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1 week ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
AXPONA 2025 Show Report, First Impressions Edition, Part 3: TEAC
Welcome welcome welcome to Part 3 of my AXPONA: First Impressions series.
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1 week ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
AXPONA 2025 Show Report, First Impressions Edition, Part 2: Clearaudio & Quintessence Audio Ltd.
Welcome back to Part 2 of my AXPONA: First Impressions series. Today’s as-I-write-it soundtrack was quite symmetrical.
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1 week ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
AXPONA 2025 Show Report, First Impressions Edition, Part 1: Grimm Audio and Revox
It seems like only yesterday we were at AXPONA 2025 — well, actually, it was exactly yesterday, April 13, 2025, that we spent our last day at AXPONA, and what a deeply fulfilling show it was overall. AXPONA just seemed to fly on by this year, even though it was busier, “hustlier,” and “bustlier” (to coin a phrase) than it was last year.
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2 weeks ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
If there’s one product category I want to see in droves at AXPONA, it’s gotta be turntables. Luckily, I got an early look at a cool new table before heading off to the airport today, and since I promised to post a few new gear previews before touching ground at the big show, here’s the next one — namely, SME’s new Model 8 turntable. SME and their team at Monarch System Ltd.
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2 weeks ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
We’re a day away from wheels-up to AXPONA, but as I noted in my show primer here yesterday, I wanted to share a few cool new gear previews before heading off to the event. Here’s one of them, courtesy of our friends at Choice Audio, and the Vinnie Rossi line in particular.
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2 weeks ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
As we get ready to head off to AXPONA in just a day’s time, we wanted to post a macro-level primer that sets the broader table for what we expect to see and hear at the show before we dial deeper into analog-centric minutiae in our firsthand show reports.
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3 weeks ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
Lirpa Labs John Cage 4'33" Silent Turntable: Yet Another AnalogPlanet Exclusive!!!
Mike Mettler | Mar 31, 2025 | First Published: Apr 1, 2025
I thought I was safe this time, but I should have known better. When my iPhone rang at exactly midnight Malaysian time and I promptly ignored it, I knew who it was — who it had to be, who it could only be.
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3 weeks ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
Nagra knows all about recording — and Nagra knows phono too. The venerable Swiss manufacturer, initially known for making top-shelf portable audio recorders as far back as 1951, have just announced the introduction of their latest hi-fi product, the Compact Phono preamp. Nagra made their hi-fi bones back in the day with their first hi-fi product, the Nagra PL-P preamp, which the company confirms was inspired by the microphone preamp in their classic IV-S reel-to-reel tape recorder.
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3 weeks ago | 
soundandvision.com | Mike Mettler
Has it really been 50 years since electro-pop pioneers Kraftwerk graced us with the sprawling techno-majesty of their fourth album, Autobahn? Mein Gott. Technically speaking, Autobahn was released in November 1974 by Philips, so we’re entering Year 51 of its mighty wake—but oh, what a long, sweet ride it has been. Kraftwerk’s enduring influence on electronic, pop, and progressive music writ large is practically incalculable.
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3 weeks ago | 
analogplanet.com | Mike Mettler
One Little Victor, He: Alex Lifeson, out of the weeds and into the breach again, this time on the inner sleeve of the second disc of the 2024 2LP reissue of his 1996 solo album, Victor. Photo by Andrew MacNaughtan. Progressive thinking, thy name is Alex Lifeson. The once and forever Rush guitarist recently found new creative life within his current four-person band Envy of None, and he couldn’t be happier.
