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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #54
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 08, 2017  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2000  |  17 comments
It took a trip to the Hi-Fi News and Record Review Hi-Fi Show at the Novotel London West this past September to remind me that hi-fi is, above all else, a hobby. We're music lovers (hopefully!), but what separates us from the rest of the music-loving pack is our passion for the visceral pleasure of sound---something that has never translated to the average consumer, and probably never will. And that's fine; most are happy to hear just the bare outlines of the music. As Joni Mitchell sang, "Some get the gravy and some get the gristle."
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Analog Gear News
+Audio Announces The + Record Player “Kickstarter Edition"
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 08, 2017  |  1 comments
+Audio introduced its +Record Player at High End Munich 2017. Now the company has initiated a Kickstarter project to self-fund the +Record Player "Kickstarter Edition.

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Record Handling and Storage Tips
A New Rackit Manufacturer Surfaces Just in Time
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 05, 2017  |  2 comments
When Per Madsen retired, a guy named Jef Fowler of TwoCan Audio began making the identical modular oak frame racks.

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Record Handling and Storage Tips
Visible Vinyl Record Displays Are On and "Off the Wall"
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 05, 2017  |  2 comments
Chicago-based Brandon Knowlden runs a small wood shop. Among the products he sells are "Visible Vinyl" record display accessories marketed under the name "wellmade".

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Legrand Jazz Gets Grand IMPEX AAA Reissue
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2017  |  12 comments
"Mood music" is how the annotation characterizes this album of medium-sized ensembles imaginatively arranged by the then still in his 20s French jazz enthusiast Michel Legrand. Previous to these 1958 sessions Legrand had released three "mood music" concept albums: I Love Paris (CL555), Columbia Album of Cole Porter (C2L4), Legrand in Rio (CL 1139) and I Love Movies (CL 1178). This was his first stab at a real jazz album andgiven the assembled cast of greats what a heady experience it must have been for him to both arrange and conduct in New York City those three days in early summer, 1958 .

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News
R.I.P. Steely Dan Co-Founder Walter Becker
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2017  |  13 comments
Steely Dan co-founder, guitarist and Donald Fagen's song writing partner Walter Becker died Sunday at age 67. No cause of death has been given. Becker and Fagen met in 1967 while students at Bard College. Becker had missed July concerts because of illness but was expected to "recover from a procedure" and re-join the tour. His doctor had advised him to stay home during that time.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Lyn Stanley's Daring “The Moonlight Sessions- Volume One”
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2017  |  41 comments
It’s not an insult to call singer Lyn Stanley’s fourth album “formulaic”. Not when the formula includes bringing onboard some of today’s best studio and touring jazz musicians and arrangers, recording in the best studios and hiring the greatest engineers. Another part of the formula is the cover art: highly stylized, glamorous black and white photos of Lyn.

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Analog Gear NewsNews
This is the Lathe Miles Showell Used to Cut "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 31, 2017  |  21 comments
The lathe in the picture, located at Abbey Road Studios, is the one Miles Showell used to cut at 1/2 speed, the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band remix. It began life as a Neumann VMS82 DMM that according to Showell had been "...routinely stripped for spares".

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Analog Gear NewsNews
Technics Announces New Reference Class SP-10R Direct Drive Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 31, 2017  |  17 comments
Technics will be showing at IFA 2017 (Berlin, Sept.1-6) a brand new edition of its legendary SP-10d direct drive turntable. The new SP-10R shown in the above picture is slated to debut in the summer of 2018.

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Analog Gear NewsNews
Nitty Gritty Closes Its Doors
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 30, 2017  |  20 comments
Sad to report that record cleaning specialist Nitty Gritty is going out of business—and not because business is poor.

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