search
Blood, Sweat & Tears began as Al Kooper's dream of a rock band with horns. By the time he realized the concept—on the band's 1968 debut, Child Is Father to the Man—it had become much more: an engaging hybrid of New York soul, Greenwich Village folk, and innovative jazz arrangements. With producer John Simon at the helm, Child was a virtual definition of the possibilities inherent in the heady musical experimentation of the late 1960s. Kooper's writing and arranging for that record (including the monumental "I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know," later a hit for Donny Hathaway) is…
Turntable manufacturer VPI Industries is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Despite analog playback's ups and downs (pun time), VPI has managed not only to survive but to prosper and grow, thanks to a smart product mix that includes high-value, wet-wash/vacuum-dry record-cleaning machines that perhaps took up the revenue slack when, in the mid-1990s, interest in new turntables dipped—but the vinyl faithful still had millions of dirty records to keep clean.
I've been reviewing and owning VPI products since 1986. I was there, too, for the personal tragedies and the blessings—the…
I'm not sure why, but VPI still hasn't figured out how to design an arm lock that actually locks. This one, like every lock from VPI I've used, doesn't hold the arm securely in place, and especially if there's no cartridge in the headshell to weigh it down. the hinged lock opens and the arm zooms skyward.
The other thing VPI seems still unable to do is truly isolate the system from impulse-type noise. When I reviewed VPI's Classic 3 and Direct Drive models, I found that tapping on the thick, heavy aluminum plate that supposedly damps the plinth produced a loud knock through the speakers…
In these waning days of Analog's Last Stand, it might seem absurd to review midpriced phono cartridges when this space could be given instead to the gear Stereophile usually covers—like $3000 OTL tube amps built by guys like that "Rainbow Man" lone nut who used to dance in the stands at Super Bowls before he took hostages in a hotel room with a .45 screaming, "MIT CAPACITORS!!! MIT CAPACITORS!!!"
C'mon! Nobody buys $3000 OTL tube amps built by guys who wear rainbow afro wigs. No, kids today are buying DIGITAL RIGS, and who can blame 'em? These days, LPs are harder to find than crack, and…
Where the Blue Point doesn't quite achieve state-of-the-art performance is in the bass. The midbass is somewhat woolly compared to the Linn Klyde and others at this performance level, which tends to thicken the sound too much unless the rest of the system errs toward leanness. I've noticed that a very popular analog combo these days is one of the Well-Tempered 'tables and a Sumiko Blue Point; both the flagship WTT and the less expensive WTRP share a leaner, more subdued bottom end than the Linns and VPIs of the world, and seem to complement the Blue Point's inherent flab quite nicely. The…
More on the Blue Point Special, from December 1993 (Vol.16 No.12):
For the purposes of this review, I arranged to borrow a sample of the now-discontinued Troika. As Linn claims a Troika-like level of sound quality from the Klyde, comparisons with the departing Troika are a natural. The $1995 Troika is—or was—around double the price of the Klyde, so I also included comparisons with Sumiko's Class-C ranked $295 Blue Point Special I reviewed in Vol.16 No.4.
The Linn analog rig came into my system at a time when I was using the $1195 Well-Tempered Record Player and Sumiko Blue Point…
Sidebar 1: Corey Greenberg's System
Both the WTRP and the Roksan 'tables were fitted with the Sumiko Arm Wrap, the high-tension elastic plastic strip that comes with Sumiko's $50 Analog Survival Kit of turntable tweaks. Although I don't use the mat that comes with the kit, I found the arm wrap to substantially improve the sound of the WTRP's arm, and the difference in the Roksan's sound was even bigger (I'll tell you all about it in the forthcoming Roksan review). If you haven't heard what this inexpensive strip of damping material can do for the sound of a turntable, you're missing out…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Sumiko Blue Point: High-output moving-coil phono cartridge. Nominal output: 3mV. Compliance: 15cu. Recommended load: 47k ohms. Stylus: elliptical. Tracking force: 1.7gm.
Price: $125 (1993); Blue Point No.3 costs $499 (2021).
Description: Sumiko Blue Point Special: High-output moving-coil phono cartridge. Nominal output: 3mV. Compliance: 15cu. Recommended load: 47k ohms. Stylus: elliptical. Tracking force: 2gm.
Price: $295 (1993); Blue Point Special EVO III costs $549 (2021).
Both:
Approximate number of dealers: 400.
…
Prologue: The context for this review is that back in the 1980s, preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers with remote controls didn't exist. In early 1985 I borrowed a sample of Acoustic Research's Stereo Remote Control, which I believe was designed by Ken Kantor (later to find fame with NHT) and set it up in my bedroom. It drove a pair of powered loudspeakers with auto turn-on, and I very quickly grew to appreciate, not just the sound quality, but the convenience of being able to control the system from the comfort of my bed. So what did JGH think of the SRC?—John Atkinson
Now here's a…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Infrared remote control unit for high-level signal sources. Inputs: Main, Tape Monitor, EPL Return. Outputs: Main, Tape Play, EPL Send. Remotely controlled functions: System Off/On, EPL/Main selection, Volume, Channel Balance, Mute. Non-remote switching for Tape Play/Monitor/Source. Input impedance: 100k ohms. Output impedance: 330 ohms main or 220 ohms plus Source, Tape, or EPL output impedance. THD: 0.01% or less, 20Hz–20kHz at 1V out. Clipping level: 4.5V peak input.
Dimensions: 11.5" W by 1.5" H by 5.5" D.
Price: $159.99 (1985); no longer…