![]() ![]() I wound up being fascinated by this type of operation and came up with practical jokes to play on vinyl newbies. The Pear Audio Blue Kid Howard, however, does nothing without your help. At 45 rpm, however, the platter just sits there, motionless, until you put your back into it. But I also discovered that you don’t need a push to get the platter going at 33rpm-it takes a minute or two, but it gets there on its own. ![]() The Palmer has a very big and heavy platter, so the low-torque motor has to work harder. ![]() I ran into this type of design when I reviewed the Palmer 2.5t turntable a couple of years ago, another design that was inspired by Fletcher’s turntables. What this means, ultimately, is that you have to give the platter a spin with your hand in order to get it up and running. The idea, of course, is that the bigger the motor, the more vibrations and noise it creates. ![]() If you’re familiar with the Nottingham Analogue turntables of yore, you’ll know that Tom Fletcher, preferred to use low torque motors that were just powerful enough to keep the platter spinning at the right speed, and no more. If I loved it, I told Michael, I would buy it. (Michael sent me a Kid Howard with the optional black satin finish, which bumps the cost to $5,500 for the complete rig.) So I ended Turntable Madness 2022 and told Michael that I’d review the Pear Audio Blue Kid Howard-a turntable fitted with the company’s flagship Cornet 2 tonearm for $5,000, just a bit more than the Technics. (The original company still exists, however.) These are the core designs from the late Tom Fletcher, which were given to Pear Audio’s Peter Mezek. I also know the story behind Pear Audio Blue, that it’s the reincarnation, of sorts, of Nottingham Analogue-a turntable brand I always admired. I know all about Pear Audio Blue, of course- Scot Hull reviewed the Pear Audio Blue Kid Thomas just a couple of years ago. I can send it to you right now.” That was Michael Vamos of Audio Skies, the North American distributor for Pear Audio Blue. One person stepped forward and said “Hi, Marc. For now, I needed something that was a) reliable and b) sounded great and c) was roughly the same price as a new Technics SL-1200G. (Why do I always pick on the BMW M3 for these high-end audio price comparisons? Frankly, I have no idea.) Maybe that EMT is strictly an old man toy, something to look forward to when I’m a hermit. If money wasn’t an issue, I’d just contact Hans van Vliet in Amsterdam and purchase one of his meticulously restored EMT 927s-for around the price of a new BMW M3. I do want to bring up my budget for a second, because that dictated my choices. In more than one case, I simply couldn’t get someone on the phone. Much of the time it was those dang supply chain issues. It got to the point where every day I would wake up with a different turntable on my mind, but for one reason after another I had to move on. The usual suspects came and went-the Rega P10 I’ve always wanted, maybe a rebuilt Thorens TD-125 II, maybe the Gem Dandy Polytable I enjoyed so much a couple of years ago. Can there be anything more exciting, at least to a guy who calls himself The Vinyl Anachronist, than to buy a new turntable-anything I wanted, at least within a budget? Due to all those supply chain issues out there, the waiting list for a new G kept getting longer and longer, and I needed something now. I immediately thought about another SL-1200G, or an SL-1210G. While I still wanted to play with fancy, esoteric turntables, I needed something that would play vinyl anytime I asked, no questions asked. I needed my workhorse turntable to be simple, easy to set-up, and incredibly reliable. What the 1200G had become was a workhorse, something I could use as a back-up turntable when I didn’t have something in for review. But then one day Scot called and said, “I need it back.” Words and Photos by Marc Phillips I even bought a couple of removable headshells, another audiophile rabbit hole for Technics owners. I got used to the idea of spending the rest of my life with it. For a while, I thought I’d never have to give it back. Why the Pear Audio Blue? It’s a strange and convoluted tale, but here goes.Īs I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I used that T echnics SL-1200G, borrowed from PTA publisher Scot Hull for the first three years I’ve been here. It took me over two years to decide on one, but I finally settled on the Pear Audio Blue Kid Howard turntable, complete with the Pear Audio Blue Cornet 2 tonearm. ![]()
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