Music Hall

What's New

Review: Music Hall Marimba

Can a turntable specialist make a good speaker?
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted March 26, 2013
The Marimba is the first speaker ever offered under the Music Hall brand, known for affordable turntables and audiophile electronics. Clearly, the sound was the focus; the Marimba’s black ash vinyl wrap finish won’t win any design awards. The 1-inch silk-dome tweeter and 5.25-inch, polypropylene-cone woofer are mounted in a rear-ported, 11-inch-high cabinet.

» Read More
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2012 Report: Best Speakers

From $349 to $17K, the hottest new transducers at the Denver show
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted October 17, 2012
- 1
If you’re looking to hear the latest speakers, there’s no better place to go than Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Last weekend’s show was packed with new speakers, ranging from bookshelf designs to huge towers, budget models to budget-busting models, and ordinary to exotic.

» Read More
Table Talk: How To Set Up a Turntable

A step-by-step guide to increased vinyl enjoyment
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted September 19, 2012
ACROSS THE CONTINENT, thousands are taking part in an almost-forgotten rite. It melds advanced technology, knowledge handed down through the decades, and a little dose of black magic. As most rituals do, it appalls many nonbelievers, but that fact only makes its practitioners relish it more.

» Read More
Show and Tell: Phono Cartridge Choice and Installation

Give your vinyl revolver a new bullet.
- By Michael Trei
- Posted April 19, 2012
- 1
After having been declared dead sometime back in the 1990s, analog turntables and vinyl records have made a strong comeback in recent years. That’s great, but for people who come from the CD or iPod generations, it’s hard to comprehend just how tweaky the world of analog playback can be. Unlike a CD player or iPod which you simply connect and play, most turntables require careful optimization to deliver the best possible sound.

» Read More
Spin Doctors: Ten Turntables Under $500

Cure your sonic blues with these affordable decks
- By James K. Willcox
- Posted December 28, 2011
I’d had my AR ES-1 turntable for about 20 years when a tenant burned my house — and the turntable and about 3,000 records — to the ground the one time I decided to rent it. If this sad story has a silver lining, it’s that it sent me back into the world of vinyl and turntables.

» Read More