Michael Fremer

Switzerland-based HiFiction AG best known for its line of Thales turntables and tangential tracking pivoted pickup arms, announced today that it has assumed control of EMT Tontechnik and is now manufacturing in Switzerland the full line of EMT cartridges.

Ideally, LPs should be played with the pickup stylus remaining tangential (ie, at a 90° angle) to the groove—just as the lacquer from which the LP was ultimately stamped was cut in the first place. Over the years, many attempts have been made to accomplish this. Back in 1877, Thomas A. Edison's original machines tangentially tracked his cylinders, but Emil Berliner's invention of the flat disc put an end to cylinders altogether. In the 1950s, a number of companies marketed so-called "tangential" trackers that used dual arms, based on conventional pivoting arrangements, to change the angle at which the headshell was mounted as it moved across the LP side. In 1963, Marantz introduced the SLT-12, which used a plastic pantograph to move the stylus across the record surface. Garrard's Zero 100 pivoting arm controlled its independently pivoting headshell with a bar that extended from the main bearing of the tonearm.

Is a fine audio system a luxury or a necessity?

There's so much to report to you from High End Munich 2017, much of it augmented with video footage. Unfortunately editor Michael Fremer remains in Europe covering more exclusives including a tour of Pro-Ject's brand new headquarters and logistics center and the company's brand new, big Livotel, Czech Republic factory.