LATEST ADDITIONS

Watch John Atkinson Give Michael Fremer the Founder's Award at the L.A. & Orange Co. Audio Society's 25th Annual GALA!

Michael Fremer | Jan 08, 2019 | 12 comments

Here's the first in a series of videos Ben Williams produced and edited over the weekend's festivities last November 30th through December 2nd as the L.A. & Orange County Audio Society celebrated its 25th anniversary and presented its Founder's Award to AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer.

Analog Corner

Analog Corner #106

Michael Fremer | Jan 08, 2019 | First Published: May 01, 2004 | 2 comments

Sonus Faber's graceful-looking factory.

"Do you want to see how they build Pro-Ject turntables?" It was Sumiko's John Hunter, phoning me out of the blue.

"Sure!" I've reviewed a few Pro-Ject designs over the years, along with the Music Hall 'tables, which are built in the same factory, and I've long wondered how one small company in the Czech Republic can manufacture such a wide array of products while making almost every part in-house. When Hunter added that the visit to Pro-Ject would be bracketed by stops at Vicenza, Italy and Vienna, Austria to visit (respectively) Sonus Faber and Vienna Acoustics, I was ready to pack. Besides, between the lunacy of January's Consumer Electronics Show and the assembly line of products arriving at and departing from my listening room, I needed a break, hectic though the five-day trip would be.

AAA Vinyl

Blue Note Launches Joe Harley Curated Tone Poet Series AAA Vinyl Releases

Michael Fremer | Jan 07, 2019 | 4 comments

Blue Note Records just announced a new "Tone Poet" Series of all analog vinyl jazz reissues curated by Joe Harley, who co-produces with Ron Rambach the Music Matters Blue Note vinyl reissue series. These records will be produced the way those are: mastered cut directly from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and plated and pressed at RTI and deluxe gatefold packaged.

Album Reviews

The Raconteurs Return With New 7" Single!

Malachi Lui | Jan 02, 2019 | 5 comments

On August 11 of last year, I had the amazing opportunity to meet Jack White and his band at their Portland, Oregon concert after the publication of my Boarding House Reach review. White read my review, loved it, and through his tour manager and a few other connections, invited my family backstage. We got to stand right behind the sound engineers and lighting controllers, and I even got to view the show from the side of the stage next to White’s guitar technician. Needless to say, I’m a fan; we purchased concert tickets prior to his invitation (and in February 2016, we even made the trek from New Jersey to his Third Man Records headquarters in Nashville).

Album Reviews

"Gary Burton Take Another Look A Career Retrospective" 5 LP Mack Avenue Box Set

Michael Fremer | Jan 01, 2019 | 5 comments

This recently released 5 LP Mack Avenue Records box set celebrates Gary Burton's incredible six decades of outstanding music making, organized chronologically and by label, beginning with his earliest and arguably best sounding recordings on the RCA Victor label where he began recording, first as a sideman, during the summer between high school and his enrollment at The Berklee College of Music. The Indiana native was first "discovered" by "Yakety" saxophonist Boots Randolph at an Evansville, Indiana club and made his way to RCA through Chet Atkins and fellow guitarist Hank Garland.

Analog Corner

Analog Corner #105

Michael Fremer | Jan 01, 2019 | First Published: Apr 01, 2004 | 3 comments

"Attention K-Mart shoppers! America is open for business." With the dollar sinking to record lows against foreign currencies and deficits rising to record highs, overseas buyers looking for bargains flocked to the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show in larger numbers than I've seen since I began attending the show in 1978. I have never seen the Alexis Park Hotel as crowded as it was on the show's first day. Usually, attendance is sparse the first two days as West Coast dealers stay away, preferring to tend to retail business. But this year Thursday was packed, and the following days even more so.

Features

Two Weeks With ZVOX’s VB20 VoiceBud

Michael Fremer | Dec 31, 2018 | 11 comments

An elderly gentleman wearing a pair of high tech digital hearing aids accompanied his wife to a kennel club meeting at my home a few years ago. He had little interest in the dog doings upstairs so I invited him downstairs into my listening room. It allowed me to conduct an experiment of sorts. Did he like music? Yes. Had he ever heard or seen a big high performance audio rig? No, he hadn’t. Would he like to hear some music on it? Yes he would: jazz or classical. I obliged, curious to find out what exactly he heard listening through digital hearing aids to a high-resolution audio system. The look on his face told me he was hearing plenty.

Turntable Reviews

Gearbox’s Vinyl “Compact Disc” Player

Michael Fremer | Dec 27, 2018 | 13 comments

U.K. based Gearbox, best known for its restored vintage all-tubed Westrex mastering system (Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 series amps, Westrex 3DIIA cutting head and Telefunken U73B tube limiter) and eclectic all-analog vinyl record catalog recently entered the hardware business with this cool “compact disc” player it calls “The Gearbox Automatic” though it’s a manual player.

Features

A UHQM (Ultra High Quality Message) to Chad Kassem

Malachi Lui | Dec 21, 2018 | 20 comments

Last Sunday while back on the east coast AnalogPlanet’s Malachi Lui paid a visit. We hadn’t seen each other since late July so it was great catching up in person. We spent much of the time together comparing multiple copies of Axis: Bold As Love including a preliminary pressing of the upcoming Analogue Productions UHQR 200 gram vinyl edition in both mono and stereo mixes housed in a not quite finalized version of the exquisite packaging. I shot an impromptu video of the opinionated Mr. Lui fully expressing his opinion to AP’s Chad Kassem. When I suggested that we post the video on AnalogPlanet both Kassem and Lui said “OK” so please watch it below. Lui insisted on writing an intro to the Experience experience, which you’ll find directly below this.—Ed.

Analog Corner

Analog Corner #104

Michael Fremer | Dec 16, 2018 | First Published: Mar 01, 2004 | 14 comments

If you're looking for something completely new and/or different in a turntable design, you won't find it in Musical Fidelity's new $5000 M1 turntable. The M1 uses tried and true mechanical concepts, design strategies, and materials, with an emphasis on precision machining. The goal, according to MF's press release, was "very low mechanical and electrical noise, excellent mechanical isolation, speed accuracy and stability, [and] pitch control."

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