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To celebrate what would have been John Lennon's 80th birthday, Jem Records chief Marty Scott came up with the idea of tapping into his label's roster of talent to create a tribute record.

Jem Recordings—which in 2013 rose from the ashes of the important import label Jem Records (Cheap Trick; The Cure; Simple Minds; Siouxsie and the Banshees)—today is home to neo '60s acts like the Anderson Council, the…

During the current Fauré Centennial, recordings of the composer's music are appearing at a steady pace. So far, vocal music has gotten short shrift, adding importance to this new Harmonia Mundi recital, in which baritone Stéphane Degout, one of today's foremost proponents of French mélodie, adds his mellifluous voice to Alain Planès's period-authentic…

At 93, Sonny Rollins is our greatest living jazz musician. He has retired from playing, but he is still in the news. Last year came Aidan Levy's monumental biography, Saxophone Colossus. There have also been major archival releases, the latest of which, Freedom Weaver, comes from a 10-day period in March…

Add to the deniers of the Holocaust and Climate Change those who say that the vinyl resurgence isn't happening.

Seriously, the pushback was bound to happen, and the bigger this so-called "hipster fad" gets, the more the scoffers sweat. In 2014, according to my sources—representatives of the world's largest pressing plants—more than 73,985,000 LPs were pressed (footnote 1). That's correct: almost 74 million LPs. Taking into…

The Fuuga outputs 0.35mV (50mm/s, 0–peak, 45°) and has a desirably low impedance of 2.5 ohms at 1kHz. Its claimed channel separation is >27dB at 1kHz, and its compliance a low 7×10–6cm/dyne at 100Hz. Appropriately, given its low compliance, the Fuuga has a relatively high mass of 15gm. Its tapered cantilever is of A2017 aluminum alloy, to which is fitted an 8 by 40"µm parabolic hybrid (ie, hyper-elliptical) stylus of pure diamond. The recommended vertical tracking force (VTF) is 2.0–2.2gm. The Fuuga is imported by Sakura Systems (which also imports 47 Laboratory), and distributed in…

To make the review more broadly applicable, I also auditioned the 128 with a second cartridge. Because of the requirements of moderate output and relatively high impedance (for an MC), finding one in my collection that would work was a bit of a challenge. I found two. One was the X-quisite ST (16 ohms; 0.3mV), also…

Description: Single box, balanced, tubed phono preamplifier. Inputs: one pair (RCA). Outputs: one pair balanced XLR. Gain: 64dB/70dB. Loading fixed via transformer input for cartridges with 12–30 ohms internal impedance. EQ: RIAA/DIN 78. MC sensitivity: 1mV nominal. Output: 1.55V. S/N ratio: >80dB. THD+N –40dB @ 1kHz and nominal level. Power consumption 25W.
Dimensions: 19" (480mm) × 12.5" (315mm) × 2.3" (60mm). Weight: 26.5lb (12kg).
Serial number of unit reviewed: 128U-102. Designed and manufactured in Switzerland.
Price: $12,830. Approximate…

Analog sources: OMA K3 and Acoustic Signature Montana NEO turntables, Schröder K3, Acoustic Signature TA-7000 tonearms; EMT JSD Novel Titan, Miyajima Labs Madake Snakewood cartridges.
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi One SACD player DAC; Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter; Mac mini running Roon, Audirvana Digital Audio Player; Pure Vinyl and Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S, Ypsilon MC-10L, MC-16L, and MC-20L and X-quisite SUT X-20 step-up transformers; Ypsilon VPS-100, CH Precision P1 with X1 PSU.
Power amplifiers: darTZeel NHB…

I measured the EMT 128 phono preamplifier (serial number U-102) with my Audio Precision SYS2722, repeating some of the testing with the magazine's higher-performance Audio Precision APx500. The results were consistent with both systems.

The output impedance, specified as <500 ohms, was a relatively low 320 ohms at 20Hz, 312 ohms at 1kHz, and 246 ohms at 20kHz. The 128 inverted absolute polarity; either the XLR output jacks are connected with pin 3 "hot" or there is an odd number of anode-coupled amplification stages. (Each channel uses three subminiature…

You might think an artist with 22 Top-40 hits would identify his winning formula and stick with it. Instead, John Mellencamp's long career has been a tale of determined development and often improvement. On his latest album, the 70-year-old Indiana native has nestled deeper into his rural Midwestern roots, eschewing rock defiance for folk philosophy. The result is a powerful baring of the soul, which, to many…