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Michael Fremer's Music Room Tour

This is quite interesting, although rather long! The podcast host is occasionally playing devils advocate, but Fremer (as always) is not shy with a story or a comeback. Some interesting background info on vinyl manufacturing I certainly wasn't aware of.

In the interview he does mention his own system quite extensively, having just upgraded to Wilson XVX speakers, and also his intention to replace his Caliburn turntable, but wouldn't be drawn on specific models other than saying "there were a couple I'm considering".



More info over on Analog Planet...

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michael-fremer/id1316200737?i=1000514347651

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/i-was-guest-bob-lefsetz-podcast-aired-today-so-listen
 
He’s a really positive force IMO. The decades he spent championing vinyl in the dark days has almost certainly had a real tangible effect on musicians earning potential, especially now in the days of covid 19 stopping all gig income. Spending proper money on beautiful vinyl editions is now normalised even against a backdrop of true exploitation from low-fee streaming services etc. I don’t agree with everything he says by any extent, but he has done way more than most of us when it comes to keeping both audio and recorded music alive and viable.
 
He came a long since his days as comedian... I wonder what he does for a living?

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Are you sure he stopped?
 
I’d expect he’d get trade price or be able to buy the review sample at a reduced rate, but yes, it’s struck me as a remarkably expensive system. Far more so than the likes of Art Dudley, Sam Tellig, Herb Reichart etc who ran/run really nice classic kit in the main.
 
Mostly down to the sales success of his turntable video set up guide, which he references in the podcast, plus a trade discount on some items. But he insists, there are no freebies in his system.
 
His favourite turntable at the moment, bettering his Caliburn, seems to be the SAT XD-1 that uses the Technics new SP-10R motor unit with better Isolation and supposedly other improvements. He has The expensive SAT arm, but the turntable without arm is $150,000 so he will need a good discount unless he has a hord of spare money. :D
 
I understand the AUP and potential libel but you could have asked me to rephrase and remove some bits.

There's an unhealthy relation between the industry and the media. Should we keep it secret?
 
There's an unhealthy relation between the industry and the media. Should we keep it secret?

In your somewhat narrow and apparently ill-informed opinion. You posted a load of totally unsubstantiated crap here to attack folk who have earned far more respect in this industry than some random forum poster hiding behind a pseudonym ever will. I would never argue the audio press is above criticism, I can bring to mind some well documented corruption at times in the UK press, but no way in hell will I run the sort of negativity you attempted to post earlier. Get yourself a blog (and a good lawyer) if you have a soapbox of that magnitude!

From my own interpretation Stereophile is as good as it gets. Good editorial policy and some of the best writers in the industry. Unquestionably a net benefit to both music and audio. Why not aspire to be the same?!
 
I don't get why people are so hung up about these things?

'A British Audiophile' is a good channel too. I initially found his presentation a bit laboured but now genuinely enjoy his views. Another one to watch is 'The Alpha Audio'.
 
In your somewhat narrow and apparently ill-informed opinion. You posted a load of totally unsubstantiated crap here to attack folk who have earned far more respect in this industry than some random forum poster hiding behind a pseudonym ever will. I would never argue the audio press is above criticism, I can bring to mind some well documented corruption at times in the UK press, but no way in hell will I run the sort of negativity you attempted to post earlier. Get yourself a blog (and a good lawyer) if you have a soapbox of that magnitude!

From my own interpretation Stereophile is as good as it gets. Good editorial policy and some of the best writers in the industry. Unquestionably a net benefit to both music and audio. Why not aspire to be the same?!

In spite of their good editorial policy they were openly peddling MQA. And what do you mean by "best writers in the industry", most entertaining?
I do see your point regarding potential libel so I'll stop.
 
In spite of their good editorial policy they were openly peddling MQA.

I’d interpret it as ‘openly covering MQA’, as we did here on pfm despite it being of zero interest to me as a subject. Some folk were clearly interested, it looked like it would be a big ‘thing’, so of course Stereophile covered it, interviewed its developers etc etc as any leading audio magazine would. They did similar when Neil Young’s Toblerone thing was viewed as the future, and likely did similar way back when the Elcassette was introduced. To this day I’ve still no idea why MQA wound so many people up. I skim-read an article, decided I didn’t give a crap one way or the other, and went back to enjoying proper physical formats that actually pay musicians a living.

And what do you mean by "best writers in the industry", most entertaining?

Just what I said. The magazine straddles the increasingly tedious objective/subectivism divide effortlessly. It is not as good as it was a decade or so ago as for me the best writers were Art Dudley and Sam Tellig, but there is still much of interest. I have to admit I tend to read the columns and music reviews more than the equipment reviews as I actually have very little interest in modern hi-fi! I find it refreshing just how many of the Stereophile crowd used what is to my mind proper hi-fi (124s, 301s, LP12, classic valve amps, LS3/5As, ESLs, Altecs etc) as their own system/reference rather than the usual rolling road of bling-fi review samples or whatever. I genuinely take Michael Fremer at his word when he says he bought his own system, I have no reason or evidence to doubt him and I like the guy. That said Art Dudley’s 301 & 124, Shindo amps and Altec Valencias was exponentially cooler to my mind!
 


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