Analog Corner #297: van den Hul The Grail SE+ phono preamplifier & SAEC...
The catastrophic February 6 fire at the factory where Apollo Masters produced LP-mastering lacquersflat aluminum discs covered with nitrocellulose lacquerwill be old news by the time this column gets...
View ArticleFollowUp RoundUp
When Stereophile publishes followup reviews of various kinds in the print magazine, we add the followup as a "child page" to the full review. That means that they don't appear on the website's home...
View ArticleChannel D Pure Vinyl 5 & Seta L phono preamplifier
Ever since I stopped using my Audio Research SP10 preamplifier in the early 1990sits eight phono-stage tubes used to get too noisy too quicklyI tried a variety of standalone phono preamplifiers....
View ArticleGramophone Dreams #42: Sunvalley Audio SV-EQ1616D phono equalizer
The 1980s was a decade when I needed three jobs to support my wife, infant daughter, and octogenarian dad. My primary job was to make and sell art, and I'm sure you know how that can go. Between...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #292: AVM R 2.3 turntable, Miyajima Destiny phono cartridge,...
AVM Audio, which has been in business since 1986 (footnote 1), chose last year to enter the turntable market with two models that reflect the company's brushed-aluminum/blue LED visual aesthetics. It...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #291: SME Synergy LP player, Boulder 508 phono preamplifier
Since acquiring SME in late 2016, Ajay Shirke's Cadence Group has moved cautiously. First, it revamped and cleaned up the company's somewhat chaotic worldwide distribution. More recently, the new...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #290: The Haniwa LP Playback System
Haniwa's Dr. Tetsuo Kubo is an interesting fellow. If you go to shows, domestic or overseas, you've possibly encountered him in his room a space known for being strewn, shrine-like, with LPs that once...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #306: Phasemation, DS Audio, Audio Research, Clarus
I feel compelled to repeat here an eerie occurrence I related a while back on AnalogPlanet. I reviewed, in the February 1999 Analog Corner column, the Cartridge Man's Digital Stylus Force Gauge, which...
View ArticlePlinius M14 phono preamplifier
You think Watergate was a momentous break-in? You should hear what a good electronic Rolfing does to the sound of this meticulously built, full-sized, full-featured, and full-priced ($3495) phono...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #286: StillPoints Aperture II, VPI Voyager, Bespoke Passive...
VPI Industries Voyager phono preamplifier Following my auditioning of Channel D's Lino 2C current-mode phono preamplifier, back in the world of voltage amplification, here's another phono preamp from...
View ArticleGramophone Dreams #47: Hana Umami Red, Musical Surroundings Nova III,...
At the end of Gramophone Dreams #46, I was lost in the pristine beauty of Decware's 25th Anniversary Zen Triode amplifier driving the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 speakers. That was an extremely...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #283: Grado Epoch Mono, Miyajima Infinity Mono, MuTech RM-Kanda...
Lately, there's been too much gear worth covering and not enough space to cover it in. So this time . . . less think-piece filler and more hardware!Fri, 03/01/2019
View ArticleAnalog Corner #310: Haniwa HCTR-CO Mk.II phono cartridge, SW1X LPU I phono...
Almost exactly a year ago to the day that I'm writing thisMarch 11, 2020the WHO officially declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. If you weren't paying attention, maybe you didn't see it coming...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #282: OMA Plinth for Technics SP10, SAT CF1-12 tonearm, Doshi...
Last May I got a text message from my vinyl-loving electrician: "Hey Michael, I'm listening to WFMU and a young 12 year old analog genius is guest DJ-ing, Malachi Lui. He mentioned you, and talks...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #311: Dynamic Sounds Associates Phono III phono preamplifier
First, a power update: The generator and transfer switch bypass plan has been solidified, the town permit has arrived, and the work will commence soon. I'm pretty sure what I've learned through this...
View ArticleGramophone Dreams #50: Kitsuné HiFi LCR-1 MK5 phono preamplifier, Sumiko...
In my world, the quiet ritual of choosing a record and placing it carefully on the platter is always followed by a sequence of three rough sounds. With the volume at listening level, I hear the...
View ArticlePro-Ject Phono Box RS2 phono preamplifier
Phono preamplifiers could be compared to children as viewed by a previous generation of adults: They are expected to be small in stature, and they should stay out of the way, seen but not heard and...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #313: Cyrus Audio Phono Signature, QHW Audio The Vinyl,...
I don't like being pigeonholed as a reviewer of exclusively expensive audio componentsbecause I'm not, as anyone who regularly peruses Analog Planet knows. So, to ease the pain of reviewing the...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #276: van den Hul The Grail phono preamplifier & Colibri...
Among the electrically connected, the phrase short circuit induces panic and horrific images of tripped breakers, blown fuses, acrid blue smoke, and melted circuit boards. Nonetheless, near short...
View ArticleAnalog Corner #316: Analog Relax EX1000 phono cartridge, Luminous Audio...
So glad to be back in business with superclean electricity! Especially having spent the last few weeks listening to the remarkably pure-sounding Analog Relax EX1000 cartridge ($16,000). The brochure...
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