by Oliver Amnuayphol
Praise be the video gods at YouTube, who allow us plebes to upload nearly any kind of personal video for all the world to see--including vids of some seriously heavy-duty hi-fi and analog rigs. There's almost nothing I love more than staring at the platters of supremely lustworthy vinyl spinners going 'round and 'round--except maybe sharing them with all you analoggerheads out there. So without further delay, I officially bring you the next installment of Analog Luvin' the YouTube Way.
Up first is some video of the Clearaudio Statement turntable I wrote about previously. You may recall the Statement being one of the most expensive 'tables in the world; check out how the person handling the records and table appropriately takes the utmost care in prepping the vinyl and the 'table for a most ritualistic playback experience:
Now that magnetically isolated turntable bearing/platter assemblies are all the rage, it's easy to forget the turntable that started it all, the JC Verdier La Platine Verdier. Universally praised as a revolutionary design, the Platine Verdier uses opposing magnets to mechanically decouple the platter from every other part of the turntable, thereby drastically reducing friction, resonance-induced distortions and sympathetic vibrations for nearly perfect rotational operation. Indeed, this YouTube video shows how the platter's rotational stability is so perfect that, were it not for reflecting light and digital video pixelization artifacts, one would be hard-pressed to know whether the platter is stopped or spinning:
If you're a hi-fi and vinyl nut, chances are you've probably heard of Simon Yorke and his beautiful transcription-quality turntables. If not, perhaps all you need to know is that the Library of Congress, home to the world's largest archival recorded sound and music library, commissioned no less than five transcription-quality turntables from Mr. Yorke for archiving some of their most precious and delicate records. Here is the man himself talking about why he loves analog, God bless him:
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