The ever-evolving technology beneath their sleek exteriors fascinates me. The high-end turntable market these days can feel less like a haven for music lovers and more like a brutalist arms race in pursuit of maximum audio extraction.
Yet, it's not all about performance. Many new 'tables are adorned with outlandish, purely cosmetic flourishes that cause me to chuckle. Some super-bling record players, with their jutting angles and industrial menace, evoke the chrome carcass of the Battlestar Galactica, a testament to mechanical might.
Others are even more menacing, channeling the mirror-finish abyss of Darth Vader's helmet, gleaming with a promise of sonic domination-but is that an invitation or a threat? Setting aside those cosmetic affectations, it's a war, and the enemy-well, the main enemy anyway-is vibrations, which may seem strange considering that vibrations are the whole point of the endeavor.
Some designers (the Davids) strip their turntables bare, believing that agility is the best bet in the face of sonic tremors.' Others, the Goliaths, wield armored fortresses of steel and iron, attacking the problem with overwhelming force. Still others, the renegades and rebels, forge a separate path, with methods as unusual as their aesthetics.
A history of vibrations in the Black Forest
Elektromesstechnik (EMT), founded in 1940 by Wilhelm Franz in Berlin, started by crafting measurement equipment for broadcast companies. By the 1950s, they'd entered the hi-fi field and partnered with Ortofon, offering EMT turntables with Ortofon cartridges.
In 1956, "Gerätewerk Lahr" was established in Germany's Black Forest, becoming the sole production facility for EMT products.
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The Beatles in Mono according to Kevin
It's almost too easy to make Dave Dexter Jr. the villain in the story of the Beatles' fumbled introduction to America.
Stromtank S-4000 ProPower MK-II XT
COMPUTER-CONTROLLED BATTERY POWER SOURCE
Aurorasound HFSA-01
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
Transforming the music
One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims.
Lou Donaldson
Years ago, at one of the milestone NYC anniversary parties for Blue Note Records, a piercing voice burst out above the clinking glasses and chattering tongues, loudly declaiming (quoted here with several profanities omitted), \"Blue Note never gave me a dime!\"
EMM Labs DA2i
Among the many reasons to be grateful for audio shows,' one stands out: They allow me to set reasonable expectations of what components and whole audio systems can or cannot achieve. They have helped me set standards.
POLICED
THAT'S PRETTY ODIOUS,\" ANDY SUMMERS SAYS TO ME. \"AN ODIOUS COMPARISON.\" HIS BLUEISH EYES DARKEN. ROUGHLY AN HOUR INTO OUR 90-MINUTE FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW, I'D ASKED IF IT BOTHERS HIM THAT IN TERMS OF REACH AND STAYING POWER, HIS SOLO OEUVRE WILL NEVER MATCH HIS WORK WITH THE POLICE.
Focal Diva Utopia
WIRELESS STREAMING ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
An ultrasonic bargain
The first album I ever bought with my own money-cash earned mowing neighbors' lawns-was a British plum-label pressing of Led Zeppelin II.
MoFi Electronics Source Point 888
A recent high point in my career as a reviewer was writing about the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 standmount loudspeaker for the February 2023 issue of Stereophile.'
