Yoshiaki Sugano’s Koetsu cartridges were characterized by his unique combination of skills. He was described as a musician, artist, calligrapher, and even a swordsman. According to legend, his life was a study of his hero, Honami Koetsu, a 17th-century Japanese painter. Sugano san’s Supex cartridges, which were released in the 1970s and put moving coils […]
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The ARO is one of the most unusual performance-focused tonearms ever built, reputedly made “hand in glove” for the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable and Troika cartridge. The narrative begins in 1987, when Naim Audio decided to end its particular partnership with Linn Products; Linn was a manufacturer of electronics (remember the LK1/LK2? Some might not!
Although it benefited from designer Jonathon Carr’s vast experience, this was not totally hand crafted by Lyra’s artisan Yoshinori Mishima when it was first released in the UK in 2007. Instead, the initial construction was outsourced. It was also the first to use a Namiki MicroRidge line-contact stylus, however it was wrapped in the traditional
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There aren’t many cartridges that are as divisive as this one. Some people say it has a magical, natural melody that is simply not available in any other pick-up. Others believe it is an out-of-date old bruiser that is absolutely out of its element in today’s world. After owning many variations, all of which were
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People are only now realizing the importance of a turntable plinth. A hefty plinth that stores mechanical energy like a mechanical capacitor should be avoided on any deck with an independently sprung subchassis; instead, it should be light. The issue is that light items aren’t always strong, which is why firms like Linn have typically
Vinyl began declining in popularity in the early 1990s. It had a ‘end of the century’ vibe to it, as if the sting of death will befall it soon long. As a result, the availability of low-cost, high-quality cartridges began to dwindle. The Ortofon VMS series was silently being phased out of dealers’ inventory lists,
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It’s difficult to understand how revolutionary Goldring’s G900 series was when it debuted in the late 1970s. Here was a state-of-the-art technology that weighed a silph-like 4 grams in a world of somewhat heavy, lowish compliance cartridges. It was, for a brief period, the very essence of a modern moving magnet, as zeitgeisty as New
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BSR, a British business, introduced the ADC brand of budget-to-mid-priced turntables in November 1979. Because BSR was a troubled brand, it made natural to adopt the name of the American corporation that controlled it. The Audio Dynamics Corporation had been developing significant vinyl sources for nearly two decades and was a well-known manufacturer of cutting-edge
Ariston was previously one of the most prestigious hi-fi brands. It was the proud moniker on one of Scotland’s best turntables, and it was adored by many a well-heeled audiophile in the 1970s. The brand is now a shell of its former existence, long gone and nearly forgotten, and the RD11 tale is still mired
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Despite not being a favorite of the British hi-fi press, Ariston Audio developed a great line of turntables for a decade and a half. The Prestwick company received consistently positive feedback, but it never quite managed to inspire hi-fi enthusiasts in the same way that Linn and Rega did. Regardless, its commodities were well-received and
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