Michael Fremer leaves Analog Planet

Mike is a walking, talking anthropomorphic inappropriate joke, just waiting for a chance to embarrass itself whenever he meets or interacts with an actual (and unsuspecting) human being. Its self appointed position as the coolest and funniest joke ever told, is frequently revealed while he stops to explain the attempted  humor that is so trite, juvenile, contrived, stretched, overused and/or inadequate, the words never stand on their own to the point that they produce a laugh. His poor victims smile through his mocking attempts to marginalize their culture, intellect, design acumen, patois, regional and national accents, style of dress, choice of equipment, body type, hair, lunch or the car they drive. If you didn’t grow up Fremer, you’re just not worth respecting, unless associating with you validates the walking, talking joke as the coolest walking, talking joke, which is all the bad joke really wants, besides free stuff. Don’t forget the often present punchline where the joke asks for your stuff as a memento for having come to your place of business so the joke can make a monetized YouTube video at your expense. See, you owe him for that, and it’s his way of telling you that, even if he claims it’s only a joke when you don’t immediately comply or offer up. Don’t worry, he’s experienced. He knows your embarrassment will eat at you and he’ll soon make you another offer to get rid of your stuff. Go ahead and comply this time. That’s when the tone changes and suddenly he’ll trip on himself trying to get out a few lines of praise to make you feel better about having been robbed. 
 

Most of time I found that the way Michael hears music falls in line with how I hear it.  I agree most of the time with his reviews.  The most intriguing to me was when he compared his 150K+ table to the Technics 1200G.  I could not believe in many ways how the G sounded very close to and in some ways, had more punch than the state of the art table.  A very honest review to say the least.

Fremer doesn't say everything he has to say, you should be able to read between and outside the lines.  Also, he's got $30k speakers cables, this alone counts a lot.

He is alright and he is a very important person to keep analogue alive, especially in the US. I wish him well.

I am generally against criticizing audio components primarily because of their retail cost, but what could there possibly be about a pair of speaker wires that could justify a retail price of $30,000? I think MF has to use such equipment in order to make the reader feel that whatever component he is evaluating, the evaluation has been done with the best possible equipment and auditioned by a train to pair of ears, supposedly, the ears of MF. We have to keep in mind that MF does what he does in order to make a living. For the rest of us, it is a hobby, except for the occasional dealer or manufacturer who chooses to comment here.  Since he is trying to make a living, it is inevitable and unavoidable that he will have to temper his public comments on equipment, especially mega-expensive equipment. Since he has to maintain a very expensive system for the reason I cited, he likewise probably has to depend on the makers of such equipment for loans, at least sometimes for some of the gear. In the old days, Harry Pearson and probably others at absolute sound were notorious for borrowing equipment from manufacturers that they then never returned or perhaps only returned years later when it was out of date. It is not shocking or even all that damning to learn that MF may do some of the same things, although I think he has said in the past that he owns everything in his home system. Perhaps I am incorrect on that. After all, the components in his system are repeatedly mentioned in the course of his reviews, and that is valuable free advertising. I remember when Lloyd Walker told me how happy he was that Jonathan Valin endorsed his proscenium turntable and how apprehensive he was that valin might change his mind.