I only met Michael once properly, although I have bumped into him occasionally at the odd show. I found him engaging, friendly and amusing. I also admire his personal love for music and vinyl it’s utterly sincere and from the heart.
He’s one of the few truly superstar audio reviewers and I think he knows his stuff. He’s worked hard to get there and is able to spend his life doing what he loves. When Michael writes something the world listens and that’s an enviable position to have attained.
As for the heavy equipment the manufacturers in my experience usually come down and install or collect the heavy/high value stuff from reviewer houses (thank goodness frankly!) If you were faced with a huge ATC subwoofer on a wooden pallet marked “two man lift” you’d be glad too lol!! Most of this stuff needs 2 or even 3 people to move it around and I don’t really want my wife of daughter to be putting their back out doing it so I expect Michael is the same.
In my experience the set-up/packdown can be one of the most tedious bits of reviewing - amps are the worst because they entail pulling the whole system apart and don’t even get me started on the whole issue of spike levelling… Having said that I recently reviewed the PMC twenty5.26 and they had the best spike levelling arrangement I have ever come across - just brilliant and I hope one day every speaker and stand manufacturer does things the same way… Article isn’t out yet but I enjoyed writing a (hopefully funny) rant about spikes in there!
Not without controversy in the past, however he was brave enough to compare his Continuum reference table to the Technics SL-1200G with sound samples available publicly-good for the community (and him)!
It’s a pretty good review of the Technics in terms of unvarnished opinion and removal of expectation bias. He accurately describes the mindset of the SL range naysayer crowd that I belonged to for 25 years… until I got over myself and bought one
@Innocent_Bystander , if you read the “ Accessories “ part, you will find a lot of room treatment components, like ASC tube traps, Skyline panels, Stillpoints Aperture room panels, Synergestic UHE products, and a lot of isolation devices.
Maybe his conclusion on the review of the CD555 in 2007 will calm down some members here. He was also the first foreigner to review the Nac 552 in 2002.
From Stereophile:
Conclusion:
“ Value is almost impossible to define. Is the Naim CD555’s more refined sound worth the $21,650 difference in price between it and the kW DM25? In the highest strata of audiophilia, small incremental sonic improvements seem to cost more as you near the limits of what’s possible, or what was previously considered possible. Like other companies playing in the 16-bit, 44.1kHz playground, Naim has probably reached the limits of what’s possible with the format. Getting there required the expenditure of a great deal of time, effort and money and the results do speak for themselves. I can’t say listening was a “mind blowing” experience, but it was certainly the best CD sound I’ve heard other than that of the mediocre-measuring and twice as expensive Zanden. Call me a “distortion lover.”
That said, the CD555 was the best solid-state CD playback that I’ve heard and while the differences between it and a far less expensive CD player seemed minimal in the short run, I imagine that a music lover with a big collection of CDs and a bank account to match will find his long termlistening pleasure intensified to a degree that would make such a purchase well worth the investment. And then there’s the exceptional engineering, meticulous build quality and attention to detail that went into its design and manufacture. It’s difficult to put a price tag on that, but Naim had to and that price tag is $28,150. Only you can determine if the CD555 is worth that much scratch.“
I similarly skimmed the video and heard a lot about how these ludicrous-looking turntables are constructed, but couldn’t find anything about how they sounded. Given his disinterest in room acoustics, it seems likely that he’s interested more in the construction than the end result.
Bizarre. Also boring and (from a HiFi interest), pointless.
Pretty musch everyone involved in this hobby is a flake. Myself included. Fremer simply states his opinions and experiences. Hes really not coming across as arrogant, hes just not a milquetoast british reviewer.
I think that’ because the video was just an overview of his system and a general chat about music and hifi and not an review of an individual piece of equipment.
Herb Reichert is a flake too , but I like his style of writing. He always has some wild stories to tell. And he used to build tube amps when he was young.
I am a big Michael Fremer fan. I actually corresponded with him before I bought the Verdier years ago. I enjoyed his record reviews on Stereophile and hope he can transition smoothly to Absolute Sound. I also enjoyed The Analog Planet’s format, and that young man he had reviewing new music. Micah somebody I think. And he was right about the CD555!
FYI, the young man you refer to, Malachi Lui, has migrated over to Fremer’s new website The Tracking Angle, which is a continuation of his print magazine of the 90’s.
I think a night out with MF would be really amusing especially after the second beer or more.
Opinionated, well we all are to an extent. Mostly he can back them up with pretty solid facts.
Bland he is not.
Most of this stuff needs 2 or even 3 people to move it around and I don’t really want my wife of daughter to be putting their back out doing it so I expect Michael is the same.
