stereophile.com n August2019 37
stserophritlimore hours of laughs and
great conversation, my
luggage awaited. It was
a short reunion, as I had
to give it up to Lufthansa
again for the flight to
Munich.
The connection in
Frankfurt was tight, and
once again my luggage was
a no-show in Munich—but
at least it was pouring rain
and windy! I Ubered to
the hotel, arriving after
midnight, but you’d betterbelieve I didn’t shake a tambourine.
The thought of a third day in the same
clothes was too much, so I texted my
friend Maier Shadi, who owns The
Audio Salon in Santa Monica. I knew
he was attending the show.
Despite the hour and the wind and
rain, Maier took a car to my hotel with
both his suitcases and let me choose
my next-day clothes. Why did he do
that? For the same reason, his custom-
ers tell me, he takes excellent care of
them. The luggage was in my room
when I returned to it after Thursday’s
dinner.
I’m finishing this column at home,
having more than survived the trip.
Despite twice losing my luggage, I had
a fantastic and energizing time, travel-
ing better, I’m sure, than many people
half my age. Retirement? I’m not going
anywhere. Wait. I take that back! I’m
going everywhere! For complete video
coverage, visit analogplanet.com. na fun ride—and we did, even though
I left the airport minus my luggage,
which didn’t make the tight Brussels-
to-Berlin connection.
I was put up in Optimal’s beauti-
ful guest house and spent the day in
the previous day’s clothes touring a
facility that looked more like a modern
art museum than a factory. (Let me
put in a good word for Tommy John
underwear! It breathes well and on
the second day felt fresh!) Optimal has
state-of-the-art plating and pressing
facilities, too, as well as the most mod-
ern printing and packaging equipment,
some of which was off-limits to the
camera. (The same was true at GZ
Media.) Both pressing plant tours were
filled with “wow” moments.
Optimal’s separate mastering facility,
which is in a nearby house, includes
five cutting lathes, for both lacquer and
DMM. After visiting it, we headed
back to TXL Berlin, where, after a fewand excellent tracking.
Once I had what I needed
in the video “can,” it was
again time to head for the
Zurich airport.
Late Monday afternoon,
I flew to Prague, where I
was driven to the Hotel
Grand in the town of
Beroun, which is about 10
minutes from GZ Media.
In the morning, CEO
Michal Sterba picked me
up and we drove to the
world’s largest pressing
plant, in nearby Lodēnice.
GZ produced its first LP
in 1951. In 2018, the com-
pany produced more than
100,000 records.
I found a vertically integrated com-
pany with a sophisticated mastering
operation that can cut both lacquers
and copper discs (DMM) from tape
or digital files; that manufactures its
own vinyl pellets and copper discs; that
has its own, top-quality plating facility,
builds its own record presses (mod-
eled after Swedish Toolex Alphas) and
prints and assembles record jackets
and top-quality boxes—some of which
you probably own. I like to think this
self-sufficiency is a result of Soviet-era
supply difficulties.
I got to press an Elton John LP on
a semiautomatic press. I had just so
much time to pull out a just-pressed
record, put a label down, then the
warm “biscuit,” and then the upper
label, before the press slammed shut. It
was scary! I missed on the first attempt,
pulling out my hand as the press closed
but before getting the second label in.
Then I got one pressed, but with two
upper labels. Finally, I got one cor-
rectly pressed. All will be included in
the factory tour video.
Like Pro-Ject’s original building, GZ
Media’s factory has a Soviet-era look
and feel, but inside it’s a state-of-the-
art manufacturing facility. Any doubts
you might have will vaporize when
you see the sophisticated premastering
software used to prepare digital files
for lacquer-cutting. That, too, should
appear in the video.
I returned to the Prague airport in
the early evening and flew via Brussels
to Berlin’s TXL airport, where, late in
the evening, Andreas Kohl, Optimal
Media’s senior sales manager, picked
me up. We drove the two-plus hours
to Röbel, Germany. I’d met Kohl at
Making Vinyl and knew we’d have
At Thales: Left: turntable
bearings. Below: tonearm parts