The Pressing of Wilco's The Whole Love LP

Brian Weaver sent me this link to a YouTube video chronicling the pressing of the new Wilco album, The Whole Love, on LP. This is the first video I've seen of the Furnace MFG plant, and it looks like an exceptionally clean facility. It's seems quiet, too; I've been to RTI a number of times and it seems busy, noisy and hectic in comparison.

At any rate, Wilco is one of my very favorite groups and I'll be grabbing this on vinyl as soon as I can. The last Wilco LP, The Wilco Album, came with a free CD version of the album. I hope they do this again, 'cuz Wilco's a great companion on those long road trips and I rarely drive without at least one of their albums in my glove box.

More Pics of the Giro...

Got the Giro all set up and playing. All in all it wasn't that difficult to set up properly; if I had to do it again I'd breeze right through in a few minutes. The Unison UN1 cartridge was especially easy to mount, and the Unison-supplied protractor was effective and fairly accurate.

The only downside is that you need to set tracking force with an external gauge, so if you don't have one you'll need to get one. There are no little markings on the counterweight a la Rega.

Anti-skating is also dealt with in a novel way; the large bolt in the bracket just to the right of the tonearm pivot sits opposite of a trio of magnets on the tonearm, near the pivot. By screwing the bolt in or out, you counter the anti-skating forces. Simple and elegant.

Finally, I had to reset the loading on my Lehmann Audio Black Cube SE for the UN1 cartridge, which is an MM. I also used the phono section on my Unison Unico Nuove amp for a brief spell. Now it's time to let everything break in.

How Cool Is Your Hi-Fi?

"Now, I'm a writer and editor of an audio and music magazine. My kids are teenagers and know better than to go anywhere near my stereo equipment (they're too busy listening to their iPods to be concerned with my antiquities). The wife has become an ex-wife, and I'm currently seeing a very cute blonde woman who also happens to have a master's in American Literature and loves the Beatles and actually knows Big Star's story... and after nearly nine years in the aesthetically-challenged San Fernando Valley, I live in the Pacific Northwest, where it's rainy and wet and green, just as I like it. Needless to say, it's a great time to listen to records."

I took a lot of flak in the online audio discussion forums a couple of years ago for this admission--apparently some audiophiles didn't want to hear me boasting about my wild single years, and a few even posited that I made the whole thing up and that I was really living the life of the modern audiophile. That, of course, implied that I was sequestered in my Pacific Northwest hovel, listening to my LP collection alone, utterly and geekily alone. The truth was, I wasn't boasting but merely reflecting how much things had changed in the first decade of the Vinyl Anachronist column.

I also wanted to throw a rather risky and possibly far-fetched idea that having an awesome hi-fi was still cool. In those wild years, which have faded considerably in my rear-view mirror, I experienced a wide range of responses to my chosen hobby and profession--everything from actually playing a few records and getting lucky to having one woman tell me, "So, you just sit here and listen to music? You don't do anything else?" (My response to that was "I don't think this is going to work out" and showing her the door.)

Audiophiles have come a long way from the Golden Age of the '70s and '80s, when Playboy magazine asked the question "What kind of man reads Playboy?" and the answer was some cool bachelor with a futuristic Bang & Ofulsen hi-fi in his pad. Audiophiles lament the passing of those days, and the slow transition from coolness to geekiness that is marked by hi-fi nuts rhapsodizing about the best way to perform needledrops, and whether FLAC files are really superior over WAVs and WMAs.

I'm prompted to bring this up after Jason Gross, editor of Perfect Sound Forever, sent me a link to a story about the size of the music industry (which you can read here). Hypebot.com reports that IFPI has compiled 2010 statistics on the music industry, and $25 billion was spent on something called "home audio systems." This was the third largest segment of the music industry, after radio advertising ($32.5 billion) and recorded music retail sales ($27.6 billion), but it's still a much larger number than I thought.

So the real question is: what comprises a "home audio system" in 2011? We audiophiles kids ourselves into thinking that a substantial portion of that should be two-channel audio systems, but the reality is that most of it is probably iPods and wireless music servers and USB interfaces. In other words, we're probably not going to see any full-page spreads in Playboy showing that the type of man who reads their mag is spending his Saturday nights downloading FLAC files and perusing the audio forums in search of the best DAC for $200.

I'll be talking about this a little more when my next Vinyl Ananchronist column appears in Perfect Sound Forever in a few days. Two-channel audio still makes up a very small percentage of "home audio systems," and both hi-fi dealers and audiophiles are hurting because of it. If I could snap my fingers and make hi-fi cool again, I would. Here in my little Texas town, I have plenty of people dropping by to see what I do for a living, which is currently importing tube amplifiers, turntables and single pairs of speakers for US audiophiles. And every single one of these people, who are generally unaware of the presence of high end audio on this planet, are simply amazed at the sound quality that is possible from two-channel audio. (One person, in fact, seemed skeptical that the full soundstage that was reproduced in my listening room was coming from a single pair of speakers; they were convinced that subwoofers and center channels were hiding somewhere in the room.)

Two-channel audio IS cool. It sounds like real musicians right there in the room. Audiophiles need to stop wringing their hands about the current state of affairs, and they need to start inviting their neighbors over for a "music night."

Tone Arm. Get it?

Hee hee. Thanks to Russ Gates for this one. Don't ask me how it sounds.

And no one got my joke about the cartridge being named the Apple.

The Giro has landed.

I know, I know...I said I wasn't going to mention Unison Research or Opera Loudspeakers in this blog since Colleen Cardas and I are the US distributors. But it's news when the Vinyl Anachronist gets a new turntable, isn't it? I'm a company man through and through, and I wanted to get familiar with it before we start selling it in the US.

This is the Unison Research Giro turntable that I just bought. It's mine. I just unboxed it and got it partially set up, but I'm still waiting on the matching UN1 cartridge to show up. [Note: It was hiding in the box the whole time.] Both the Giro and the UN1 are made for Unison by Clearaudio, so you'll notice a distinct resemblance. But these products aren't badge-engineered a la General Motors but made to Unison's specifications. Plus there's all that gorgeous wood on top of the typical Clearaudio acrylic, a Unison trademark.

It's also not plug and play...you have to put it together piece by piece. I've been so spoiled by Rega over the last few years that I'll have to drag out my TT tools and brush up on Turntable Set-Up and Cartridge Alignment 101. It's not anywhere as difficult as the Michell Orbe SE I owned from 2003 to 2009, which came apart in about 100 pieces. But it takes a little time to get everything set up right. But at least Unison supplies a pair of white gloves so you can keep the beautiful, glossy surfaces clean while you're assembling the Giro.

So that's all I will say on the subject.

Thorens TD-160 Super w/Incognito-wired Rega RB-250 from Vinyl Nirvana

Here's another gorgeous 'table for sale at Vinyl Nirvana. This one is an absolutely beautiful Thorens TD-160 Super with a Rega RB-250 arm that's been rewired by Incognito. Here's what David Archimbault of VN has to say about this gem:

"Okay, you can tell from my website and my descriptions that I get pretty excited about turntables and the peripheries…even after all these years. Well, multiply that excitement tenfold and you will know how I feel about this specific turntable. It has been a long time since I even offered a Thorens TD–160 Super on this for sale page because I usually have a waiting list for them. Some years I come across a couple if I am lucky, and other years I don’t see any. That’s what makes this particular TD 160 Super even more thrilling: it is in amazing condition…easily the nicest to cross my bench. Cosmetically, this table is a solid 9.0 on a scale of 1-10. (Those who follow my sales know I rarely use a 9.0 rating.) The red mahogany veneer is in outstanding shape with not a single blemish to report. The metal portion of the plinth is in excellent condition, with absolutely no scuffs or scratches, and only very very slight signs of wear. The dust cover is in very good to excellent condition: there are minor blemishes, light scratches, and some circular scuffing."

Here's what he has to say about the arm:

"If you have never compared a stock Rega RB – 250 to one that has been rewired with the phenomenal Incognito upgrade wiring, it is a night and day difference… a cliche I rarely use., but in this case it’s true. The Incognito upgrade features one-piece pure copper wiring with Faraday Cage shielding. The grounding scheme removes the arm ground from the signal path. the RCA plugs and cartridge pin clips are of high quality. You can search out reviews and see this upgrade is universally praised. The re-wired arm and custom Sound Supports armboard are a $500+ value.

Overall, this is a stunning table with a serious arm capable of handling cartridges in the $500 to $2000 range with ease. I would be happy to mount any cartridge for the new owner for $40. If I install the cartridge, it makes set-up incredibly easy for set-up."

David is selling this one for just $1195 plus shipping. This is another Thorens that will probably sell quickly due to its excellent shape, and David isn't kidding when he says this TT will compete with modern turntables in the $2000 range. For more information, check out the Vinyl Nirvana website.

Poor Boy's Soul's Burn Down on CD

The first time you hear Poor Boy's Soul's new 7-song EP, Burn Down, you're immediately tempted to draw parallels to both The Black Keys and The White Stripes. All three acts mate a blistering, bluesy guitar to a stripped down drum kit, although PBS is certainly ground much deeper into the Mississippi Delta mud than those more famous duos. Then it slowly dawns on you. Is this just one guy, pickin' on his slide guitar while manuevering both a kick drum and a tambourine and singin' with an intense growl that combines pain, anger and hobo-esque sense of loss? It is one guy, Trever Jones, who's set on "stompin' and shoutin' till the heavens cry."

Once you come to this realization, Poor Boy's Soul adds about a dozen layers of depth, and what initially sounds simple, pure and focused now becomes feverish and darned near breathtaking. Jones isn't reinventing blues rock here, but it does pour unimpeded from his poor boy's soul onto the stage into and into every nook and cranny in the joint. From listening to this one CD, you'll immediately know that this is the type of performer who forges his reputation on remarkable live performances. Does he really recreate the sound of this CD on stage? you'll wonder. Can I see it? And when?

Vocally, Jones follows blues tradition by favoring growl over range and you'll swear he's delivering every syllable in the same goddamned note, which is just fine. The lone exception is the seemingly gentle ballad "Annalisa" that closes the album, but what sounds like tenderness is betrayed by haunting lyrics such as "Annalisa, you're stronger than those demons in your head." Those are heady lyrics to sing about a mother of three, and he delivers these words with the unmistakeable tone of someone who has lived through the ten plagues of Egypt and can't wait to see what shit's coming down the road next. He may not have a lot of tricks up his sleeve or gears in his tranny, but he's unbelievably commited to his art and that's more than enough. When he comes to town, I want to see him--is there any higher recommendation than that?