NY Audio & AV 2012

The record player used in the Robyatt suite was the Anatase (price available upon request) from Oswalds Mill Audio: an original Lenco motor unit updated with a custom-made bearing and idler wheel assembly, and wedded to a massive slate plinth. The primary arm was the excellent Thomas Schick Tonearm ($1675), used with various Miyajima cartridges.

Robyatt's Robin Wyatt shows off what may be the world's only vacuum-tube wristwatch. (Has Ken Kessler seen this?)

Robert Stein of Ultra Systems (and of the innovative retail outlet The Cable Company) introduced an accessory called the WA Quantum Chip. Available in different sizes, ranging in price from $7.50 to $65 each, the German-made WA Chip is a removable sticker that contains an impregnated film, which is reportedly subjected to a special treatment. Sized for everything from fuses to cell phones to speakers, WA Chips are claimed to increase component efficiency and current flow, for audibly enhanced performance.

Here's the Vinyl Cleaner ($3895), a new type of LP washing machine made in Germany by Audio Desk Systeme Glass (they make a popular CD edge-trimmer you've no doubt seen) and distributed in the US by Ultra Systems. Described by Robert Stein as "the only way you can really clean the bottom of a record groove," the Vinyl Cleaner uses ultrasonic waves to separate dirt and vinyl from one another, and dries the disc with a fan instead of a vacuum (the latter induces static, according to the designer). Watch for Michael Fremer's review in an upcoming episode of "Analog Corner."

The New York Audio and AV show (wait a minute: Doesn’t the A in AV already stand for Audio?) takes place at the famed Waldorf=Astoria from 3:00pm to 8:00pm today, from 10:00am to 6:00pm Saturday, and from 10:00am to 5:00pm on Sunday). Yesterday I was weary from traveling (I arrived here by train from Philadelphia), so it wasn’t until this morning that I noticed the carpet pattern outside the door of my room: a William Morris-style bunny. I’m clearly in the right place.