Michael Fremer

Sort By: Post Date | Title | Publish Date
News
The New York Times Reports on The Vinyl Resurgence
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 10, 2013  |  11 comments
The Arts section of today's New York Times contains a vinyl resurgence story by Allan Kozzin you're sure to enjoy reading
Continue Reading >
RMAF 2016
The New Zesto Audio Andros Tessera and Band-Width Audio Cascode One, Phono Preamplifiers
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 09, 2016  |  First Published: Oct 09, 2016  |  0 comments
Watch and hear Zesto Audio's veteran designer George Counnas describe his new Andros Tessera phono preamplifier and then Band-Width Audio's young designer Matthew Beardsworth will do likewise for his new Cascode One. Both are vacuum tube-based products.

Continue Reading >
Album Reviews
The Original Al Kooper-Led Blood Sweat & Tears
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 01, 2010  |  0 comments

The first Blood, Sweat and Tears group led by Al Kooper and including his former Blues Project bandmate Steve Katz, was the sophisticated assemblage that produced but one album. This one.

Continue Reading >
Tonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
The Pear Audio Blue Robin Hood SE Turntable and Coronet 1 Tone Arm (Speed Issue Explained)
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 24, 2017  |  First Published: Jul 24, 2017  |  20 comments
Editor's note: AnalogPlanet (and Stereophile) policy is to review products as sent to us unless they are broken and/or clearly defective. In this case the speed was "off" but the 'table was neither "broken" nor "defective" so we chose to review "as sent".

The importer wrote to say the unit was sent with "the wrong pulley" and as stated in the review, we allowed for the possibility that the 'table had been previously used for reviews or for some other purpose. However, without trying to sound too harsh, if you're going to send out a product for review, it's important to check out its functioning before shipping and that would include making sure it's running at the right speed.

As the importer points out, the Kid Thomas previously reviewed ran at the correct speed but clearly this one did not and it was what was sent so there was an obligation to review "as sent" just as there was an obligation to ship a properly functioning review sample! I know this might sound "harsh" but I'm always thinking of the consumer who buys and uses without checking speed accuracy and ends up listening at the wrong speed.

AnalogPlanet readers' thoughts on this are most welcome.

Continue Reading >
Munich 2015
The Physical Emotions Caeles Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  May 17, 2015  |  First Published: May 17, 2015  |  7 comments
The Physical Emotions Caeles turntable is certainly likely to rouse the emotions from "wow" to "WTF" and "is he kidding"?

Continue Reading >
Album Reviews
The Police's Greatest Hits Package remixed for 5.1 SACD
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 17, 2003  |  0 comments

The Police have always been a well-produced, superbly recorded group. The first album, Outlandos D’amour, was an explosive, starkly recorded document. Issued as the punk movement ascended, the band chose to emphasize a propulsive, reggae infused rhythmic thrust rather than its considerable instrumental virtuosity. Stewart Copeland kept his pounding beats relatively simple, jazz virtuoso guitarist Andy Summers made do with slashing rhythmic attacks, and Sting shot his impossibly high-pitched rasp seemingly out of a cannon. Engineers Nigel and Chris Gray complied by keeping the miking close and the production simple, yet dramatically immediate and natural sounding. The first album was “in your face” big.

Continue Reading >
News
The Prince Estate, In Partnership With Warner Records to Release 1999 Remastered and Expanded November, 29th
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 11, 2019  |  First Published: Sep 11, 2019  |  39 comments
Prince's standout album 1999 that included "Little Red Corvette", "1999" and "Delirious" first released in 1982 when 1999 seemed a long way off gets the deluxe treatment in time for the holidays. Along with the standard remastered by Bernie Grundman at 192/24 bit edition (as a double 180g purple vinyl LP) there will be a Deluxe 2 CD/2LP version and a Super Deluxe 5 CD+DVD/10LP+DVD edition (all will include downloads and streaming).

Continue Reading >
Analog Gear NewsRecord Cleaning Machine Reviews
The Pristine Vinyl ViVac RCS2 “Thread Type” Record Cleaning Machine
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 06, 2016  |  First Published: Aug 06, 2016  |  10 comments
If there’s a better looking record cleaning machine than Pristine Vinyl’s ViVac RCS, I’ve not seen it.

Continue Reading >
Turntable Reviews
The Pro-Ject Classic SB Superpack Turntable: “Brains” and Good Looks Too
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 29, 2017  |  First Published: Aug 29, 2017  |  18 comments
It’s doubtful Pro-Ject could have produced a high performance, feature packed, beautiful to look at turntable like the Classic SB Superpack and priced it so reasonably ($1499 including $449 Blue Point No. 2 cartridge) were it not for surging turntable sales and Pro-Ject’s place at the top of the high performance turntable market (“high performance” meaning not counting the plastic mass market cheapies).

Continue Reading >
Turntable Reviews
The Pro-Ject Xtension10 Turntable— More Than a "Lifestyle" Product!
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 25, 2014  |  14 comments
Just as moving downhill is easier than going up, scaling down an expensive design is far easier than building upon a modest one.Yet Pro-Ject, which began in1990 with a homely, grey/black Soviet-era Czech Republic-made “people’s ‘table”, has managed quite well to both upgrade its budget offerings and to produce mid-priced ‘tables of distinction.
Continue Reading >

Pages

X