Analog Gear News

SME Limited announced today that it had acquired Garrard from Gradiente Electronics of Brazil, which in 1979 had acquired the brand name. In addition, SME announced it had acquired Loricraft Audio founded by Terry O'Sullivan who set up shop in Lambourn, West Berkshire close to Garrard's original Swindon manufacturing site.

The longevity of Denon's 103 cartridge series, first introduced in the 1960's and still in production speaks to the design's enduring popularity. The design's weak point is its flimsy mounting system. As my colleague Art Dudley put it in the December 2007 issue of Stereophile: "The most common complaint about the DL-103 is also the truest: Its good motor is compromised by a too-flimsy mounting arrangement, with open-edge bolt channels that prevent the cartridge from being rigidly fastened to a head shell."

The usually conservative (engineering-wise, don't know his politics) Ron Sutherland has thrown all electronic caution to the wind and will shortly introduce the Phono Loco, his first venture into what's commonly called a "current mode" phono preamplifier.

SAT (Swedish Analog Technologies) announced today two new pick up arms, the LM and CF1 series that replace the original SAT arm, now discontinued after a successful run of 70—an impressive number considering the arm's cost of more than $30,000.

At CES 2018 optical cartridge maker DS Audio introduced the ST-50 an elegant-looking "pad" type stylus cleaner that uses a transparent urethane pad developed for semi-conductor "clean room" air scrubbing.

TechDAS introduced the new Model V turntable at the Tokyo Audio Show 2017. Like the more expensive Ar Force turntables, the new compact turntable features an air bearing, vacuum hold-down platter. Unlike the more costly TechDas turntables the Model V does not feature an outboard motor, nor does it include a suspension system.