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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #46
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 04, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  2 comments
Rare Sun Records 45s go on the auction block.

Sell my record collection? You'd have to hit me upside the head with a blunt instrument. That's pretty much what happened to Thomas Margellar Jr., whose collection went on the auction block recently.

The former Motor City DJ, known professionally as Tom Knight, had amassed a 50,000-piece collection of LPs, CDs, 45s, and assorted music-biz ephemera, all stored in his climate-controlled basement. One day two years ago he got into a fight with his wife. Unfortunately for the 47-year-old collector, his brother-in-law was on hand to intercede on his sister's behalf.

Margellar/Knight ended up dead with a crowbar to the head, and his wife and brother-in-law ended up in the klink. The collection ended up at NYC's William Doyle Galleries.

I've always wondered how long it would take before someone in the auction/collectible business got hip to record collecting. How many obits have you read of famous art collectors, stamp collectors, and book collectors? Plenty. How many of record collectors? None. Except for the fact that books have been around longer, there's not much difference between book collecting and record collecting. Yet until now, record collectors have gotten no respect.

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News
THIS WAS WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!: Nick Drake's Debut Vinyl Reissue Cut From Tape AAA Not From Digital
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 04, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  19 comments
Nick Drake's sublime debut album Five Leaves Left was reportedly going to be sourced from digital because the master proved unusable and that is indeed the case.
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Record Cleaning Machine Reviews
KLAUDiO KD-CLN-LP200 Ultrasonic Record Cleaning Machine Reviewed
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  44 comments
The success of the Audio Desk Systems’ ultrasonic record cleaning machine made it inevitable that others would follow. A few have since been marketed that use existing technology and hardware such as Bob Ratcliff’s V-8, a stainless steel vat that can clean but not dry eight records simultaneously. It uses available hardware adapted by Mr. Ratcliff along with his motor driven rotating spit-like contrivance.

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Sweepstakes
Soundstage Direct Sweepstakes Winners Show off their Grabs
Ariel Bitran  |  Aug 29, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments
Music lover and Ohio State fanatic Bruce Deerhake of Dayton, Ohio snagged some Aerosmith reissues he's been eyeing from afar with a Soundstage Direct gift certificate he won in an AnalogPlanet.com sweepstakes.

Keep reading for pics of the other winners.

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Cartridge Reviews
Nine Cartridges Reviewed, Compared and File Identities Revealed!
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 22, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  88 comments
First of all thanks to everyone who participated. More did than we initially expected. This is a learning experience for sure. Future such surveys will feature “normalized” files so levels will be equal. I’ll be far more careful about clipped files too.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #45
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 22, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments
Mikey narrolwy escapes jury duty and heads for CES in Las Vegas. The year is 1999.

"Timing is everything."

Whoever came up with that gem had it right. The timing of the International Consumer Electronics Show, for instance: right after the Christmas/New Year holiday. I don't know anyone toiling in this industry who is actually eager to trudge off to Vegas a few days after two weeks of concentrated boozing, face-stuffing, and general holiday lethargy.

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Set-Up Tips
Setting "Overhang" Using a "Double Null Point Grid" Type Alignment Gauge
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 21, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  8 comments
The animated graphic here is taken from the DVD "21st Century Vinyl: Michael Fremer's Practical Guide to Turntable Set-up". The gauge is similar to the kind supplied by Pro-Ject and other turntable manufacturers. It's accuracy is predicated upon the correct pivot-to-spindle for the particular tonearm.

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Album Reviews
"Soular Energy" Sounding Better Than Ever!
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 19, 2013  |  5 comments
The late Carl E. Jefferson's Concord Records, (now owned by Concord Music Group, which owns Fantasy, Prestige, Riverside, Stax, Specialty, Telarc, Hear Music etc.), founded in 1972 at a time when the pioneering jazz "majors" Blue Note and the above mentioned Prestige, Riverside, etc. had been bought and turned into catalog to be "asset managed" with little or no forward direction, remains, like Norman Granz's Pablo Records, among the most underrated and undervalued on the used LP market.

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Album Reviews
"In A Silent Way" Finally Reissued AAA By Mobile Fidelity
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 19, 2013  |  15 comments
Note: What's directly below is a very personal review of Sony/Legacy's late 2000's In A Silent Way 180g vinyl reissue originally published on musicangle.com, followed by an update review of Mobile Fidelity's recent AAA reissue.-ed.

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Album Reviews
Wes Montgomery In Your Room "Smokin' At The Half Note"
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 19, 2013  |  5 comments
Only side one was actually recorded live at New York's now shuttered Half Note back in June of 1965; the other side was taped during an Autumn studio date at Van Gelder's place in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The Kelly Trio, which included Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers — the rest of Miles Davis' former rhythm section — is joined by one of the world's most original jazz guitarist, the late Wes Montgomery, on a smooth set that goes down easy both because of the straight-ahead swing of the playing and Van Gelder's superb recording. The live side captures Montgomery's rich sound better than any other recording I've ever heard, and the studio side is only down a notch from that.
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