vinyl_buyers_guide 2010.pdf

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S T E R E O • M U LT I C H a N N E L a U D I O • M U S I C
Vinyl Playback
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From the Editor
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on the Horizon
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Feature articles
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turntables and record Players
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Phono cartridges
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our top Picks
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Vinyl accessories & lPs
Contents
Features
• From the Editor
• On The Horizon
• Analog Lives! A Guide to LP
Playback
• The 12 Most Significant
Analog Products
• Manufacturer Spotlight
•
Our Top Picks in Phono
Preamplifiers
•
Our Top Picks in Tonearms
SPonSorED by
Turntables and
Record Players
Turntables and Record Players
Phono
Cartridges
Phono Cartridges
Vinyl
Accessories
& LPs
Vinyl Accessories & LPs
• Rega P1
• Pro-Ject Xpresion III
• VPI Aries Scout
• Clearaudio Performance SE
• Nottingham Studio-Space
• Wilson Benesch Full Circle
• Basis 2800 Signature
• Acoustic Solid Solid One/
CartridgeMan Conductor
• SME 30/2
• AAS Gabriel/Da Vinci Turntable
and Da Vinci Grandezza Tonearm
• Walker Proscenium Black
Diamond Mk II Record Player
• Ortofon Red and Black
• Grado Prestige Gold
• Sumiko Blue Point Special
• Clearaudio Maestro Wood
• Shelter 5000
• Da Vinci Reference Grandezza
• Air Tight PC-1 Supreme
• Clearaudio Goldfinger
• The 16 Essential LP
Accessories
• The 100 Best Sounding
Vinyl Records
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Guide to Vinyl Playback
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S T E R E O • M U LT I C H a N N E L a U D I O • M U S I C
Vinyl Playback
publisher. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. im.Hannon.
J
editors-in-chief
. . . . . . . . . .. obert.Harley.
R
Alan.Sircom
executive editor. .
. . . . . . . .Jonathan.Valin
acquisitions manager
and associate editor. .
. . . .Neil.Gader
founder; chairman,
editorial advisory board. .
.Harry.Pearson
music editor. .
. . . . . . . . . . .Mark.Lehman
creative director.
. . . . . . . .Torquil.Dewar
.
art director
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shelley.Lai
production coordinator. .
.Aaron.Chamberlain
designer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mikki.Bullock
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Guide to Vinyl Playback
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senior writers. .
. . . . . . . . . .. ayne.Garcia..
W
Chris.Martens..
Paul.Seydor
reviewers &
contributing writers
. . . . . .. im.Hannon..
J
Jacob.Heilbrunn
NextScreen, LLC, Inc.
chairman and ceo.
. . . . . . .Tom.Martin
vp/group publisher. .
. . . . .Jim.Hannon
advertising reps.. .
. . . . . . .. heryl.Smith.
C
(512).891-7775.
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Vinyl accessories & lPs
FROM THE
Editor
W
elcome to this special
Guide to Vinyl Playback,
presented by
The Absolute Sound
and
Hi-Fi Plus.
To someone
who hasn’t been following high-end audio lately, a buyers’ guide to turntables, cartridges, tonearms, phono
preamplifiers, and the best-sounding vinyl records in the second decade of the 21st Century might seem odd. But
analog is the hottest category of high-performance audio—and getting hotter all the time. In 2009, sales of vinyl records
doubled the 2008 figures. In fact, vinyl records were the only packaged music format to show a sales increase over the
previous year. More companies are offering analog gear at all price levels than ever before.
But why is this 134-year-old technology, based on dragging a chip of
diamond through a squiggle in a round piece of plastic, flourishing in the
age of iPods, Internet downloads, MP3 files, and music servers?
The answer is simple: The sound quality of LPs fosters a sense
of realism, musicality, and intimacy with the performance that is
unmatched by standard-resolution digital audio. And compared with
MP3, analog playback is light years ahead. This isn’t to say that vinyl
playback isn’t flawed. But its sonic shortcomings are completely
different than the distortions that plague digital reproduction. In my
experience, analog’s distortions seem to exist “on-top” of the music,
while digital’s distortions are “woven into” the music’s fabric and thus
more difficult to overlook. If you haven’t heard a great LP playback
system lately, you’re in for quite a surprise.
But it’s more than LP’s sound quality that is fueling analog’s amazing
renaissance. Playing a record represents a return to the days when we
sat down with a single-minded focus on listening to an entire record.
The ritual of putting a record on a turntable, cleaning it and the stylus,
and tuning out everything but the music is the antithesis of track-
skipping or “shuffle-mode” listening to MP3 files through headphones
while engaging in some other activity. If listening to random tracks
through headphones and a portable music player is analogous to eating
fast food delivered through your car window, then playing a record is
akin to lovingly preparing and leisurely savoring a gourmet meal.
Our special
Guide to Vinyl Playback
is chock-full of everything
you need to know to start enjoying vinyl playback, or to upgrade
your current rig to extract even more music from the grooves in your
record collection. We feature reviews of ?? Turntables, ranging from
the outstanding classic Rega P3 at $395 to the mighty $57,000 Walker
Procenium Black Diamond Mk II. Cartridges are equally represented,
with great-sounding models starting at $99 and reaching the state-of-
the-art in the $9000 Air Tight PC-1 Supreme. We’ve also included our
top picks in phono preamplifiers and tonearms with capsule reviews
of those products which have earned our highest recommendation. If
you’re new to vinyl, Wayne Garcia’s feature article “Vinyl Lives! A Guide
to LP Playback” is the perfect starting point for getting you into (or back
into) the groove. Long-time readers will appreciate a walk down memory
lane as the TAS editors name the “12 Most Influential Analog Products
of All Time.” All this great playback gear isn’t much use without music
to play on it, so we’ve included our list of the 100 best—and best-
sounding—LPs in every musical genre.
It all adds up to your essential companion to enjoying the music on
vinyl records. Keep ’em spinning.
Robert Harley
C li ck here to tu rn th e p ag e.
www.theabsolutesound.com
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Guide to Vinyl Playback
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