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Analog Gear News
E.A.T. Introduces New Budget Prelude Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 26, 2019  |  17 comments
E.A.T. (European Audio Team) importer VANA Ltd. just introduced to the North American market the new Prelude turntable. The Prelude features a new 9 inch A-Note tonearm said to be lightweight, ultra-stiff and resonance-free, fitted with an Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge as well as a "heavy" aluminum platter spinning on a low tolerance (0.01%) polished stainless steel spindle in a soft bronze bushing.

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Album Reviews
The Alternative Universe of Wayne Shorter's "Emanon"
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 25, 2019  |  5 comments
Darkness into Light, Evil into Good, Ugliness into Beauty, Ignorance into Knowledge, Confusion into Certainty, deliverance from oppression (and the other way around) and simultaneous alternative realities are familiar transformative comic book and biblical themes (Shorter is a known comic book fan; not sure about his biblical proclivities).

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Analog Gear News
McIntosh Introduces MTI100 Integrated Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 25, 2019  |  14 comments
Binghamton, NY— On January 24th, 2019 McIntosh announced a snazzy-looking new integrated turntable featuring a built-in tube preamplifier and phono preamplifier and amplifier with both analog and digital inputs, Bluetooth, loudspeaker and subwoofer outputs and a
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Album Reviews
The John Lennon "Imagine" Box Set On Deluxe Blu-ray (Also Double LP)
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 24, 2019  |  14 comments
Former N.Y.C. Deputy Mayor Edward Morrison's obituary appeared in today's New York Times. Morrison was instrumental in helping John Lennon remain in America at a time when Richard Nixon was trying to deport him. Lennon's anti-war political agitation bugged Nixon. The deportation was going to based on an old pot bust. Morrison intervened and helped Lennon to remain in America by having him declared a "valuable cultural asset to New York City".

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #107
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 21, 2019  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2004  |  2 comments
reviewed in this column: Clearaudio’s Emotion turntable and Satisfy tonearm.

A friend of one of my wife's high school friends e-mailed recently asking for help in setting up his turntable. The guy, in his early 40s, is not a hardcore audiophile and doesn't read the magazines. He just got it into his head one day not long ago that he'd like to start collecting vinyl. So he went to eBay, got himself a Thorens TD-165 for $150, and started buying LPs online. Now he's hooked.

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Phono Preamp Reviews
Cambridge Audio's "Duo" Phono Preamp/Headphone Amplifier Outperforms Its Low Price
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 14, 2019  |  15 comments
Cambridge Audio's Duo is a compact, attractive, lightweight (2.1 Lbs) low priced phono preamplifier that will surprise you with its solid sonic performance as well as its low price. It certainly surprised me! It also features a headphone amplifier so it makes for a great desktop or dorm room accessory.

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Analog Gear News
At CES 2019 Technics Introduces Elegant SL-1500C Coreless Direct Drive Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 09, 2019  |  29 comments
At CES 2019 Technics expanded its turntable line with the introduction of the SL-1500C "complete" turntable with built-in MM phono preamplifier as well as a new SL-1200MK7—the company's first new standard DJ turntable in approximately 9 years.

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News
Watch John Atkinson Give Michael Fremer the Founder's Award at the L.A. & Orange Co. Audio Society's 25th Annual GALA!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 08, 2019  |  12 comments
Here's the first in a series of videos Ben Williams produced and edited over the weekend's festivities last November 30th through December 2nd as the L.A. & Orange County Audio Society celebrated its 25th anniversary and presented its Founder's Award to AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #106
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 08, 2019  |  First Published: May 01, 2004  |  2 comments
Sonus Faber's graceful-looking factory.

"Do you want to see how they build Pro-Ject turntables?" It was Sumiko's John Hunter, phoning me out of the blue.

"Sure!" I've reviewed a few Pro-Ject designs over the years, along with the Music Hall 'tables, which are built in the same factory, and I've long wondered how one small company in the Czech Republic can manufacture such a wide array of products while making almost every part in-house. When Hunter added that the visit to Pro-Ject would be bracketed by stops at Vicenza, Italy and Vienna, Austria to visit (respectively) Sonus Faber and Vienna Acoustics, I was ready to pack. Besides, between the lunacy of January's Consumer Electronics Show and the assembly line of products arriving at and departing from my listening room, I needed a break, hectic though the five-day trip would be.

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AAA Vinyl
Blue Note Launches Joe Harley Curated Tone Poet Series AAA Vinyl Releases
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 07, 2019  |  4 comments
Blue Note Records just announced a new "Tone Poet" Series of all analog vinyl jazz reissues curated by Joe Harley, who co-produces with Ron Rambach the Music Matters Blue Note vinyl reissue series. These records will be produced the way those are: mastered cut directly from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and plated and pressed at RTI and deluxe gatefold packaged.

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