LATEST ADDITIONS

Malachi Lui  |  Oct 07, 2018  |  8 comments
The all-in-one turntable market has one gargantuan issue looming over it: the Crosley Cruiser. With everything an analog neophyte thinks he or she needs, these $70 “turntables” sell by the boatload, only to seriously damage records after but a few plays with their five grams of tracking force. Why are they so popular then? Because they’re small, inexpensive and the purchaser doesn’t have to think about piecing together an entire system; it’s right in front of them. Even so, it still feels extremely wrong to spend $100 on a vinyl box set and subject it to the evils of a $70 turntable.

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 07, 2018  |  7 comments
Here's the poop directly from Rega:
"The Planar 8 was inspired by the ultimate Rega turntable, the 'Naiad'. We decided early on that instead of an evolution of the previous RP8, the new Planar 8 was to be developed and engineered to encapsulate the essence of 'Naiad' at an affordable price. Our aim was to deliver a level of performance far beyond what has been achieved at this price point before.

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 04, 2018  |  9 comments
The second edition of "Making Vinyl" was an even greater success than last year's, which was plenty good. Following Record Store Day founder Michael Kurtz's panel "Record Store Day 11 Years Later", AnalogPlanet.com editor Michael Fremer ran "New Vinyl Plants Fire Up the Presses", which you can watch here. (Photo: Discogs sandwich of Jeffrey Smith and Sean Cannon).

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 30, 2018  |  8 comments
Ortofon celebrated its 100th anniversary September 28th and 29th, inviting approximately 60 of its sales and technology partners from around the world to a hotel in Maribo, Denmark and to its factory in nearby Nakskov.

AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer was invited to observe the celebration and to participate by presenting to the guests and company executives a ½ hour PowerPoint presentation outlining where the vinyl record and analog playback gear market has been for the past 30 or so years, and to where he thought it was headed in the future.

Malachi Lui,  |  Sep 26, 2018  |  71 comments
November 9, November 9, November 9: On November 9, Apple Corps/UMe will release multiple deluxe editions of The Beatles, the seminal self-titled double album affectionately known, due to its stark packaging, as “The White Album.”

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 24, 2018  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2003  |  1 comments
When I came upon Giuseppe Viola's handiwork at the 2000 Top Audio Show in Milan, Italy, I said to myself, "Here's a guy with a fabulous machine shop and too much time on his hands." Most designers are satisfied to introduce a turntable. Not Viola. At Top Audio, under the V.Y.G.E.R. name, he introduced a whole line of hand-built, air-bearing tonearms and turntables. When I met the gregarious Giuseppe (aka "Pino") later that day, he came across as a most enthusiastic, gnome-like character, eager to demonstrate his gleaming creations and explain their workings.

Viola had much to be proud of: He'd developed a massive, true air-bearing platter—one that "floated," both radially and axially, on a thin film of air . . .

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 20, 2018  |  6 comments
The Blood on the Tracks story is familiar to Dylan fans: the album was recorded in New York City in four days, September, 1974. It was mastered and review copies circulated. Months later (late December) Dylan decided the approach was wrong and re-recorded five tracks at Minneapolis Sound 80 Studios. Bootleggers circulated outtakes from the New York sessions but they’ve never been available legitimately until now.

Malachi Lui  |  Sep 19, 2018  |  38 comments
Felt mats have never been known for audiophile-grade sound, but how do they fare against each other? Can you hear differences among them?

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 17, 2018  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2003  |  1 comments
Whether it's to offer a "relaxed fit" to make life easier for analog lovers, or because both Scan-Tech and Immutable Music believe that they've found a way to offer better performance with higher output, the Lyra Titan ($5000) and Transfiguration Temper W ($4000) offer considerably higher output than the "statement' models they replace.
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 13, 2018  |  41 comments
In a July 2nd story, we announced four new costly arms from SAT(Swedish Analog Technologies): two models each available in 9" and 12" versions. The least expensive of the four, the LM-09 was reviewed in the just shipped October, 2018 Stereophile.

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