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Tour the Tesla Tube Factory
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 28, 2014  |  2 comments
Back in 1999 I reviewed in Stereophile the KR Audio VT 8000 monoblock vacuum tube amplifier. I wrote in the review: "Virtually every part in the amplifier is custom-made in-house or sourced from associated facilities, including the metal fabrication, the transformers, and the circuit boards. The internal wiring is Swiss in origin. And, of course, the vacuum transducers themselves are made in-house by hand, and that includes all of the tiny internal components, which are stamped out one at a time by hand on dies custom-machined in-house. Even the glass for the tubes is turned and formed by hand. If I hadn't seen all of this with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it."

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Features
A Hearing Aid For You From Doppler Labs
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 18, 2014  |  7 comments
The term "hearing aid" strikes terror into the hearts of audiophiles of all ages. Glasses? OK. But "hearing aid"? No one wants to admit to needing one so that's why you need a set of DUBS Acoustic Filters now.

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Features
Tour the SME Factory
Michael Fremer  |  May 20, 2014  |  20 comments
Following Munich's High End 2014 show I flew to the U.K. where I met up with Chad Kassem and Chad Stelly of Acoustic Sounds, the new American SME distributor. On Monday, May 19th we took a train to Shoreham by Sea to visit turntable and tonearm manufacturer SME.

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Features
Do Blue Note's 75th Anniversary Vinyl Reissues Honor the Label's Rich History?
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 31, 2014  |  45 comments
The first four 75th anniversary Blue Note vinyl reissues arrived the other day. The fifth, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, has been delayed.

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Features
Amoeba Music, Hollywood: Take the Short Walking Tour
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 16, 2014  |  30 comments
Permission granted to take a short walk through parts of Amoeba Music in Hollywood with the GoPro camera on my head.
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Features
Jazzhaus Presents On 180 Gram Vinyl First Wave of Heretofore Unreleased Post WW II Jazz Recordings
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 29, 2014  |  8 comments
During the late 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s American jazz musicians and groups toured Europe and the world, usually to greater appreciation and acclaim than they received back home. Sad but true. Some moved overseas where they were treated with greater respect than they received at home but that’s another story.

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Features
“Over and Under” $100 Stocking Stuffers From Analogplanet.com!
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2013  |  6 comments
It's "that" time of year so here are analogplanet's stocking stuffers in three different price categories.

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Features
Analogplanet.com Visits VPI Industries Part 3
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 31, 2013  |  14 comments
Harry Weisfeld has "ring around the collar".
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Features
Analogplanet.com Visits VPI Industries Part 2
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 31, 2013  |  10 comments
In Part 2 of our VPI Industries factory tour we see, among other things, the inner workings of VPI's radical new direct drive motor.
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Features
Analogplanet.com Visits VPI Industries Part 1
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 30, 2013  |  12 comments
The editor visited VPI Industries today. The original purpose was to tour the factory and pick up a new VPI Direct Drive turntable for review.
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Features
Tour Electric Mastering's New Vintage Cutting Chain With Analog Legend Sean Davies
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 02, 2013  |  9 comments
Here's your opportunity to tour Electric Mastering's new vintage cutting chain with "master of the cutting lathe" analog legend Sean Davies.
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Analogplanet Tours Record Industry, Europe's Largest Record Pressing Plant
Michael Fremer  |  May 26, 2013  |  11 comments
After visiting the U.K. after Munich's High End show, I flew to Amsterdam. Record Industry pressing plant owner Ton Vermuelen picked me up at the airport and drove me to the Haarlem-based pressing plant he owns.
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Features
Analogplanet Visits London's Electric Mastering
Michael Fremer  |  May 25, 2013  |  6 comments
After the Munich High End Show I went to the U.K. on some other business and while there paid a visit to Electric Mastering, the parent company of reissue label The Electric Recording Co.
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Features
TAD's Andrew Jones Designs Surprising Sounding Budget Speakers For Pioneer (Pricing corrected)
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 24, 2013  |  24 comments
A young reader inherited a turntable and asked about a modestly priced system he could assemble around it. We know where this will lead and we can all cheer him on, mindful of the fun and fetishing to follow. And we can all sympathize with his bank account—assuming he has one!

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Features
Ry Cooder Scores!
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 30, 2003  |  0 comments

Beginning with his eponymous 1970 debut, and continuing throughout eleven Warner Brothers solo albums, Ry Cooder has demonstrated that in addition to being an extraordinary folk/blues guitarist- particularly on bottleneck, and a serviceable, though hardly distinguished vocalist, he is also a high caliber musicologist and A&R man. While Cooder’s specialty has been mining the more obscure tributaries of the rich vein of American music deposited during the Great Depression, he has also unearthed musical riches from around the world, particularly the Caribbean and Mexico.

His solo albums are sprinkled with unknown and out-of-the-way delights like Dickey Doo's "Teardrops Will Fall" and the calypso "F.D.R. In Trinidad"- as well as some better known songs like "One Meat Ball", Woody Guthrie’s "Vigilante Man" Huddie Ledbetter's "Teardrops Will Fall", The Drifter’s 1954 hit "Money Honey", and Johnny Cash’s "Hey Porter".

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