Stereophile's Products of 1998 Analog Source of 1998

Analog Source of 1998

Simon Yorke Designs Series 7 Analogue Disc Transcription System ($10,000; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.6, June 1998 Review)

Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Graham 2.0 tonearm ($2250–$3000, depending on options; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.2, February 1998 Review)
Grado The Reference phono cartridge ($1200; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.3, March 1998)
Koetsu Urushi phono cartridge ($4000; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.10, October 1998 Review)
Lyra Parnassus D.C.t phono cartridge ($3495; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.10, October 1998 Review)
Music Hall MMF turntable ($299 with cartridge and arm; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.10, October 1998)
Spotheim SpJ tonearm (Available with Spotheim La Luce turntable, $18,500; reviewed by Jonathan Scull, Vol.21 No.10, October 1998 Review)
Triplanar V Ultimate tonearm ($2550–$2710, depending on options; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.2, February 1998 Review)
van den Hul MC-10 Special phono cartridge ($1200; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.21 No.3, March 1998)

It takes guts to unleash an all-out assault on the state of the art of a format that most would dismiss as, at best, moribund, but intestinal fortitude seems to be what the Simon Yorke Designs Series 7 Analogue Disc Transcription System—a custom-built, suspensionless turntable—is all about. Despite the audacity of such a move—or precisely because of it?—the payoff is a turntable that impressed our correspondents with its deep bass, frequency extension, and lack of "hi-fi" coloration. Because each turntable is built only to fill a specific order, it may be difficult to get a chance to audition one, but our crew deems it well worth the effort.

COMMENTS
Anton's picture

He was the audio-review pioneer of commentary via paragraph title.

Some classics....

"Wire we talking about this?"

"Beating against the bars of the cage of form"

"Mr. Polk, are you trying to seduce me?"

A killer title for a conclusion paragraph..."A panegyric untainted by poppy"

Dang, I miss Wes.

John Atkinson's picture
John Atkinson wrote:
Z-System's RDP-1 is my 1998 Editor's Choice. With its transparent control of tone, it points to a future in which audiophiles can eat their cake and have it too.

I bought the review sample of the RDP-1 and subsequently had it updated to handle data sampled at 88.2kHz and 96kHz. It's still in the rack but with my playback of digital audio now happening over the network with Roon and my PS Audio DirectStream DAC, it only very occasionally sees action.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

Kal Rubinson's picture

The RDP-1 is the product that convinced me of the value and efficacy of DSP.

Robin Landseadel's picture

"Designing great-sounding gear is no simple matter no matter how much you spend, but it's doubly impressive when the product is available at a bargain price."

Guess that one went out the window.

X