Grand Prix Monaco review in new Stereophile- OUCH

I think Mikey does a very good job at reviewing, as he is consistent in his listening approach and generally has more than one arm / cartridge combination to makes his assessment on its sound.
As long as you understand Mikey's musical tastes and tonal/sonic preferences you can get a pretty good idea of what an item sounds like.
No - that does not preclude listening to it yourself, however it is nigh impossible to listen to everything.

Take his review on the Einstein phono pre amp - it is pretty much spot on. I have it at home on demo and it is extremely dynamic, pure and transparent. It has the BEST bass drive I have ever heard. However it can sound a little forward and uncompromising on top. pretty much what Mikey said.

I was thinking about the Monaco, but its inherent sonic signature is enough for me not to pursue a lot of time in trying to have a listen to it. I prefer a more euphonic on top, but still dynamic view of preceedings.

I think Mikey has more than done enough for us audiophiles. We can look at our own listening preferences and use Mikey's view's to allow us to at least narrow down potential opportunities and have a listen for ourselves..

happy listening

Raul

Your comments re myself and others " MF has a great great responsability in its hands ( like no one in the analog domain. ) and that's why I think he has to be more carefully about"

I respectfully disagree. YOu don't need to agree with the final outcome of what MF says, however if you understand his listening biases and comparison reference points his a valuble and consistent help to us vinylphiles.

For me to try and listen to a Monaco TT would be VERY difficult from here in Australia, and going on MF's review and his consistency and professionalism in reviewing products over the years I will not actively chase my tail in trying to hear the Monaco.
Hopefully one day I will to see if MF's view is accurate when putting my listening biases to work.

Unfortunately no one can listen to all TT's, so you need to either be lucky enough to be able to listen or take some advise from professional reviewers.

Who else would you out of any reviewer believe more the Mikey??.
J Valin or W Garcia - Valin is a joke and both give you no frame of reference to what they are listening and how it compares to other TT's. R Gregory is OK, however he spends too much time trying to think up better and smarter metaphor's - and beside anyone that has an entire loom of Valhalla must have some high frequencies missing.

Mikey Fremer - keep up the good work. ps, when are you going to review the Walker TT or does J Valin have to return his permanent loaner first :-)

Raul

MF also compared the Monaco against the Merrill or are you forgetting that.

No-one has seemed defensive against his comments on the Merrill???

has anyone heard the Merrill??