Discs WON’T DIE! Musings upon the persistence of the physical medium…
I have been around since before the digital dawn. And oh boy did we think that CD was the utter bee’s knees! The late Frank Zappa believed it so utterly, that he binned all his analogue tapes, keeping only CD resolution digital files….and losing, in the process, a whole lot of depth and beauty that he didn’t realise was going down the pan.
But unlike Frank, an awful lot of people simply couldn’t bring themselves to wantonly destroy a collection of vinyl that has resonance and meaning for them. For more than most things (Laser Disc has this too, for the same reason) actual records are deeply desirable objects in themselves, not least of which is because of the discipline of Album Art. Some record covers have become iconic, like Pink Floyd’s Dar Side Of The Moon, with its black back ground, prism and rainbow split beam of light. That 12 inch square has been very important in the past.
And as we go further into amazing digital cunning, we have seen that record players are still being developed and launched at the top end, as well as last week’s news about a new CD deck. One so clever it can be used as an audiophile digital signal fettler. Yet analogie not only refuses to die, it is even supporting specialist manufacturers like EAT.. Here is their latest brace of products released. Stuff that your grandfather would have easily understood and enjoyed.
EAT (European Audio Team) is a specialist manufacturer of analogue audio equipment, including turntables, cartridges, phono stages and vacuum tubes (valves). The company’s founder and CEO is Jozefina Lichtenegger, who is married to Heinz Lichtenegger – boss of Pro-Ject, the world’s largest manufacturer of ‘hi-fi quality’ turntables. The two companies are separate but share a close working relationship; EAT products are designed and built by a specialist team within the Pro-Ject factory. In terms of design ethos, the distinction between EAT and Pro-Ject is akin to that between Porsche and Volkswagen.
These two new creations take EAT’s upmarket product concepts into more affordable territory…
E-Glo Petit is the latest – and smallest – of three EAT E-Glo valve-based phono preamplifiers, its hybrid design delivering a wonderfully fluid and communicative sound with any high-quality turntable. Its distinctive appearance exudes attention to detail, from the aluminium and wood casing to the tactile switches and dials, with two 12AX7 valves protruding from the top plate, protected by aluminium discs.
Prelude is EAT’s first turntable below £1000, with a simple, elegant and highly effective design drawing on elements from the company’s more costly, highly acclaimed decks. Six layers of piano lacquer and a low-profile, heavyweight aluminium platter give the Prelude a classy look, alongside a purpose-made carbon-fibre tonearm. It comes ready-to-play with a factory-set Ortofon 2M Red phono cartridge.
Prices and availability
The EAT E-Glo Petit phono stage is available now at a UK RRP of £1249.
The EAT Prelude turntable is available from March at a UK RRP of £999 (inc. dust cover, tonearm and Ortofon 2M Red cartridge).