Michael Fremer

Analog Corner #240: Sperling-Audio L-1 turntable and TA-1 tonearm
Analog CornerAudacious AudioTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 02, 2024  |  First Published: Aug 01, 2015
Photo: Echopark

With its swept-wing shape and platter-forward design, Sperling-Audio's L-1 turntable ($35,950, without tonearm) stands out in a crowd. This high-mass design from Germany is the result of a collaboration between Ansgar Sperling and Michael Bönninghoff, two fiftysomething engineers who began working together in recording studio construction.

Both also bring to the L-1's design and construction years of experience in signal processing. For years, Bönninghoff was the chief developer at Brauner microphones, and today is the technical director of the German pro-audio company S.E.A. Sperling worked in radio and signal processing, and has a strong interest in tubed electronics.

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Analog Corner #242: Cornering the Vinyl Scoffers; Fuuga & Air Tight Phono Cartridges
Analog CornerPhono Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 12, 2024  |  First Published: Oct 01, 2015
The "Meet the Editors" panel at T.H.E. Show Newport Beach 2015. (L–R): Robert Harley, Chris Connaker, John Darko, Michael Fremer, David W. Robinson.

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. That's correct: almost 74 million LPs. Taking into consideration such things as multi-LP boxed sets like The Beatles in Mono (which might be counted as a single record in terms of sales), defective discs rejected by consumers or retailers, and unsold records, of which there surely are many in the pipeline, we could cut the number in half—and still have around 35 million. That's more than a 40% increase worldwide over 2013.

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Analog Corner #243: TechDAS Air Force Two turntable, Graham Phantom Elite tonearm
Analog CornerTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 08, 2024  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2015
How big is the performance gap between TechDAS's new Air Force Two ($52,000) and original Air Force One ($105,000) turntables? How do you halve the price without also sacrificing the build quality and features of the flagship model that defines the brand? Even $52,000 is more than most people pay for an automobile, not to mention a turntable. Still, TechDAS's assertion on their website that the price of their new model price is "reasonably improved" over the old strikes me as an understatement.
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Analog Corner #241: DS Audio DS-W1 optical phono cartridge
Analog CornerPhono Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 03, 2024  |  First Published: Sep 01, 2015
Using light to read data from a disc sounds a lot like the technology behind the Compact Disc—but you may be happy to hear there's nothing digital about DS Audio's optical phono cartridge. The DS-W1 uses the motions of a Shibata stylus and boron cantilever to modulate the output of its externally powered light-emitting diode (LED).

This Analog Corner is reprinted on Stereophile's sister site Analog Planet website.

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Analog Corner #244: TARA Labs cables, Synergistic Research accessories, Stillpoints ESS rack
Analog CornerCable ReviewsMiscellaneousStand and Rack Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 03, 2024  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2015
Does everything produce an improvement?"

My skeptical visitor, to whom I'd just pointed out some of the acoustic treatments and other accessories in my listening room, wasn't trying to push my buttons. He just wanted my opinion.

"No," I said. "Some things make the sound worse—way worse—but after all these years, I'm convinced that just about everything that can be done to a room or a system produces an audible difference, for better or worse."

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Analog Corner #245: SME Model 15 turntable, SME 309 SPD tonearm
Analog CornerTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  May 06, 2024  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2016
In the April 2000 issue of Stereophile, I reviewed SME's Model 10, which was an attempt by that storied company to produce an "affordable" turntable. I described the Model 10's $5500 turntable-only price—about $7600 in today's dollars—as "stiff." (At the time, the Model 10 cost $5995 with SME's M10 arm, or $8250 with their IV.Vi arm.) But 16 years later, the same Model 10 costs only $5000 ($7000 with the more recent Model 10 arm, which is superior to the M10).
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Analog Corner # 247: Dr. Feickert Firebird turntable, Viva Fono MC phono preamplifier, AcroLink and Fono Acustica interconnects
Analog CornerCable ReviewsPhono Preamp ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 11, 2024  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2016
Dr. Feickert Analogue's top-of-the line turntable, the Firebird ($12,500), is a generously sized record player designed to easily accommodate two 12" tonearms. Its three brushless, three-phase DC motors, arranged around the platter in an equilateral triangle, are connected to a proprietary controller in a phase-locked loop (PLL); according to the Firebird's designer, Dr. Christian Feickert, a reference signal from just one of the motors drives all three—thus one motor is the master while the other two are slaves. (Man, today that is politically incorrect, however descriptively accurate.)
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Analog Corner #248: Mørch DP-8, Reed 3P tonearms, TechDAS Air Force One turntable
Analog CornerTonearm ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 05, 2024  |  First Published: Apr 01, 2016
"HOW MEASUREMENT FAILS DOCTORS AND TEACHERS" was the headline of a story in a recent issue of the New York Times's "Sunday Review" section (formerly called "News of the Week in Review," now rendered obsolete by the 24/7 news cycle created by and for the terminally self-absorbed). The writer, Robert M. Wachter, a professor and interim chairman of UC San Francisco's department of medicine and author of the book The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age, said that healthcare and education "have become increasingly subjected to metrics and measurements," and that the focus on them has "gone too far."

To me, that headline screamed "Audio!" And the book that needs to be written is The Digital Recording Revolution: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Audio's Computer Age.

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Analog Corner #249: LKV Research Veros One phono preamp, Triangle Art Apollo MC cartridge
Analog CornerPhono Cartridge ReviewsPhono Preamp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 09, 2024  |  First Published: May 01, 2016
Designer Bill Hutchins, of LKV Research, builds the 2-SB moving-magnet/moving-coil phono preamplifier in North Conway, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire; he uses as many US-sourced parts as possible, and sells his products factory direct. I reviewed the 2-SB in March 2014, on AnalogPlanet.com: the 2-SB's sound was exceptionally fine—especially if you like refined, solid-state quiet and detail, and especially considering its then-price of $2500. Since that review's publication, the 2-SB has been upgraded with a version of the third gain stage from LKV's JFET-based Veros One phono preamp ($6500; see below), and its price has risen to a still-reasonable $3000.

In May 2014, Bill Hutchins introduced the Veros One phono preamplifier ($6500).

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Analog Corner #250: Ikeda 9mono, van den Hul Crimson XGW cartridges, PBN GrooveMaster Vintage Direct turntable
Analog CornerPhono Cartridge ReviewsTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 09, 2024  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2016
The review gear piles up, and it's time for a late spring cleaning—not that any dust has gathered on the uniformly excellent products covered in this column. I'll start with two very different phono cartridges.
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