Michael Fremer

Last Friday, Saturday and Sunday (August 11-14) marked the 15th anniversary of the Hong Kong High End Audio/Video Show held at the gleaming Hong Kong Convention Center. First day's attendance (Friday) was a genuine 11,000. Saturday's was 12,000 and the show organizers told me they expected Sunday's attendance to also hit 12,000. When you watch the video you will have no trouble believing these numbers other than to think they are low!

Back in 2015 Wall Steet Journal correspondent Neil Shah wrote a curious piece called “The Biggest Music Comeback of 2014: Vinyl Records”. Curious because while the headline heralds that “the biggest music comeback of 2014” was the resurgence of vinyl records, the story itself threw a mud caked wet blanket over the entire experience, one created by Mr. Shah’s cynical and highly selective use of the information he obtained by talking to people in the industry.

Did you ever wonder where the vinyl used to press your records originates? Most of the vinyl pellets used by American pressing plants originates in Thailand, manufactured at a TPC plant on the outskirts of Bangkok.

Sometimes you have to travel overseas for news about American audio. While at the Thai show I learned of a new stand-alone phono preamplifier from venerable but until recently inactive Audible Illusions.