Analog Corner

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #54
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 08, 2017  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2000  |  17 comments
It took a trip to the Hi-Fi News and Record Review Hi-Fi Show at the Novotel London West this past September to remind me that hi-fi is, above all else, a hobby. We're music lovers (hopefully!), but what separates us from the rest of the music-loving pack is our passion for the visceral pleasure of sound---something that has never translated to the average consumer, and probably never will. And that's fine; most are happy to hear just the bare outlines of the music. As Joni Mitchell sang, "Some get the gravy and some get the gristle."
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #55
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 19, 2017  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2000  |  7 comments
Sorry about starting an "Analog" column with an HDCD recommendation, but I was going through a pile of new CDs when the sound of one---Evolution, from Modern Jazz Quartet veteran John Lewis on Atlantic---almost immobilized me. The sonic presentation on this solo-piano set, recorded in January 1999, is exceptionally natural: a well-organized, harmonically and physically convincing, three-dimensional picture of a piano within the reverberant field of a real performance space. Clearly, a minimally miked analog job, and spectacular in its simplicity.
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #56
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 27, 2017  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2000  |  0 comments
The ad for the tag sale read "Former member of '60s rock group selling LP collection and vintage instruments," so of course I took the bait. I arrived early, or so I thought---there were already 30 folks ahead of me. I stayed anyway: You never can tell what sloppy seconds will yield---and perhaps they were all there for the other stuff.
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #57
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 06, 2017  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2000  |  3 comments
One of Mikey's highlights at the Y2K CES: the SpJ La Luce CS Centoventi turntable.

At the 1999 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I found the Alexis Park Hotel's Specialty Audio exhibit area "depressing." In the year 2000, however, it was a refreshing oasis of sanity in a desert storm of digital sand swirling around the main convention center, which promised us 500 channels of TV, PPV, WebTV, AOLTV, DSL, Geocast, Web Radio, downloadable MP3, and on and on.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #58
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 09, 2017  |  First Published: May 01, 2000  |  7 comments
Guaranted, it's no Casino Royale, but with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, Sun Ra, Otis Rush, Johnny Shines, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Freddie King, and Luther Allison among the participants, the 2-LP Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 isn't half bad. The Atlantic Records original (SD 2-502) was one of my "Records To Die For" a few years ago. Unfortunately, the only copy I've ever seen is mine.

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Analog CornerRecord Cleaning Machine Reviews
Analog Corner #59
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 15, 2017  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2000  |  4 comments
If you were preparing to archive your LPs to CD-R, what would you do first? Right. You'd scrub your records and whip your turntable into shape—maybe even upgrade your cartridge and/or phono section. In March The New York Times's "Circuits" section published "Janis and Jimi, Come Back from the Attic," an article about digitizing and archiving vinyl that I don't think even mentioned the word "turntable." Obviously, analog is news unfit to print.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #6
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 11, 1995  |  1 comments
Stop with analog already. You're writing yourself out of a career." This is what some industry types used to whisper in my ear during the dark days of digital domination. To which I would reply, only somewhat facetiously, "What career?

"If I can't write about what I really believe in, what I really enjoy, then I'll find something else to do," I'd continue defiantly. "I'm resourceful. I don't really like digital sound, and I can't fake it."

I still feel that way. I respect digital sound, and have high hopes for its improvement, especially with DVD's potential. But given a choice, I go for analog recordings and vinyl playback every time. I'm glad I didn't concede defeat or change my tune to fit the fashion of the time.

I never gave up hope that there were enough people around who heard what I heard to keep the old technology alive. It had happened with tubes and it could happen with vinyl, bleak as the situation was just a few years ago.

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Analog CornerTurntable Reviews
Analog Corner #60
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 20, 2017  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2000  |  15 comments
A pleasant surprise arrived at my door the other day: the 180gm vinyl edition of Companion, the Patricia Barber album released last year on Premonition/Blue Note. According to the jacket, the six-track set, impeccably recorded live in Chicago last July by Jim Anderson, was mastered from a 24-bit transfer of an analog recording. You can bet the vinyl sounds better than the 16-bit CD—at less than 20 minutes a side, there's plenty of room for the recording's full dynamics.
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #61
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 27, 2017  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2000  |  2 comments
Joni Mitchell played The Theater at Madison Square Garden recently, supporting her new CD, Both Sides Now. Mitchell with symphony orchestra sounded like a no-brainer, so we got tickets, though by the time my friend was able to get through online to Ticketmaster the best seats were gone. We got second-best accommodations for $75, which seemed reasonable, given the cost of rehearsing an orchestra, then traipsing around the country with it.
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #62
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 30, 2017  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2000  |  0 comments
What's June without a hi-fi show? With Stereophile's exhibition put on hold for 2000 while emapUSA sorts out future possibilities—Manhattan in May 2001 is the most probable place and date—I flashed on High End 1996 in Frankfurt, Germany, a June show I'd attended and reported on in this column. German audiophiles were still heavily into vinyl back then, so why not hit High End 2000?
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #63
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 04, 2017  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2000  |  11 comments
"Simply Annoying," the section of last February's "Analog Corner" devoted to British reissue company Simply Vinyl, did not result in any clarification from the label regarding its source material—my e-mails went unanswered. Apparently, however, some consumers have had more luck.
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #64
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 08, 2017  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2000  |  5 comments
First, let's throw egg on a few faces. Due to a communications screw-up, I passed on to you some wrong and incomplete information about the workings of the Lyra Helikon cartridge in my August 2000 "Analog Corner." Without assessing percentages of blame, let's just say that the three likely suspects (manufacturer Scan-Tech, American importer Immedia, and yours truly) accept full responsibility for the misinformation and miscommunication. I'm being generous here by including myself, but hey, you know me. (Actually, you don't, which is why I can claim to be generous.)
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #65
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 11, 2017  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2000  |  2 comments
The OTT V.Y.G.E.R. Indian turntable made its debut at the 2000 Top Audio and Video Show in Milan

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #66
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 15, 2017  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2001  |  11 comments
Despite being shown concrete documentation that analog is alive, well, and growing, there are still some audio writers who deny its very existence. I'm talking about some of the folks at Sound & Vision. I haven't popped off in print about other magazines in this column (much)—it's not good form. True, when yakking with industry types, I've occasionally referred to that magazine as Deaf & Blind, and it's obviously gotten back to them: the "Hellos" and handshakes at press events have turned to icy stares. Just joking, guys! After all, we're Stereopile. Then there's The Obso!ete Sound. Ha ha ha ha. Sticks and stones, etc.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #67
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 20, 2017  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2001  |  0 comments
Comparing DIN-to-RCA phono cables is a daunting enough task without the distraction of watching a nation unable to figure out who it elected president, partly because it relies on 40-year-old punchcard technology to tally votes. Haven't election officials heard that digital is perfect?
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