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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #94
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 12, 2018  |  First Published: May 01, 2003  |  1 comments
I first spotted this chrome-trimmed beauty in the UK a few years ago, when Avid still had no American importer. The opportunity to review it finally arose last January, right after CES, and while I still had the SME 30/2 turntable. The $10,000 Avid Acutus is every bit as deserving of a full review as the 30/2—I am reviewing it in "Analog Corner" only because this is my best chance of getting a review into print so soon after my March 2003 report on the SME.
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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Elgar Cello Concerto in E Minor, Du Pré, Barbirolli, LSO Reissued By Electric Recording Company
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 10, 2018  |  16 comments
It's difficult to believe that British born cellist Jacqueline Du Pré was but 20 years old on August 19th, 1965 when she delivered this recorded performance in famed Kingsway Hall with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Gillian Welch's 2003 "Soul Journey" on AAA Vinyl For the First Time
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 09, 2018  |  11 comments
Gillian Welch's fourth album originally released in 2003 on CD-only finally gets an AAA release, cut by Stephen Marcussen on the Ortofon VMS-80 cutting system Welch and partner Dave Rawlings bought and restored. Now that's progress!

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News
Have You Seen Much of This On Your New Records?
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 09, 2018  |  46 comments
There seems to be an epidemic of this kind of radial scratch marks on new vinyl from various pressing plants. Have you noticed it? Just curious. This is a brand new record pressed overseas at a well-respected pressing plant, but I recently got same from an equally well-respected domestic source.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #93
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 07, 2018  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2003  |  0 comments
If you'd asked me 10 years ago to predict where a purveyor of mostly analog gear would be throwing a party at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show, I probably would have said Denny's—not the the elegant Presidential Suite atop the Mandalay Bay, the Las Vegas strip's most formal hotel. Yet that's where Jerry Raskin's Needle Doctor shared the analog wealth with the press and the industry during one cocktail hour at last January's Show.
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Album Reviews
Does A Live Performance Elevate The National’s "Boxer?”
Malachi Lui  |  Sep 07, 2018  |  3 comments
The National’s Boxer remains a great album eleven years after its release. With its basic, slightly Joy Division-esque stadium-filling musical arrangements and lyrical themes, two of which are relationships and aging, many of the songs remain fresh-sounding.

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Phono Preamp Reviews
Lejonklou's Smooth Sounding Gaio Moving Magnet Phono Preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 04, 2018  |  12 comments
The Lejonklou Gaio MM phono preamplifier is as simple to use as Swedish designer Fredrik Lejonklou’s name can be difficult to spell or pronounce until you get the hang of it. The Gaio has been referenced in various AnalogPlanet moving magnet phono preamp shoot-outs but it’s never been given a stand-alone review.

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News
John Lennon's “Imagine” Re-imagined For New 2 Audio Blu-ray + 4 CD Box Set and Double Vinyl Edition
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2018  |  10 comments
Imagine, the follow up to John Lennon’s raw, at times vitriolic and still packing a punch Plastic Ono Band 1970 solo debut—an album heavily influenced by primal therapy and coming to grips with personal childhood issues—is considered by many observers today to be his most enduring, though when originally released some of the overt and impossibly idealistic political posturing was wrongly thought by many critics to doom the album’s long term artistic viability.

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Video Reviews
"Beside Bowie-The Mick Ronson Story" Is a Flawed But Essential Documentary For Every Bowie and Mick Ronson Fan
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 31, 2018  |  7 comments
Filmmaker Jon Brewer's Mick Ronson documentary tells the truly sad story of the wholly under-apprecriated guitarist/arranger Mick Ronson, who is of course best known (if he's known at all) for his work with David Bowie. That being the case, Brewer spends a great deal of time (too much time) at the beginning of the 101 minute film on the rise of David Bowie before getting to the fall of Mick Ronson, better known to his friends as "Ronno".

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Features
Marantz Debuts KI Ruby SACD Player/DAC and Integrated Amplifier at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 30, 2018  |  10 comments
Members of the European press plus AnalogPlanet.com editor Michael Fremer and The Absolute Sound’s Julie Mullins were invited to the launch of two new Marantz limited edition products celebrating the 40th anniversary of legendary Marantz “Brand Ambassador” Ken Ishiwata’s association with the company. The event was held inside famed Concertgabouw rather than at Marantz’s Eindhoven, Netherlands European headquarters.

The “KI” stands for Ken Ishiwata, and ruby is the gemstone associated with 40th anniversaries. Each of the products is limited to 1000 and are considered “collector’s items”. For those who don’t know Ken Ishiwata or the nature of his Marantz relationship, this video will provide the answers. Ken says it’s the first time he’s discussed the history.

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