Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams Phono Cartridge Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #29: Etsuro Urushi & Hana phono cartridges

Herb Reichert Jul 30, 2019 First Published: Jul 30, 2019

We were playing some old, cherished black discs when my partner, bb (the 6'-tall Aries artist), declared, "With records you hear touch, and you are not alone." Long pause. "Just holding the cover brings back memories—that's their humanity."

Digital Processor Reviews Gramophone Dreams Headphone Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #28: PS Audio & HiFiMan

Herb Reichert May 23, 2019 First Published: May 23, 2019

Every time I review a digital-to-analog converter, my memory drifts to the spring of 1983, when the first Compact Discs arrived at Tower Records in New York City. They appeared in the opera section. Sitting next to big, thick boxed sets of opera LPs, these new discs looked truly compact. A few months later, boxed sets of popular opera LPs, in almost untouched condition, began selling in the Tower Annex for $1/disc.

Gramophone Dreams Tube Power Amp Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #27: EleKit TU-8600R amplifier kit

Herb Reichert Apr 04, 2019 First Published: Apr 04, 2019

I will never forget.

In 1988 I had my first experience with Western Electric 300B tubes. It took place on a quiet, streetlights-and-snow night at my friend Ryoichi's apartment on Riverside Drive, in Manhattan.

I had never heard of the late Japanese amplifier designer Ken Shindo, of Shindo Laboratory. But that evening, Ryo's audio system was all Shindo: a hammertone gray Shindo-restored, grease-bearing Garrard 301 turntable sitting on a Shindo plinth of glossy wood, with a Shindo-modified Ortofon tonearm and SPU cartridge, a Shindo moving-coil step-up transformer, and a Shindo preamplifier with a moving-magnet phono stage.

Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #26: Nelson Pass & Harmonic Distortion

Herb Reichert Jan 29, 2019 First Published: Jan 29, 2019

Every time I fly to California, my brain gets stuck on the lyrics of that Arlo Guthrie song: "Coming into Los Angeles / bringing in a couple of keys . . ." Even landing in San Francisco, I'm always smiling, because I've never been busted in California.

Which means that I'm a lucky guy. In this life I have acquired nothing of material value, but I did see Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter in Chicago in 1962, at Theresa's. I spent the whole Summer of Love (1967) in San Francisco listening to music. And because I lived only a few blocks away, I witnessed the Ramones' first gig at CBGB, in 1974.

Gramophone Dreams Phono Cartridge Reviews Phono Preamp Reviews Turntable Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #25: Dr. Feickert, Jelco, Koetsu, My Sonic Lab

Herb Reichert Dec 13, 2018 First Published: Dec 13, 2018

I needed one black tiddledywink (not provided) to use Dr. Feickert Analogue's three-speed, two-motor, two-armboard Blackbird turntable. The tiddledywink was for covering the Blackbird's painfully bright power-on LED so that it didn't blind me when I cued up a record. The first night, in my dark listening room, this tiny indicator sprayed the wall behind and the ceiling above with more light than a bright-emitting 845 vacuum tube.

Gramophone Dreams Phono Cartridge Reviews Phono Preamp Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #24: Hana & Musical Surroundings

Herb Reichert Oct 04, 2018 First Published: Oct 04, 2018

The days were long, the strawberries ripe, but it wasn't quite summer. It was, however, a perfect night for Otis Redding and Carla Thomas singing the Lowell FulsonJimmy McCracklin classic "Tramp," on a 7" 45rpm single (Stax 45-216).

Otis: What you call me?

Carla: Tramp! You don't wear continental clothes, or Stetson hats.

Gramophone Dreams Powerline Accessory Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #23: AudioQuest, Triode Wire Labs

Herb Reichert Jul 24, 2018 First Published: Jul 24, 2018

Before I spin this 23rd edition of "Gramophone Dreams," I must ask: How many of you are using zip-cord as your speaker cables? RadioShack interconnects? Those black universal 18/3 power cords that come standard with virtually every audio amplifier?

AudioQuest Storm Tornado/High-Current power cord
A few months after I wrote about AudioQuest's Niagara 1000 power-line conditioner ($1000), my friend Sphere asked if I'd ever then removed the Niagara from my system, listened, and still thought it improved the sound.

Gramophone Dreams Headphone Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #22: Koss, Focal, iFi

Herb Reichert May 31, 2018 First Published: May 31, 2018

Brooklyn, 1979: Fridays were fierce. After a week of doing construction, I would gobble Wild Turkey at the Spring Lounge, then fall asleep on the F train with a fold of cash and a Sony Walkman stuffed in a chest pocket of my paint-spattered Belstaff Trialmaster jacket. Usually I missed my York Street stop by only a few stations, but occasionally I'd wake up at sunrise on Saturday at the last stop: Coney Island. I didn't mind. It was restorative to shuffle the deserted boardwalk, listening to the Ramones' Road to Ruin or Television's Marquee Moon.

Gramophone Dreams

Gramophone Dreams #21: EMT, Koetsu, Miyajima

Herb Reichert Apr 05, 2018 First Published: Apr 05, 2018

I spent a snowy New York City evening at Rhapsody Music & Cinema, talking with the proprietor, Bob Visintainer, and watching my friend Michael Trei install a Lyra Etna SL moving-coil cartridge in a Graham Engineering Phantom III tonearm mounted on a TechDAS Air Force 3 turntable tethered to a Zesto Tessera phono stage. Every wall was lined with big, floorstanding speakers, all of them expensive. On the main stage that day were Alta Audio's Hestia Titaniums ($32,000/pair).

Gramophone Dreams Phono Preamp Reviews Turntable Reviews

Gramophone Dreams #20: Lounge Audio & MoFi UltraDeck

Herb Reichert Feb 08, 2018 First Published: Feb 08, 2018

In my October 2017 column I reported on two turntables, the Palmer 2.5 and AMG Giro G9, each costing $10,000 and up, depending on ancillaries. It wasn't that I wanted to get all Mikey Fremer Uptown on you; I wanted to refine my listening skills and familiarize my senses with what my own humble system would sound like with a pair of world-class record players.