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November 23, 2007 - 3:02pm
#1
MF....former D.J?
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Who the hell is MF? - and what does he mean to me - my life - my rotating on this rock in space 8 light minutes from the sun? ....
Nothing - zip - yada - finito - big fat juicy zero
MF = Michael Fremmer, a Stereophile reviewer known for his short temper, and soliciting manufacturers of the gear that he reviews to advertise on his personal site, dogmatic adherence to all things analog that cost close enough to put a man on the moon.
Well, well, DUP is adding cyberstalker to his repertoire.
I can see taking issue with his ears, in fact, one can barely help doing that...
...but I don't get the venom.
MF reviews/reports on analog gear from phono preamps that cost under a hundred bucks, all the way up to blue sky prices.
People whine and moan about the high priced gear, but I never see y'all bitch and cry that he reviewed a piece of gear BELOW your price range.
I've yet to see one post complain, "Oh, man. Stupid Fremer, that review of the Bellari phono pre at 249 bucks is a total waste of my time. Doesn't that bunghole know I want to spend 600 bucks, and no less? Why does he insist on reviewing that low priced crap?"
Fellas, MF covers vinyl, which has a wide price range. Relax. Skip Analog Corner. Take a Valium, or a beta blocker.
I don't mean to say that we should always finish his column and then lay prostrate and reverently chant, "Thank you sir, may I have another." Heck, picking on Mike is fun. He can tell you the effect of a demagnetized LP being played on a magnetically suspended platter, but then says that a broken CD player is the best thing he's ever heard. How can you not love the guy - he puts himself out there every month and offers unfiltered responses to his experiences...for better or worse.
Fremer is one of the very few reviewers who will actually write a review that is 100% honest (in a personal sense) and not try to mince words to cover his ass when it's found out that the interconnects he loved don't actually conduct signal.
Part of what he does is so honest and open, that it's Fremer himself who leaves himself open for the shots he takes. He is pretty transparent - and I mean that as a compliment. I admit to liking to tease him, but he's a guy I'd love to spend time with listening to LP's and drinking vino. (Which could never happen, because at shows he can't even hear a stereo image 'cause his cell phone is always glued to his left ear. When you read a show report by MF, just keep in mind that all those sounds he's able to get into his noggin were heard only by his right ear....
....)
MF is of great value to those of us who like vinyl, and he has a pleasant reviewing style. And his show reports are great fun, because you'll never finish one of those wondering what MF looks like or what he was wearing each day of the show! He's the Zelig of analog, baby!
Bottom line: MF is an asset to vinyl lovers and he is great for the hobby. He suffers more than his share of slings and arrows because he is someone who actually puts HIMSELF out there to take those hits.
In the world of wine drinking, we are required to rate everything with a two-digit number, so I'll give him a 95.
+1
"Bottom line: MF is an asset to vinyl lovers and he is great for the hobby. He suffers more than his share of slings and arrows because he is someone who actually puts HIMSELF out there to take those hits."
I agree- His Turntable setup DVD was the most thorough and informative piece I've ever read or seen about vinyl, analogue recording/cutting and setting up a turntable. By following his methods I re-set up my turntable, which I thought was correctly set up and got much better sound out of it. I had set up several in my life, seen many more set up by others and no one was as complete and detailed at it as he, and yet in easy to understand terminology. The guy may suffer from some leftover acid trips for sure in some of his reviews, but he knows vinyl playback like no one else I am aware of. Plus he can be pretty funny.
I actually have no issue with him reviewing vinyl or other analog stuff. It's not my cup of tea, but other people are into it, so whatever. I take issue with his credibility as an impartial reviewer. I take issue with the conflict of interest that's inherently present when you solicit manufacturers whose gear you review to pay you money to advertise on your own site.
To a much lesser extent, I don't like his dogmatic proclamations that vinyl sounds better than CD when he can't hear a miswired player. I bet you if the dude were to take the pepsi challenge, he would not be able to hear a difference between analog and digital.
Mf is being marketed either by others or himself as an "expert" on everything analog. Just trying to see and find his expertise is from where. I have yet to read anything that he has written that would convince me, not an analog expert that he has the credentials, or knowledge of anything related to sound reproduection, recording or any technical background, if he has a technical background, training, schooling, I'd love to know. But he simply appears to be a fiction writer, who makes claims, makes declarations, as though he knows something at a higher level than an avg consumer. His thoughts and writings seem to tell me differently. He was angy with the introduction of the CD, as that one write up said...huh!!! The recording INDUSTRY, the music business thought it was another technical mravel, a breakthrough for the consumer too. When ya have dozens of electrical and electronics, engineers, inventing an optical storage system, that lead to CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW (mostly all Philips, patents), CD-RW on and on, then DVD DVD-A A self proclaimed EXPERT, finds teh CD to make him anygry, come on, this guy is goofy. Maybe he is angry, he didn't pull it off on radio, and the true KING of all media in Stern, so many wanna bees? so many failures.
He markets a DVD on how to set up a TT, and teh mfg of the Scout sells it as being so easy to set up, seems like a CONflict to me, which is it, simple buyer setup, or you need this "expert" to show you how. there are just too many conflicting writings by MF, he is a fition writer, what is his real expertise, he listens to records!! Well that makes him an expert? The guy at Acoustic Sounds Chad Kasim is an EXPERT, he runs a studio to record, turned the old church into a top notch studio, he does it, makes teh recordings, does teh business, MF listens to what others accomplished, and markets himself as an expert....I don't get it. If he was truly an "expert" in audio, he'd understand that teh LP is dead, digital is so far beyond grinding teh plastic groove, he doesn't get it. If he truly knew audio equipment, , he'd realize spending (like he says he did, he bought it) $100,000 on a spinning platter, is beyond insane, and to go into hock for it? come on, they outfit studios, with that kind of money, with high end, state of the art equipment, this guy is an expert? Or is he just a saleman, playing the part of an independant writer. Wouldn't an expert, know that analog is dead in the form of the LP, does he still use a rotary phone, digital touch tone is just too, ....digital....the guy is entertaining, he makes a living by doing whatever it is he does. JA records, measures, has a technical abilty, MF, is a fiction writer, remeber, he recorded his TT onto a 10 cent CD, and people could tell which one was made from what? CD digital technolgy is amazing ain't it? a 10 cent dics, can recreate what his magic platter does, CD wins, now they take the original masters, put them onto DSD/SACD, and we hear teh tapes, ya don't need no stinkin LP it's obsolete, does he understand that?
DUP, that says it all.
For something obsolete, you spend near two thirds of your posts "talking" about it. Well, not so much talking as spamming the same gibberish again and again...
If ya don't like LP playback, then let me help you out: Analog Corner is about LP playback. If you don't like LP playback, don't read Analog Corner. If ya don't like Fremer's reviews, then check the author of a review before you read and save some time.
Your anti-vinyl crusade on a Hi Fi forum is, in fact, rude.
Can I politely ask you to stop it?
As a slight aside, I enjoyed the little bit of background on Mr. Fremer provided by the link in the first post.
DUP, you would get a lot more attention thread-crapping in an Audi forum, proclaiming Audi's suck. You are sure to find many that enjoy exchanging personal attacks and the like.
We all appreciate that you find vinyl outdated and cannot imagine listening to an amp putting out less than 500 watts or to music that doesn't pin one's ears back. But with all your shouting those that enjoy such anachronisms cannot hear their chosen music. Why not leave these poor souls in peace?
Poor? Who amongst us can afford a $100K TT, MF must be doing something right? He did say he BOUGHT his, didn't he? Or did he? CNN investigates will follow? How long did it take him to convince his home owners insurance company, to cover this $100K TT? I'm sure that have seen many of these in homes, now that would be an ARTICLE, how I got my insurance rider on a $100K TT.....Do ya need signed, sworn, notary public stamps on a document that says yupper, that's what i paid...how much is a rider for such a device? But he did say he was in an apt, some time ago, didn't he, thats gotta be even more weirder, renters insurance, do they ever have such a rider? Next DVD from MF should be how I shopped for and finally found TT insurance, was it a Gecko, good hands, or one of them where the van comes to you? Cus
No kidding!
To be quite honest were I MF I beleive the contemplation of that deranged character with his morbid obsession would cause the loss of a few z's.