In In the Matter of Sears Holdings Management Corp. , the FTC alleged that a research software program provided by Sears was deceptive because it collected information about nearly all online behavior,
315-442: A flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the human hearing range . High fidelity contrasts with the lower-quality " lo-fi " sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment, AM radio , or the inferior quality of sound reproduction that can be heard in recordings made until the late 1940s. Bell Laboratories began experimenting with various recording techniques in the early 1930s. Performances by Leopold Stokowski and
378-511: A listening test is done in such a way that the listener who is assessing the sound quality of a component or recording can see the components that are being used for the test (e.g., the same musical piece listened to through a tube power amplifier and a solid-state amplifier), then it is possible that the listener's pre-existing biases towards or against certain components or brands could affect their judgment. To respond to this issue, researchers began to use blind tests , in which listeners cannot see
441-403: A modified dynamic range and possibly bit rates lower than audiophile standards. Tidal and others have launched a hi-fi tier that includes access to FLAC and Master Quality Authenticated studio masters for many tracks through the desktop version of the player. This integration is also available for high-end audio systems. Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC )
504-595: A number of regulations (codified in Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations ). The broad statutory authority granted to the FTC provides it with more surveillance and monitoring abilities than it actually uses. The FTC is composed of five commissioners, who each serve seven-year terms. Members of the commission are nominated by the President and subject to Senate confirmation, and no more than three FTC members can be of
567-534: A partial solution to the problem of reproducing the sound of live orchestral performers by creating separation among instruments, the illusion of space, and a phantom central channel. An attempt to enhance reverberation was tried in the 1970s through quadraphonic sound . Consumers did not want to pay the additional costs and space required for the marginal improvements in realism. With the rise in popularity of home theater , however, multi-channel playback systems became popular, and many consumers were willing to tolerate
630-623: A power amplifier in one box is called an integrated amplifier ; with a tuner added, it is a receiver . A monophonic power amplifier is called a monoblock and is often used for powering a subwoofer . Other modules in the system may include components like cartridges , tonearms , hi-fi turntables , digital media players , DVD players that play a wide variety of discs including CDs , CD recorders , MiniDisc recorders, hi-fi videocassette recorders (VCRs) and reel-to-reel tape recorders . Signal modification equipment can include equalizers and noise-reduction systems . This modularity allows
693-578: A review of the price lists, on-site training of the staff, and follow-up testing and certification on compliance with the Funeral Rule ." In the mid-1990s, the FTC launched the fraud sweeps concept where the agency and its federal, state, and local partners filed simultaneous legal actions against multiple telemarketing fraud targets. The first sweeps operation was Project Telesweep in July 1995 which cracked down on 100 business opportunity scams. In
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#1732780628301756-471: A solid-state amplifier, the Quad 405, in 1978 after seeing the results from blind tests, but came to realize months later that "the magic was gone" until he replaced it with a tube amp. Robert Harley of The Absolute Sound wrote, in 2008, that: "...blind listening tests fundamentally distort the listening process and are worthless in determining the audibility of a certain phenomenon." Doug Schneider, editor of
819-481: A stereo (stereophonic phonograph). In the world of the audiophile, however, the concept of high fidelity continued to refer to the goal of highly accurate sound reproduction and to the technological resources available for approaching that goal. This period is regarded as the "Golden Age of Hi-Fi", when vacuum tube equipment manufacturers of the time produced many models considered superior by modern audiophiles, and just before solid state ( transistorized ) equipment
882-549: Is transparent , a properly conducted double-blind test can prove that a method is not transparent. Blind tests are sometimes used as part of attempts to ascertain whether certain audio components (such as expensive, exotic cables) have any subjectively perceivable effect on sound quality. Data gleaned from these blind tests is not accepted by some audiophile magazines such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound in their evaluations of audio equipment. John Atkinson , current editor of Stereophile , stated that he once purchased
945-468: Is 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Most adults can't hear higher than 15,000 Hz. CDs are capable of reproducing frequencies as low as 0 Hz and as high as 22,050 Hz, making them adequate for reproducing the frequency range that most humans can hear. The equipment must also provide no noticeable distortion of the signal or emphasis or de-emphasis of any frequency in this frequency range. Integrated , mini , or lifestyle systems (also known by
1008-680: Is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection . The FTC shares jurisdiction over federal civil antitrust law enforcement with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division . The agency is headquartered in the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington, DC . The FTC
1071-458: Is the music server consisting of one or more computer hard drives that hold music in the form of computer files . When the music is stored in an audio file format that is lossless such as FLAC , Monkey's Audio or WMA Lossless , the computer playback of recorded audio can serve as an audiophile-quality source for a hi-fi system. There is now a push from certain streaming services to offer hi-fi services. Streaming services typically have
1134-677: Is to be denied a written, retainable copy of the GPL. In 1996, the FTC instituted the Funeral Rule Offenders Program (FROP), under which "funeral homes make a voluntary payment to the U.S. Treasury or appropriate state fund for an amount less than what would likely be sought if the Commission authorized filing a lawsuit for civil penalties. In addition, the funeral homes participate in the NFDA compliance program, which includes
1197-817: The Philadelphia Orchestra were recorded in 1931 and 1932 using telephone lines between the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and the Bell labs in New Jersey. Some multitrack recordings were made on optical sound film, which led to new advances used primarily by MGM (as early as 1937) and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (as early as 1941). RCA Victor began recording performances by several orchestras using optical sound around 1941, resulting in higher-fidelity masters for 78-rpm discs . During
1260-412: The funeral home industry in order to protect consumers from deceptive practices. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide all customers (and potential customers) with a General Price List (GPL), specifically outlining goods and services in the funeral industry, as defined by the FTC, and a listing of their prices. By law, the GPL must be presented on request to all individuals, and no one
1323-471: The 1930s, Avery Fisher , an amateur violinist, began experimenting with audio design and acoustics . He wanted to make a radio that would sound like he was listening to a live orchestra and achieve high fidelity to the original sound. After World War II , Harry F. Olson conducted an experiment whereby test subjects listened to a live orchestra through a hidden variable acoustic filter. The results proved that listeners preferred high-fidelity reproduction, once
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#17327806283011386-462: The 1970s and 1980s preferred to buy each component separately. That way, they could choose models of each component with the specifications that they desired. In the 1980s, several audiophile magazines became available, offering reviews of components and articles on how to choose and test speakers, amplifiers, and other components. Listening tests are used by hi-fi manufacturers, audiophile magazines, and audio engineering researchers and scientists. If
1449-547: The 1970s was the integrated music centre —which combined a phonograph turntable, AM-FM radio tuner, tape player, preamplifier, and power amplifier in one package, often sold with its own separate, detachable or integrated speakers. These systems advertised their simplicity. The consumer did not have to select and assemble individual components or be familiar with impedance and power ratings. Purists generally avoid referring to these systems as high fidelity, though some are capable of very good quality sound reproduction. Audiophiles in
1512-628: The 2021 United States Supreme Court case, AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC , the Court found unanimously that the FTC did not have power under 15 U.S.C. § 53(b) of the FTC Act, amended in 1973, to seek equitable relief in courts; it had the power to seek only injunctive relief. In 2023, Project 2025 suggested that an administration could abolish the FTC. In November 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and FTC Chair Khan, ruling
1575-657: The Bureau of Competition, the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and the Bureau of Economics. The Bureau of Competition is the division of the FTC charged with elimination and prevention of "anticompetitive" business practices. It accomplishes this through the enforcement of antitrust laws, review of proposed mergers , and investigation into other non-merger business practices that may impair competition. Such non-merger practices include horizontal restraints, involving agreements between direct competitors, and vertical restraints , involving agreements among businesses at different levels in
1638-637: The FTC authorized an administrative complaint against the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard , Inc. The FTC alleged the deal would suppress competitors from accessing future content/games developed by Activision once the deal goes through. The FTC dropped its lawsuit on July 20, 2023. Microsoft had to restructure its deal to appease UK regulators. Microsoft reneged on promises it made in court filings by laying off 1900 employees in January 2024, signaling that it did not plan to let Activision Blizzard remain as independent as it had promised and leading
1701-517: The FTC sued Meta (formally known as Facebook) for anticompetitive conduct under Section 2 of the Sherman Act , which prohibits improper monopolization of a market. The FTC accused Meta of buying up its competitors to stifle competition which reduced the range of services available to consumers and by creating fewer social media platforms for advertisers to target. In September 2013, a federal court closed an elusive business opportunity scheme on
1764-555: The FTC to continue to appeal the decision. In July 2021, the FTC voted unanimously to enforce the right to repair as policy and to look to take action against companies that limit the type of repair work that can be done at independent repair shops. In October 2024, following a comment by the FTC to the US Copyright Office , an exemption was granted allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment, such as McDonald's ice cream machines . In December 2020
1827-597: The FTC's success in blocking or unwinding of hospital consolidations or affiliations: In 2011, the FTC successfully challenged in court the $ 195 million acquisition of Palmyra Medical Center by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. The FTC alleged that the transaction would create a monopoly as it would "reduce competition significantly and allow the combined Phoebe/Palmyra to raise prices for general acute-care hospital services charged to commercial health plans, substantially harming patients and local employers and employees". The Supreme Court on February 19, 2013, ruled in favor of
1890-469: The FTC. Similarly, court attempts by ProMedica health system in Ohio to overturn an order by the FTC to the company to unwind its 2010 acquisition of St. Luke's hospital were unsuccessful. The FTC claimed that the acquisition would hurt consumers through higher premiums because insurance companies would be required to pay more. In December 2011, an administrative judge upheld the FTC's decision, noting that
1953-408: The FTC. They were banned from processing credit card transactions, though the initial monetary judgment of $ 5.8 million was suspended due to the defendant's inability to pay. In 2016, the FTC launched action against the academic journal publisher OMICS Publishing Group for producing predatory journals and organizing predatory conferences . This action, partly in response to ongoing pressure from
High fidelity (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2016-547: The Rockford area and would have a market share of 64%. Later in 2012, OSF announced that it had abandoned its plans to acquire Rockford Health System. The commission is headed by five commissioners, who each serve seven-year terms. Commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate . No more than three commissioners can be of the same political party . In practice, this means that two commissioners are of
2079-849: The academic community, is the first action taken by the FTC against an academic journal publisher. The complaint alleges that the defendants have been "deceiving academics and researchers about the nature of its publications and hiding publication fees ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars". It additionally notes that "OMICS regularly advertises conferences featuring academic experts who were never scheduled to appear in order to attract registrants" and that attendees "spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on registration fees and travel costs to attend these scientific conferences." Manuscripts are also sometimes held hostage, with OMICS refusing to allow submissions to be withdrawn and thereby preventing resubmission to another journal for consideration. Library scientist Jeffrey Beall has described OMICS as among
2142-406: The advent of integrated multi-speaker console systems in the 1950s, hi-fi became a generic term for home sound equipment, to some extent displacing phonograph and record player . In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the development of stereophonic equipment and recordings led to the next wave of home-audio improvement, and in common parlance stereo displaced hi-fi . Records were now played on
2205-553: The agency also alleged that the companies created a rebate system that prioritized high rebates from drug manufacturers, among other factors. The agency stated that several PBMs failed to provide documents in a timely manner and warned that it could take the companies to court to force them to comply, during the announcment in the preliminary findings. In September 2024, the FTC sued the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices that increased their profits while artificially inflating
2268-473: The agency requested documents from the six largest PBMs as part of its investigation. The three largest – UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx , Cigna's Express Scripts and CVS Health's Caremark – manage about 80% of U.S. prescriptions. The top three PBMs share a parent company with a large medical insurance company . The FTC accused these companies of raising drug prices through conflicts of interest , vertical integration , concentration, and exclusivity provisions;
2331-459: The behavior of ProMedica health system and St. Luke's was indeed anticompetitive. The court ordered ProMedica to divest St. Luke's to a buyer that would be approved by the FTC within 180 days of the date of the order. In November 2011, the FTC filed a lawsuit alleging that the proposed acquisition of Rockford by OSF would drive up prices for general acute-care inpatient services as OSF would face only one competitor (SwedishAmerican health system) in
2394-488: The biggest pay raises. It also allows workers to leave abusive work environments and can prevent some doctors from having to leave medicine once they leave a practice. The ban was put on hold by U.S. District Judge Ada Brown on July 3, 2024, but then upheld on appeal by U.S. District Judge Kelley B. Hodge on July 23, 2024. On August 20, 2024, a federal court in Texas overturned the FTC's ban on non-compete agreements, which
2457-491: The company a monopoly, and ordering Google to sell its Chrome web browser. The FTC ruled to ban virtually all non-competes nationwide in April 2024. The agency estimates 30 million workers are bound by these clauses and only excludes senior executives from the ban on enforcing non-competes. The agency believes that this will allow workers to find better working conditions and pay, since switching companies, on average, provides
2520-542: The complaint by entering into a consent decree with the FTC that required it to surrender some profits and placed restrictions upon Gateway for the following 20 years. In addition to prospective analysis of the effects of mergers and acquisitions, the FTC has recently resorted to retrospective analysis and monitoring of consolidated hospitals. Thus, it also uses retroactive data to demonstrate that some hospital mergers and acquisitions are hurting consumers, particularly in terms of higher prices. Here are some recent examples of
2583-455: The components being tested. A commonly used variant of this test is the ABX test . A subject is presented with two known samples (sample A , the reference, and sample B , an alternative), and one unknown sample X, for three samples total. X is randomly selected from A and B , and the subject identifies X as being either A or B . Although there is no way to prove that a certain methodology
High fidelity (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2646-597: The courts. With the 1912 presidential election decided in favor of the Democrats and Woodrow Wilson , Morgan reintroduced a slightly amended version of his bill during the April 1913 special session. The national debate culminated in Wilson's signing of the FTC Act on September 26, 1914, with additional tightening of regulations in the Clayton Antitrust Act three weeks later. The new FTC would absorb
2709-412: The defendants from falsely representing that their journals engage in peer review, that their journals are included in any academic journal indexing service or any measurement of the extent to which their journals are cited. It also requires that the defendants clearly and conspicuously disclose all costs associated with submitting or publishing articles in their journals." In April 2019, the court imposed
2772-649: The enthusiast to spend as little or as much as they want on a component to suit their specific needs, achieve a desired sound, and add components as desired. Also, failure of any component of an integrated system can render it unusable, while the unaffected components of a modular system may continue to function. A modular system introduces the complexity of cabling multiple components and often having different remote controls for each unit. Some modern hi-fi equipment can be digitally connected using fiber optic TOSLINK cables, USB ports (including one to play digital audio files), or Wi-Fi support. Another modern component
2835-498: The first speech on the House floor advocating its creation on February 21, 1912. Though the initial bill did not pass, the questions of trusts and antitrust dominated the 1912 election. Most political party platforms in 1912 endorsed the establishment of a federal trade commission with its regulatory powers placed in the hands of an administrative board, as an alternative to functions previously and necessarily exercised so slowly through
2898-530: The list price of insulin. The agency is seeking to prohibit the PBMs from favoring medicines because certain pharaceuticals make them more money. In February 2024, the FTC challenged the Kroger-Albertsons merger , arguing it would drive up grocery and pharmacy prices, worsen service, and lower wages and working conditions. In March 2024, the FTC released a report that found higher profit margins as
2961-434: The manufacturer to allow piecemeal repairs. Although some high-end audio manufacturers do produce integrated systems, such products are generally disparaged by audiophiles , who prefer to build a system from separates (or components ), often with each item from a different manufacturer specialising in a particular component. This provides the most flexibility for piece-by-piece upgrades and repairs. A preamplifier and
3024-513: The most egregious of predatory publishers . In November 2017, a federal court in the Court for the District of Nevada granted a preliminary injunction that: "prohibits the defendants from making misrepresentations regarding their academic journals and conferences, including that specific persons are editors of their journals or have agreed to participate in their conferences. It also prohibits
3087-433: The noise and distortion introduced by early sound equipment was removed. Beginning in 1948, several innovations created the conditions that made major improvements in home audio quality possible: In the 1950s, audio manufacturers employed the phrase high fidelity as a marketing term to describe records and equipment intended to provide faithful sound reproduction. Many consumers found the difference in quality compared to
3150-488: The older terms music centre or midi system ) contain one or more sources such as a CD player , a tuner , or a cassette tape deck together with a preamplifier and a power amplifier in one box. A limitation of an "integrated" system is that failure of any one component can possibly lead to the need to replace the entire unit, as components are not readily swapped in or out of a system merely by plugging and unplugging cables, and may not even have been made available by
3213-673: The online Soundstage network, argued the opposite in 2009. He stated: "Blind tests are at the core of the decades' worth of research into loudspeaker design done at Canada's National Research Council (NRC). The NRC researchers knew that for their result to be credible within the scientific community and to have the most meaningful results, they had to eliminate bias, and blind testing was the only way to do so." Many Canadian companies such as Axiom, Energy, Mirage, Paradigm, PSB, and Revel use blind testing extensively in designing their loudspeakers. Audio professional Dr. Sean Olive of Harman International shares this view. Stereophonic sound provided
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#17327806283013276-450: The opposition party. However, three members of the FTC throughout its history have been without party affiliation , with the most recent independent, Pamela Jones Harbour , serving from 2003 to 2009. (chair) Yale Law School ( JD ) Yale Law School (JD) Yale Law School (JD) University of Utah Law School (JD) University of Virginia School of Law (JD) Notes As of 2021, there have been: The FTC has three main bureaus:
3339-647: The request of the FTC, namely "Money Now Funding"/"Cash4Businesses". The FTC alleged that the defendants misrepresented potential earnings, violated the National Do Not Call Register , and violated the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule in preventing a fair consumer evaluation of the business. This was one of the first definitive actions taken by any regulator against a company engaging in transaction laundering, where almost US$ 6 million were processed illicitly. In December 2018, two defendants, Nikolas Mihilli and Dynasty Merchants, LLC, settled with
3402-609: The same party . One member of the body serves as FTC Chair at the President's pleasure, with Commissioner Lina Khan having served as chair since June 2021. Following the Supreme Court decisions against Standard Oil and American Tobacco in May 1911, the first version of a bill to establish a commission to regulate interstate trade was introduced on January 25, 1912, by Oklahoma congressman Dick Thompson Morgan . He would make
3465-611: The same industry (such as suppliers and commercial buyers). The FTC shares enforcement of antitrust laws with the Department of Justice . However, while the FTC is responsible for civil enforcement of antitrust laws, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has the power to bring both civil and criminal action in antitrust matters. The Bureau of Consumer Protection's mandate is to protect consumers against unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. With
3528-506: The six to eight channels required in a home theater. In addition to spatial realism, the playback of music must be subjectively free from noise, such as hiss or hum, to achieve realism. The compact disc (CD) provides about 90 decibels of dynamic range , which exceeds the 80 dB dynamic range of music as normally perceived in a concert hall. Audio equipment must be able to reproduce frequencies high enough and low enough to be realistic. The human hearing range, for healthy young persons,
3591-467: The staff and duties of Bureau of Corporations , previously established under the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. The FTC could additionally challenge "unfair methods of competition" and enforce the Clayton Act's more specific prohibitions against certain price discrimination, vertical arrangements, interlocking directorates , and stock acquisitions. In 1984, the FTC began to regulate
3654-464: The then-standard AM radios and 78-rpm records readily apparent and bought high-fidelity phonographs and 33⅓ LPs such as RCA 's New Orthophonics and London's FFRR (Full Frequency Range Recording, a UK Decca system). Audiophiles focused on technical characteristics and bought individual components, such as separate turntables, radio tuners, preamplifiers , power amplifiers and loudspeakers. Some enthusiasts even assembled their loudspeaker systems, with
3717-420: The written consent of the commission, Bureau attorneys enforce federal laws related to consumer affairs and rules promulgated by the FTC. Its functions include investigations, enforcement actions, and consumer and business education. Areas of principal concern for this bureau are: advertising and marketing, financial products and practices, telemarketing fraud , privacy and identity protection, etc. The bureau also
3780-598: Was established in 1914 with the passage of the Federal Trade Commission Act , signed in response to the 19th-century monopolistic trust crisis. Since its inception, the FTC has enforced the provisions of the Clayton Act , a key antitrust statute, as well as the provisions of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 41 et seq. Over time, the FTC has been delegated with the enforcement of additional business regulation statutes and has promulgated
3843-451: Was introduced to the market, subsequently replacing tube equipment as the mainstream technology. In the 1960s, the FTC with the help of the audio manufacturers came up with a definition to identify high-fidelity equipment so that the manufacturers could clearly state if they meet the requirements and reduce misleading advertisements. A popular type of system for reproducing music beginning in
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#17327806283013906-741: Was originally scheduled to take effect on September 4, 2024. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown said the FTC did not have the authority to issue the ban, which she said was "unreasonably overbroad without a reasonable explanation." Victoria Graham, an FTC spokeswoman responded to the ruling by stating "We are seriously considering a potential appeal..." The FTC successfully blocked Nvidia from purchasing ARM holdings in 2022. The FTC has pursued lawsuits against companies to lower drug prices, including for insulin and for inhalers. The FTC launched its investigation into pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in 2022. In July 2024, it released an interim report on its 2-year investigation into pharmacy benefit managers ,
3969-468: Was to sign up." Khan said in a interview that the new rule is designed so that if consumers signed up online, they must also be able to cancel on the same website in the same number of steps. The rule’s final provisions will go into effect 180 days after it is published in the Federal Register . It also targeted airlines and credit card companies over junk fees and high prices. In 2023,
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