Mike Mettler

You can have the best gear in the world in your system ready to play all those new and/or vintage LPs in your collection, but if any piece of equipment in the playback chain is not properly stabilized — especially when it comes to fortifying your turntable and/or amplifier(s), for example — then you’re just asking for unnecessary noise-related complications. With that in mind, the E1X Isolation Base from HRS might make for quite the good, stable option. Read on to get all the E1X base details. . .

Is there a more storied, historic company name when it comes to the history of the turntable than that of Victrola? Well, the company that’s been manufacturing audio gear since 1906 is still going strong, having recently announced at CES 2023 that their next-gen turntable, the Stream Onyx VPT-2000-BLK-ATE, will be coming our way in mid-to-late February. Read on to find out about the Stream Onyx’s feature set, pricing, and connectivity options accordingly. . .

Jeff Beck, an innovative guitarist of the highest order, passed away in his native England on January 10 at age 78, following a brief illness. Beck — who bent notes and wrangled chords like no other guitar player could — made his initial mark as a member of The Yardbirds in the mid-1960s before branching out on his own with the Jeff Beck Group and other ensuing solo ventures. Blow by Blow and Wired, Beck’s million-selling instrumental-driven albums of the mid-1970s, merged the finest tenets of fusion, funk, and rock into a genre unto itself that I’m calling Beckism — in turn shaping the template for vocal-less releases by artists of all walks of musical life for years to come. Naturally, the balance of Beck’s vaunted recording career can be appreciated on vinyl via LPs and 45s both vintage and new. Read on to get our take on a number of Beckism highlights on vinyl that define the legacy of this truly unique guitarist for the ages. . .

If it’s January, it must be time for CES. This also means we’re still sifting through all the new gear announcements that have emerged from the big show in Las Vegas this past week to see what’s coming our way in 2023 that would be of the most interest to the AnalogPlanet faithful. First up: the Harman Luxury Audio Group has just announced a pair of new turntables, the JBL TT350 Classic and the Bluetooth-enabled JBL Spinner BT. Read on to learn more about these two new ‘tables and when they’re slated to be released. . .