AnalogPlanet Favorite Posts of 2012
AnalogPlanet's editor picks his favorite posts that made it to the web site in 2012:
EMI's Beatles Box In Perspective
A woman walks into a butcher shop. She says "Can I see that chicken?" The butcher hands it to her. She smells it in front, she smells it in back, she smells it all over and then hands it back to the butcher saying "Mister, this chicken stinks!" The butcher replies "Lady, could you pass a test like that?"
Abbey Road Studio's Sean Magee Talks About Mastering The Beatles LP Box
I spoke today with Sean Magee about the just released Beatles LP box set. Magee's resume is impressive. He's cut both lacquers and DMM and does a great deal of AAA cutting for Pure Pleasure among other labels. Magee produced the lacquers from which the LPs were sourced. The first interesting thing I learned was that the lacquers were cut from 44.1k/24 bit masters not 96K/24 bit masters as I'd originally been told.
Quality Record Pressings Expands to Ten Presses by Year's End, More When Demand Warrants (Corrected Story)
I'm in Salina, Kansas this weekend M.C.-ing the Blue Heaven Studios' Masters 15th Annual Blues Masters at the Crossroads concerts.
Analogplanet.com Editor Appears on Gary "Ba Ba Booey" Dell'Abate's Nerdist YouTube Show
Last week Howard Stern producer and proud tech geek Gary Dell'Abate interviewed me about vinyl via SKYPE. The show was published on line today. Unfortunately, because of time constraints, much of what I said had to be cut but I hope you think that what remains is still worthwhile. Of course the lossy compression turned my voice into tatters, but that's what lossy compression does. Tell your friends!
Minus K's David Platus Takes the Stand On Behalf of His "Negative Stiffness" Isolation Technology
While effective isolation from both air and ground borne vibrational energy is important throughout the audio playback chain, it is essential for vinyl playback. It can be built into a turntable in the form of spring or "O" ring suspensions but current thinking downplays that in favor of separate isolation stands rather than incorporating it into the turntable itself.
The Surprising Audreal LP-2 Phono Preamplifier
Back in 2005 I reviewed what was then the $1500 Jasmine LP-2 MM/MC phono preamplier. It was a two box unit with an umbilical between the power supply and the signal path circuitry. The 70dB gain MC input was commendably quiet and the unit sounded pretty good but I couldn't justify the performance for the price.
Pro-Ject Produces "Carbon Copy" of Debut III That's Even Better!
The Pro-Ject brand began as a vinyl lover's pipe dream. Vienna based audio distributor Heinz Lichtennegger believed as did many of us back in the 1990s, that vinyl was not dead. It just needed a defibrillator in the form of an inexpensive, well-made and reliable turntable.
The World's Best Record Cleaning Machine?
Getting a review sample of this unique ultrasonic record cleaning machine took years because apparently the small German manufacturer could not keep up with demand. I’ve heard from a few sources that reliability was not high during those early days but that now that’s been sorted out as has manufacturing capacity.
Reissue Labels To Avoid and Some Best to Proceed With Caution
Call me crazy (and you wouldn't be the first!) but when I spend $25 or $50 on a 180 gram reissue, I want to know the source used and who did the cutting, plating and pressing. Don't you? But we don't get that vital information as often as we'd like, do we?
How to Use a USB Digital Microscope to set 92 Degree Stylus Rake Angle (SRA)
The stylus rake angle is the angle the stylus’s “contact patch” makes to the record surface. If you have a relatively inexpensive cartridge with a spherical stylus you don’t have to worry about SRA because the contact area remains the same regardless of arm height.
Source AnalogPlanet
