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Analog Corner #223: Acoustical Systems SMARTractor & Hagerman Trumpet...
On analogplanet.com you'll find coverage of my visit in November 2013 to the 10th annual Manila Hi-Fi Show, which took place the weekend of the devastating typhoon Haiyan (Filipinos call it Yolanda)....
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Analog Corner #229: Three Expensive Phono Preamplifiers, Phasemation, PBN,...
Other than being well built and high priced ($15,000, $22,000, $60,000), these three phono preamps have very little in common, in design or in sound. One has vacuum tubes, including a direct-heated...
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Brilliant Corners #24: Consolidated Audio "Monster Can"& Fairchild 235 MC...
One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims. Despite the sometimes-astronomical sums spent on gear, and the small handful of drama queens who populate various corners of...
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Analog Corner #232: HiFiction Simplicity II tonearm, Miyajima Labs Madake...
In my January 2014 column, I reviewed HiFiction's Thales TTT-Compact turntable and Simplicity tangential-tracking pivoted tonearm, an intriguing combo from Micha Huber, a talented Swiss watchmaker...
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Moon 891 streaming preamplifier
No fewer than eight boxes, powered by six after-market power cables, comprise my current reference front-end (footnote 1). As much as separate boxes can afford superior isolation and provide far more...
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Brilliant Corners #22: Sutherland Dos Locos and Manley Oasis phono stages
Photos: Kenny Johnson Photography"Give me the seduction, give me the pleasure," Ron Sutherland was nearly shouting into the phone. "I want to turn off the analytical mind and just enjoy myself!"...
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Analog Corner #235: Kiseki & Lamm
At the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, Herman van den Dungen handed me a surprise: a brand new Kiseki Blue cartridge manufactured from new-old-stock parts. It wasn't mine to take homeonly to look at,...
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Gramophone Dreams #91: Mobile Fidelity, PrimaLuna, and First Watt Redux
Herb waits for Godot It's important for readers to remember that I've spent my adult life as an artist and mechanic. Making things. Working as a tradesperson during the day then at an easel or...
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Spin Doctor #18: Moonriver 505 Phono Stage, DS Audio E3 Optical Phono...
I spent the second three-and-a-half years of my life living with my family in Sweden. Our home was on an island just outside of Stockholm called Lidingö, which locals tell me today is like the Beverly...
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Spin Doctor #16: Sutherland Dos Locos Phono Preamp, Dynavector XX-2A Phono...
Ron Sutherland makes a strong case for being crowned the king of all phono preamps, though I expect he would blush at any such suggestion. In 1979, with degrees in physics and electronic engineering...
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Pass Labs XP-27 phono preamplifier
One of the pleasures of reviewingand also usingproducts from Pass Laboratories is an encounter with Nelson Pass's writing, which can usually be found in the owner's manual and is always competent,...
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Spin Doctor #15: Austin AudioWorks Black Swan phono preamplifier
Forty years ago, as I was starting out on my audio journey, I railed against the flashy mainstream audio gear of the day. To me less was more, and I tried to convince my friends that my small, austere...
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Gramophone Dreams #85: Let the Right Brain In; the Hagerman Audio Labs...
In the months since I told my Lenco story in Gramophone Dreams #79, two of my friends have bought L75s, and now they're enjoying them more than their shiny movie-star decks. One told me he has put more...
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Spin Doctor #12: EMM Labs DS-EQ1, The Wand 14-4 Turntable, M•A Inner...
"I think both moving coil and moving magnet cartridges are terrible." That's what legendary Canadian audio designer Ed Meitner told me when I asked about the pioneering transimpedance current drive...
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Analog Corner # 247: Dr. Feickert Firebird turntable, Viva Fono MC phono...
Dr. Feickert Analogue's top-of-the line turntable, the Firebird ($12,500; footnote 1), is a generously sized record player designed to easily accommodate two 12" tonearms. Its three brushless,...
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Spin Doctor #10: Tone Controls, Vinyl EQ Curves, and the Mola Mola Lupe
Twice in the last month I have been at someone's house, servicing their turntable, when they asked whether they should be considering a new phono preamp that offers additional playback equalization...
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Analog Corner #249: LKV Research Veros One phono preamp, Triangle Art Apollo...
Designer Bill Hutchins, of LKV Research, builds the 2-SB moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier in North Conway, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire; he uses as many US-sourced parts as...
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Gramophone Dreams #80: Mobile Fidelity Electronics MasterPhono
During my cub reporter days at Stereophile, I was always on the lookout, casting about for midlevel analog components I might latch on to, ones that could join my long-term daily-driver reference...
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Brilliant Corners #10: Tron Electric Convergence Signature & PrimaLuna EVO...
"The phonograph record is an art form itself," Lester Koenig wrote in March 1959, "and one of its advantages is the performance that exists uniquely of, by and for the record." Remarkably, when Koenig...
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Analog Corner #251: ModWright PH 150 phono stage
First, let's talk about problems with grounding and hum. I regularly get e-mails from frustrated readers asking if I have a solution to a problem that seems impossible to solve: turntable-related...
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