Read all posts matching 'turntable yamamoto' in Crave
Someone, please make it stop.
(Credit: Kittyhell.com)This cat has no shame.
She continues to haunt us with her incessant need to reproduce every consumer item in existence with her likeness on it. Our mistrust of the advancing Kitty empire on Crave is well-known, but we haven't brought it up in a while. Friends, it's time.
The cat is now trying to green-wash her cheap plastic empire, calling this solar-powered cell phone recharger "eco-friendly." Well now, throwing "solar-powered" into the description certainly sounds environmentally friendly. But wait. Apparently it's good for about 500 charges, then you're supposed to throw it away and buy a new one? That's sort of the opposite of eco-friendly.
Moving on, this next item is just inexplicable.
Hello Kitty DJ speakers
(Credit: ThinkGeek)Say hello to the Hello Kitty DJ Speaker. Here our evil feline friend finds herself ensconced in a plastic case, outfitted with headphones and a set of turntables. This is supposed to hook up to your iPod, MP3 or CD player, and she'll bop along to the music. ThinkGeek is selling it for $25. But the worst part is it probably sounds exactly like a $25 speaker.
On a related note, the man who writes the Kittyhell.com blog might be our new hero. We can't believe we've never seen this site before, and if we didn't know better, we'd think it was run anonymously by Crave editor emeritus Mike Yamamoto.
Feel free to post links to the most egregious Hello Kitty paraphernalia you've ever come across in the comments.
(Credit:
Audio Junkies)
Now this is the way to go. If you're going to get into this whole game of esoteric turntables, you might as well go all the way--and that's precisely what Montegiro Lusso has done with its latest offering.
The system is made of three cones consisting of aluminum and acrylic layers, giving it the zebra-stripe look. It also has a titanium cartridge, a synchronous motor, and a Da Vinci Nobile carbon-fiber arm, according to Gizmodo. (Speaking of Da Vinci, this may be the most unusual design since we saw the "AAS-Gabriel" museum-worthy turntable last year.)
Now the bad news--the price: $47,000. That's right. But remember, in the world of exotic audio gear, it can always be worse.
(Credit:
Tech Digest)
As long as we're on the subject of vinyl, it's interesting to note how the designs of modern-day turntables seem to gravitate toward the extremes. At one end there's the impossibly complicated and, at the other, the absolute minimalist. On the latter front, the "Genie 2" from Henley Designs seems to take the spartan approach to an extreme.
It has many qualifications that audiophiles should appreciate, according to Tech Digest, such as a high-torque motor and a peripheral drive to improve stability. But it's hard to imagine where else anything other components are housed in this stripped-down player. In fact, looking at something like the quarter-ton, $150,000 "Transrotor," one wonders how the two can provide the same basic function.
(Credit:
Appliancist)
Given all the bizarre turntables that show up on Crave, we thought this would be yet another one of them upon first glance. Instead, it turned out to be an example of another popular trend we don't understand: ultrasonic cleaning gadgetry.
The SWV-08AM "megasonic cleaning device" from Conway supposedly will eliminate all the disgusting "dirt and agrochemicals" on the surface of everything from fruit to frying pans with little or no detergent, according to Engadget. And it has a built-in "P-Sediment" filter (doesn't everyone?) to maintain the ultra-purity of its water. Germaphobes, rejoice.
(Credit:
Roksan)
It's not the "Transrotor Artus," the $150,000 quarter-ton turntable, but that's not a bad thing either. Instead, U.K.-based Roksan's "Radius 5" vinyl spinner still looks like a museum piece without breaking both your back and budget. Well, that last part might be iffy--it does cost nearly $2,000--but at least that hasn't gone up with this latest version.
The upgraded turntable has a new power supply for "less noise and improved matching of the torque," according to Tech Digest, to go with "a drive mechanism with a custom-made motor and precision-machined solid aluminium alloy pulley, along with a build of solid brass and stainless steel alloy." That's all well and good, but there's yet another reason to want one: So you can play the Police's "Roxanne" on your Roksan. (We didn't say it was a good reason.)
(Credit:
Cambridge Audio )
The design of turntables long ago was elevated to an art form, an appropriate station for a piece of equipment that's often viewed as the domain of eccentrics as much as audiophiles. We continue to see variations upon variations, whether they be made with 24-karat gold, brushed steel, or even stone. And the more esoteric they are, the higher prices seem to go--as much as $150,000 in some cases.
So it was refreshing to see a model headed in the opposite direction, taking a minimalist approach. Cambridge Audio's zen-like TT50 has no MP3 technologies or USB connections--"a plain old turntable like your daddy used to have," as Slippery Brick says. Its only indulgence is a gold-plated RCA plugs.
The resistance to adding features and adornments has given this turntable a clean, uncomplicated look that makes us want to dust off the old Commodores' Greatest Hits. Now if we can only find those plastic things to stick in the middle of the 45s.
(Credit:
Audio Junkies)
(Credit:
eBay)
These turntables remind us of those stone wheels on the cars they drove in the Flintstones. Why? Take a closer look at the photo. The base is made of "non-resonating stone."
Combined with the super-thick synthetic platters on top of them, the stone plinths and supports are designed to reduce vibration and improve contact with the vinyl, according to Audio Junkies. Like the Flintmobile they're lovingly handmade, by Italy's Thesis Audio, in three models. (The full stone chassis pictured here is available only on the top-of-the-line Amalthea.) Foot brakes not included.
(Credit:
Hammacher Schlemmer)
Starting sometime around the last holiday season, it seemed for awhile that the USB turntable was at the top of gadget lists everywhere. So it makes sense that Ion, one of the original manufacturers, would look to repeat that success again this year with a new model.
Enter the "iPod USB Turntable," which not only connects to the computer but turns vinyl tunes into digital files and transfers them directly to the fifth-generation iPod and second-generation Nano through a built-in dock. It's yet another excuse not to throw out those moldy LPs in the basement. Besides, you know you've been eyeing that "Record Flattener" anyway.
(Credit:
GAIS)
Wow. When we first saw this photo on Akihabara News, it felt as if we'd fallen into a time machine. This system looks exactly like a Panasonic stereo we had in 1985.
Yet the "Faltima 010" is indeed a new product, though it does have a distinctly retro-looking built-in turntable on top of the stack. But unlike the all-in-one compact units of the past, this one is self-contained to make it easier to convert tunes from vinyl to CDs, MP3s or pretty much any digital format you wish. (Sorry, there's no 8-track slot so far as we can tell.)
It's unclear when and if this system will make it out of the Japanese market but, until then, it may not be a bad idea to start dusting off that LP collection anyway. And when you do, we're reasonably sure it'll be time to consider something like a "Record Flattener."
(Credit:
Furutech)
With luxury turntables reaching prices well into six figures, a salient question arises: What about the quality of the albums themselves? Even the most ardent vinyl collector has lost a few records to warping over the years.
That's where the "DFV-1 Record Flattener" will prove its worth as long as it stays true to its name. The device, made by Tokyo-based Furutech, claims to be a "one-stop, one-button solution" that uses a "carefully controlled heating and cooling cycle it flatten all your warped records, even those with only slight irregularities that still unsettle your cartridge causing mistracking."
The Flattener doesn't come cheap at $1,480, but it's all relative when you're spending $150,000 to play your records. Besides, as fellow Craver Rafe Needleman suggests, maybe you can use it to make Eggos too.
