Michael Fremer

Album Reviews
Thelonious Monk Plays Just For You
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 06, 2012  |  11 comments
You can tell me yours, but my first encounter with Thelonious Monk was the 1963 Columbia album Criss-Cross(CS 8838). I'd given up on rock'n'roll, which had become all Fabian and Frankie Avalon-ed out and new musical adventures of a more adult nature were in order for this high-schooler.

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Being a "Persistent Nutjob" Pays Off!
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 06, 2012  |  16 comments
Dear Mr Fremer, I curse you, Sir! You are the devil. Not only have you converted me to appreciate the many virtues of vinyl playback.... But you have also quite remarkably managed to make me question my own sanity!

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Album Reviews
Which "Wish You Were Here" Do You Want?
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 05, 2012  |  11 comments
It's a bit late in the day to write a review of the music on this album, which concerns itself mostly with how the music business chews up musicians with dreams and spits them out—not that Syd Barrett, the subject of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was done in by the business.

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News
Gary "Baba Booey" Dell'Abate and Jon Hein Visited Today
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 05, 2012  |  7 comments
Howard Stern Show producer Gary Dell'Abate and Stern show staffer John Hein stopped by today with a video crew of eleven.
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Album Reviews
Nick Lowe Waxes Melancholic at 45 (RPM)—He's Considerably Older, Of Course
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 02, 2012  |  3 comments
NIck Lowe has aged more than gracefully—he's never been better melodically and especially lyrically. On his latest release, issued by Yep Roc on a "wide groove 45rpm" record, Lowe waxes both melancholic and bemused about a break up.
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Set-Up Tips
How to Use a USB Digital Microscope to set 92 Degree Stylus Rake Angle (SRA)
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 29, 2012  |  33 comments
The stylus rake angle is the angle the stylus’s “contact patch” makes to the record surface. If you have a relatively inexpensive cartridge with a spherical stylus you don’t have to worry about SRA because the contact area remains the same regardless of arm height. On the other hand, elliptical styli along with the more severe “line contact,” Shibata, Geiger, Ortofon and other long, narrow contact patch “cutting edge” (poor metaphor!) stylus profiles require careful SRA setting to perform as designed.

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Out With the Old in With the New?
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 29, 2012  |  3 comments
Dear Michael,

I grew up in the golden age of high-fi and began my hardware journey with a Fisher X202B amplifier, AR2a speakers, and an Empire 398 turntable followed by the addition of a McIntosh MR-67 tuner. Of course, I've been a subscriber to High Fidelity, Stereo Review, their successors, The Absolute Sound and Stereophile going back to the 60's.

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News
Mikey Interviewed at ListenUp in Denver CO May 2012
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 27, 2012  |  2 comments
I was in Colorado last month doing in-store appearances at audio dealer ListenUp. Events were held at their stores in Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs.
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Turntable Reviews
The Anvil "Alloy Convertible" Turntable—Motor City Metal Machine Magic!
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 21, 2012  |  15 comments
The two basic turntable design approaches are low mass that quickly evacuates energy and high mass that sinks and damps energy. Both designs seek to avoid reflecting back into the system the considerable energy produced at the stylus/groove interface.

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DMM or Lacquer? Which is Better?
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 20, 2012  |  6 comments
Dear Mikey: "I was wondering what your opinion of DMM is, I search the analogplanet archives and couldn't see anything one way or another.
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