LATEST ADDITIONS

Revox recently introduced the $4000 T700, its first new turntable in many years. The company's first platter spinner, the Revox 60 was originally introduced in 1956. A series of tangential trackers followed. The new T700, manufactured in Germany, features a built-in MC phono preamplifier and comes standard with an Ortofon Quintet Bronze moving coil cartridge.

We find ourselves during the ongoing pandemic abstaining from pleasurable activities like hanging out on the street. Listening to the 1970’s power pop group Big Star will one day help ease the way back to that once taken for granted lifestyle.

Discovering older musical acts like Big Star is for a child of the 21st century like me mostly a matter of pure luck. I happened upon Big Star’s song “Thirteen” on an episode of “That ‘70’s Show” airing on Netflix. That tune, a captivating piece of tender musical perfection, led me to discover Big Star the group and boy, am I thankful for that!

In case you’re still wondering if the vinyl resurgence is a “bubble” or a temporary uptick, you’d best disabuse yourself of that thought. Despite the Apollo/Transco fire and other roadblocks like the record distribution debacle that had last year’s “Making Vinyl Hollywood” attendees in a near panic, record sales (and turntable sales) continue to soar—and best of all, a new, young and sophisticated clientele insists upon quality even as demand for novelty colored and splattered vinyl also grows. We welcome them all (even picture disc buyers).

“You are committing audio reviewer suicide” friends insisted when towards the end of 2018 I told them I was going to review some inexpensive Hearing Aids. Guess what? All of the comments under the review were positive and my reviewer creds are intact. Plus, my now 91 year old mother-in-law can now hear much better since I’d really bought them for her benefit.