Editor’s Note: Turntable Set Up Issues and a Forum? Turntable Set-Up Issues With the arrival of a new tonearm and tone arm pod, I’ve been juggling two tone arms, with the added mass of the arm support pods (each of which weighs about 30 lbs). Balancing this weight on the Minus K isolation platform is a little tricky. One basic step is optimizing arm position for ease of use and pivot to spindle distance. Other, more routine set up steps—alignment, null points, and anti-skate are par for the course. However, the lateral tracker doesn’t involve null points or anti-skate... Read More
The Grizzly Works Record Tote-Bespoke Luxury for Bin Divers
The Grizzly Works Record Tote I don’t do vinyl as a “lifestyle” and usually don’t offer fashion advice. But this luxe quality record tote–from “Grizzly Works”– is the sort of thing you’ll want if you attend record shows, take records with you for listening purposes to someone else’s home, a store or hi-fi show or you simply want an easy, well-made way to carry some albums. It comes from a vendor in Australia, Anthony Sawyer, a very nice guy whose specialty is custom hi-fi racks and speaker stands. According to Anthony, the conception, fabrication and... Read More
A Legend Confirmed- The Koetsu Jade Platinum
A Legend Confirmed- The Koetsu Jade Platinum Though this site is devoted to the medium and the music rather than the machinery it is played on, I have had to reckon with cartridge aging recently. I tried an inexpensive stop-gap in the form of an older, rebuilt cartridge while my Airtight Supreme goes off for surgery. In the meantime, I finally got my hands on a Koetsu stone bodied cartridge, a Jade Platinum. Much has already been written about these newer Koetsus, which take the legendary midrange sound of the old Sugano-made Koetsu and extends the frequency range through some changes in... Read More
Airtight Supreme v Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (WuT?) Or the Path to Older Phono Cartridges….
Airtight Supreme v Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (WuT?) Or the Path to Older Phono Cartridges…. I know, this seems like a stupid comparison, but bear with me. My Airtight Supreme phono cartridge is aging and I’m looking to replace it. The price of the top tier cartridges, like Airgtight’s Opus, their current flagship, is just prohibitive when you consider that it is a consumable. Much as I’ve winced at cartridge pricing in the past, I’ve just bitten the bullet—when I upgraded from my original Airtight PC-1 to the Supreme some years ago, the improvement was... Read More
The Analog Relax Record Brush
The Analog Relax Record Brush I have had an unhappy relationship with “dry” record brushes over the many years I used them. Such brushes don’t seem to do an effective job of removing surface detritus and despite the “anti-static” moniker applied to some, I have found that dry brushing can generate, rather than mitigate, a static charge. Some also shed fibers. As explained below, I eventually abandoned dry brushing altogether, instead using an “air puffer” to address any surface lint that was introduced after the records had been thoroughly cleaned using a combination of... Read More
Good Things Come in Big Packages- Sammy Miller and the Congregation
Good Things Come in Big Packages- Sammy Miller and the Congregation Big band style jazz probably reached its peak in popularity before WWII.Sammy Miller and the Congregation aim to bring it back, with a few surprises, a laugh and an impressive, tuneful display of musicianship. If Sammy & Company prove anything, it’s that what we think of as “big band” music is an archetype and does not represent the music itself: vibrant, full of soul, life, blues and joy, with lots of space between the different instruments, offering an interplay of sounds that are immensely satisfying. I used... Read More
A History of Ultrasonic Record Cleaning
A History of Ultrasonic Record Cleaning Despite the attention paid to ultrasonic record cleaning in the last few years, including the various DIY efforts that have broadened its appeal due to lower cost (as well as providing a more flexible feature set than some of the commercial entries), little has been said about the history of ultrasonic cleaning for records. Mike Bodell changes that with a paper entitled “The Curious Case Of Record Cleaning In The Quest For Sonic Perfection” which is being published here for the first time. Mike, who has both a science and business... Read More
Comus: First Utterance- Part II: Interview with Members of Comus About the Album
Comus: First Utterance– Part II: Interview with Members of Comus About the Album Following the publication here last week of Comus- First Utterance (consisting of an overview of the LP, its reissue and legacy), An Interview with Members of Comus has now been published. It is integrated into the first article as Part II and can be accessed directly (if you already read Part I and want to go directly to the interview(s)) by clicking on the hyperlinked text in the preceding sentence. The interview is really a series of viewpoints from different band members and, like the album... Read More
More Tima- More In-Depth Knowledge on Ultrasonic Record Cleaning
More Tima- More In-Depth Knowledge on Ultrasonic Record Cleaning Readers are probably familiar with the contributions of Tim Aucremann a/k/a Tima on the subject of DIY ultrasonic record cleaning. Tima’s latest installment reflects considerable hands-on evaluation of methods and in-depth research on matters such as water purity and filtering. The latest installment, follow-up #2, is published here. It’s a worthy addition to the knowledge base. A lot of LP owners have jumped on board the DIY RCM approach, but questions abound. If you haven’t read Tima’s earlier installments, I... Read More
Psych Folk
Psych Folk Soon to be published here is the first in a series of articles, essays and interviews about psych or “freak folk.” This sub-genre, which was borne out of the folk revival of the ‘60s, had many progenitors and its influence is even stronger now in contemporary works from a range of artists, including Meg Baird, now associated with the hard psych band Heron Oblivion. I’m not a stickler for genre classifications; to the contrary, during the period when this music was first being created, boundaries were crossed and genres were pretty much ignored, which is one of the... Read More
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