Stefano Pasini is an eminent oculist, an expert and respected car journalist, and, last but not really least, a connoisseur, collector extraordinaire of music reproducing machines, especially turntables, a field in which he's been a reputed authority for a while. A specialisation in his specialisation, the solidly legendary EMT turntables, overlooked by western world audiophiles until some years ago, because they were considered almost exclusively professional (so bad sounding???) products, but revered and sought after by Japanese music lovers, because of their extraordinary features of speed and pitch stability, of imperviousness to external interference, of their capability to disappear from the picture of the seemingly simple, but really dangerous task of turning a record around, and of letting the tonearm/cartridge combination perform their duty to read all that's concealed in the records grooves, without adding or subtracting information, and to reproduce them faithfully. That's a task EMT turntables perform in a marvellous way, showing that the strange, mad and snoozed at Japanese audiophiles really were long sighted, as (ironically, or maybe as a sign of destiny) long sighted was the Oculist MD Stefano Pasini, who collects, breeds and sets up since many a year these one-of-a-kind, extraordinary turntables; so much that he's become the main international expert in the field, an indisputable and recognized authority.

All I have said, recently became a wonderful, not-to-be-missed booklet, restrainedly and sumptuously made, published in a limited edition by Costa Editore. "Deutsche Perfektion", subtitled "The History of the Legendary EMT Turntables", 163 pages, dense of figures, written in English and in Italian (a German edition is also available), is a necessary tool for all those who love analogue sound reproduction. Starting with a detailed historical reconstruction of the events which gave birth to the company (by that Wilhelm Frantz who was to play a main part in the history of two other celebrated audio companies, particularly Thorens and, to a minor point, Revox) and of its first and still sought after turntables, Pasini provides us with a complete survey of the German firm's production, with loads of technical information, trivia and precious advice, and meticulous, (and most of all sincere) analyses of each product.

Books dealing with industry histories only rarely succeed in being interesting, other than in their function as textbooks or reference books, in other words of "technical instruments". Pasini (who, in his first youth, was an appreciated music reviewer) has been able to make the experience of reading this "eminently technical" (but much more than eminently technical) book a thrilling, involving experience. You are forced to read these more than 160 pages in a sit, your one complaint is the fact that, eventually and forcedly, the production ends, and with it your reading pleasure; a pleasure which is accompanied by rare and precious information, by authoritative advice on set-up, maintenance and restoration of these wonderful devices. In the appendix you will find tables detailing spare parts, production years and the correspondent serial numbers of the products, and an exhaustive EMT buying guide. A precious (both to those who, like me, work with these objects and to those who are simply fascinated by them) and fundamental volume, which must be in every library belonging to someone who defines himself a true audiophile.

For information about the purchase of this book, refer to Doctor Pasini's really nice and informative web site, http://www.stefanopasini.it