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A Diamond In The Rough: The Goldring G800 Phono Cartridge
Out of all the twists and turns on the long and winding road to audio nirvana, as a vinyl enthusiast, my favorite little corner to explore is the world of phono cartridges – particularly that of overlooked vintage cartridges that may be forgotten and easy to find on the cheap. The Goldring G800 certainly qualifies, […]
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Now Spinning: Shawn Phillips – Second Contribution
‘I don’t wanna hear old sad bastard music, Barry, I just want something I can ignore!‘ A charming description, courtesy of the Rob Gordon character from High Fidelity (scene included in the film version only), used to describe an apparently forgettable if pleasant Belle & Sebastian album. A scene so memorable, that Belle & Sebastian, […]
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Phono Cartridge Review: The Venerable Nagaoka MP-110
The Nagaoka MP-110 is a current phono cartridge offering from longtime Japanese stylus manufacturers, Nagaoka, and has become tremendously popular in recent years for providing an appetizing, warm and pleasant sound quality at a reasonable price point. HISTORY So what do we know about Nagaoka? Not much, I’m afraid, but enough to know that they […]
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Now Spinning: The Allman Brothers Band – Cream Of The Crop 2003
Often times my favorite Record Store Day releases are the ones that I’m able to pick up after the ‘holiday’ at a discount. That was the case with this year’s Allman Brothers Band release, which turned up at my local used record store just days after Record Store Day, and still looks to be available […]
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Now Spinning: Bill Black’s Combo – Plays Tunes by Chuck Berry
What an absolute blast this one is to listen to, which somehow serves as a pinnacle, last gasp and tribute to early rock ‘n’ roll all at once. Bill Black, of course, is legendary for teaming with Scotty Moore to back Elvis on his first sessions at Sun Studios. Black would remain with Elvis until […]
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Now Spinning: Herbie Mann – Memphis Underground
Funky Friday music with this classic from Herbie Mann and a frighteningly loaded cast of supporting musicians. Few, if any, musicians can compete with the constant musical open-mindedness and curiosity of jazz flutist Herbie Mann. He would quite literally explore a different genre or set of influences with every single album – Impressions of the […]
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In Defense of the Humble Record Changer
A couple of weeks ago, I repaired the record changer function on my Garrard A70 and shared a video of the record changing mechanism in action with a vintage HiFi Facebook group I belong to, and was amused by a few scattered comments like ‘If you are too lazy to change the record yourself, you […]
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Now Spinning: Plant And See
Plant And See was a very short-lived but extremely unique late sixties group that mixed the standard psychedelic rock sound of the day with a wider palette of influences than your typical garage rockers, leading to a southern gumbo of sound featuring an earthier, swampy funk edge. The band had only very minor success, and […]
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Exploring Tom Petty’s Stereo Setup
I’m a fierce advocate for everyone enjoying music however they like, the key words are joy and music, not gear. So I’m not one to judge, but as someone with a deep passion for the gear, I’m always fascinated by how people listen to music. So I loved this look into Tom Petty’s 1978 stereo […]
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A Return
After taking a couple of year blogging hiatus, it’s time for a relaunch of Box Full of Records, same as before, but with an additional focus on vintage audio gear to accompany all the records. Just over a year ago, I lost my full-time job and, feeling a little unsatisfied after a long and expensive […]