LETTERS
25 years of Michael Fremer
I remember reading Michael Fremer’s first column in Stereophile and nodding as he shared his experience of hearing a CD player for the first time. Digital playback has improved dramatically—it only took 35 years—but vinyl still sounds best. That fact is reconfirmed every time I buy an LP of music that I’ve owned for years only on CD.
While all of us who love vinyl can take some credit for its continued viability, Mr. Fremer has long banged the drum for our favorite format and called out stupidity in media sources that criticize our passion without, apparently, actually listening to music. He’s prickly, opinionated, irascible, and, above all, passionate. I don’t always agree with him, but I trust him and his writing. Bless him, and may he continue for a long, long time.
—Joe Taylor
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
About Señor Fremer’s Analog Corner column in the October 2020 issue: His journey is much like mine, and, I suspect, many others in pursuit of pleasure through properly reproduced music. He’s got 15 years was 15, riding my bike to the only good stereo shop in my crappy little farm town in California. What I didn’t realize at first was that this store was the original distributor for Vandersteen Audio. “Richard” became a household name with me and the kid that lived the next street over. So, while I enjoyed swim team, playing football, and cars, hi-fi was my first priority. In those days I had a Kenwood 3500 (which I still have), a Connoisseur BD2A with a Grado cartridge, and some speakers I built from a kit.
