Welcome to another installment of analog highlights from Capital Audiofest (CAF), which was held November 10-12, 2023, at the Twinbrook Hilton in Rockville, Maryland. As we noted last week in Part 1, CAF has expanded to a reported 114 exhibit rooms across more than four floors in addition to various conference rooms throughout the hotel. Read Part 2 of Julie Mullins’ comprehensive show report to duly digest a second helping of the best analog gear CAF 2023 had to offer. . .
Analog was well-represented at CES 2016. It was at "The Zoo" as we "affectionately" call the main convention center and of course at The Venetian where high performance audio resides.
If it’s January, it must be time for CES. This also means we’re still sifting through all the new gear announcements that have emerged from the big show in Las Vegas this past week to see what’s coming our way in 2023 that would be of the most interest to the AnalogPlanet faithful. First up: the Harman Luxury Audio Group has just announced a pair of new turntables, the JBL TT350 Classic and the Bluetooth-enabled JBL Spinner BT. Read on to learn more about these two new ‘tables and when they’re slated to be released. . .
Channel D's long in production (10+ years) high performance Seta L ultra-wide bandwidth, fully balanced, battery powered voltage amplification-based phono preamp (Stereophile "Class A" rated) now features a transimpedance (current amplification) option, switchable via circuit board jumpers.
The Huei is based on Chord Electronics’ high-end, award-winning Symphonic MC phono stage. While the Symphonic offered MC compatibility only, the Huei offers both MC and MM compatibility, opening the world of Chord high end analog playback to everyone listening to vinyl.
People always like to talk about spring cleaning, but we here at AP like to do it year-round — especially when it comes to making sure our records are as clean as they can be before we put them on our turntables. CleanerVinyl has a similar philosophy, and the company’s flagship ProXL record cleaning system and UC-3360 multi-frequency ultrasonic cleaner are clearly tailor-made for this all-important LP maintenance task. Read on to see how CleanerVinyl may have the literal solution for your own regularly scheduled record cleaning needs. . .
Cleanervinyl.com's cavitation-based record cleaning system consists of the One single LP powered cleaning device ($189), the Pro ($389), which allows you to simultaneously clean up to a dozen records, and the $129 Dry, fan-based record dryer. You also need to get a PS-30A Ultrasonic Cleaner, which sells on EBay for around $150 or $169 through Cleanervinyl.com.
Clearaudio introduced the new Innovation Basic turntable in importer Musical Surroundings' room at CES.
The new 'table features an aluminum Panzerholz wood sandwich plinth, custom optically controlled DC motor system, POM platter and magnetically levitated ceramic ball-based bearing system. Cost is $6000 without arm.
Clearaudio sure have a notable signature style when it comes to their high-end turntables, and they’ve just announced a special edition of their Concept Signature table — redubbed more simply as the Signature turntable — that has been made both specifically and exclusively for the U.S. market, and it will be distributed stateside by Musical Surroundings. Read on to see what Clearaudio’s Q2-arriving stateside Signature table has to offer. . .
Clearaudio manufactures an unusually wide range of turntable and tone arm models. In all the years I've attended C.E.S. or Munich for that matter, no one lays it all out (at the very least the lines imported to America by Musical Surroundings) so clearly and precisely as does Musical Surroundings' Customer Service Manager Michael Fajen in this video.
Sierra Sound has just announced they are the official U.S. distributor for Connected Fidelity products, including the British company’s flagship TT Hub turntable, along with their Float isolation pucks. Today, we’re going to focus on that eye-catching turntable, so read on to see all specs and features of the strikingly cool TT Hub. . .
News at this past year’s International Consumer Electronics Show that “novelty” turntable manufacturer Crosley was introducing a pair of quality turntables built for the company by Pro-Ject drew me to the “ZOO” to check them out.
Cyrus Audio continue to celebrate their 40th anniversary with an update of one of their Signature (pun intended) products, which is now duly dubbed the Classic PHONO preamp. Read on to find out more about the British company’s latest anniversary gear update. . .