Dec 9, 2021 7:30 PM

Even with all the exciting vinyl products at the recent Capital Audio Fest, one analog guy blew our minds—not with a new vinyl-cutting process or new cartridge technology, but with good, old-fashioned research into cartridge manufacturing and tonearm optimization. We are pleased to have that guy, J.R. Boisclair of WallyTools and WAM Engineering, as our guest for the next Zoom meeting. WAM Engineering is a company formed in 2020 to continue the work of the late Wally Malewicz, a turntable setup guru and maker of unique alignment tools used by audiophiles who want to get the best out of their precious vinyl. None other than Michael Fremer calls Wally his mentor.

Wally’s legacy continues under his son, Andrzej, and Wally’s former assistant, J.R. Boisclair, who are now delving deeper into what makes a cartridge and tonearm work optimally (or abysmally, in some cases). If you attended J.R.’s seminars (or the Q&A sponsored by Gary Koh, Merrill Wettasinghe, Larry Borden and Isaac Rivera) at the Capital Audio Fest, you understand the kind of breakthrough work J.R. is doing. Recently he’s been consulting with cartridge manufacturers to develop quality-control tools to assure better manufacturing standards. For us audiophile grunts who are not setup wizards like Michael Fremer or Mike Trei, J.R. makes a full range of tools that can produce remarkable sonic improvements when used to mount, align and adjust phono cartridges. (And more tools are on the way, which he’ll be telling us about.) He also offers custom services to help get the most out of our favorite cartridges. And he makes free “Wally School” educational videos for those who want to delve deeper into cartridge setup issues.
This meeting will be particularly entertaining and informative for vinyl lovers, but it will also be fascinating for anyone who loves audio science. Note that because J.R. is on the West Coast, we’ve decided to hold the Zoom at night. And because weekends these days are probably booked up with football, shopping and family events, we’re going back to a weeknight meeting (several of which were well attended last year).

This is a joint meeting of The Audiophile Society and the NJ Audio Society. Guests from the Audio Syndrome, the Connecticut Audio Society, the Philadelphia Area Audio Group, the Boston Audio Society, the Atlanta Audio Society and others are welcome to attend as guests. The meeting will begin at 7:30, with R.J’s Q&A starting at 8:00. As usual, participants should “raise their hands” using the Zoom “Reactions” to ask questions.