Analog Corner

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #95
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 17, 2018  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2003  |  1 comments
Whether it's to offer a "relaxed fit" to make life easier for analog lovers, or because both Scan-Tech and Immutable Music believe that they've found a way to offer better performance with higher output, the Lyra Titan ($5000) and Transfiguration Temper W ($4000) offer considerably higher output than the "statement' models they replace.
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #96
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 24, 2018  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2003  |  1 comments
When I came upon Giuseppe Viola's handiwork at the 2000 Top Audio Show in Milan, Italy, I said to myself, "Here's a guy with a fabulous machine shop and too much time on his hands." Most designers are satisfied to introduce a turntable. Not Viola. At Top Audio, under the V.Y.G.E.R. name, he introduced a whole line of hand-built, air-bearing tonearms and turntables. When I met the gregarious Giuseppe (aka "Pino") later that day, he came across as a most enthusiastic, gnome-like character, eager to demonstrate his gleaming creations and explain their workings.

Viola had much to be proud of: He'd developed a massive, true air-bearing platter—one that "floated," both radially and axially, on a thin film of air . . .

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #97
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 16, 2018  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2003  |  0 comments
Before I write about Music Hall's MMF-9 turntable (above), in my March 2003 review, I wrote that the SME 30/2 turntable's combination of attributes "might just make it the finest turntable in the world." Earlier in the review, I'd said, "The SME 30/2 is perhaps the most tonally neutral turntable I've ever heard. Only the Rockport System III Sirius, which includes an integral tonearm, is in the same league, and it doesn't stand up to the SME's low-frequency extension and solidity." I wrapped up the review with: "Overall, the SME Model 30/2 is the best turntable I've heard."
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #98
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 22, 2018  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2003  |  0 comments
Every edition of Primedia's annual Home Entertainment show (formerly known as Stereophile's Hi-Fi Show) takes on a life of its own, even if the venue, the participants, and the products are mostly familiar. It has to do with a confluence of factors—the paying customers, the weather, current events, whatever seems to be the hot industry trend, and just "the ether."

Home Entertainment 2003, held this past June at San Francisco's venerable Westin–St. Francis Hotel, was no exception. The contours of this show's personality were drawn in greater relief for those of us who had attended the previous show at this venue, back in 1997.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #99
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 29, 2018  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2003  |  1 comments
The innards of the ASR Basis Exclusive phono preamplifier, reviewed in this column.

Press kits arrive at my house almost daily, trumpeting one thing or another, including upcoming hi-fi shows around the world. Recently, none has provided quite the jolt to my system as one sent by Steve Rowell of Audio Classics in Vestal, New York. It's for the New York High Fidelity Music Show, September 29–October 3. Don't worry, you haven't missed it. Well, you have—by 38 years. Rowell sent me a genuine classic: a press kit for a hi-fi show held in 1965.

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