LINK: PLAY AGAIN | PRICE: €14.99 each plus shipping
HO HO HO!
This morning is sort of the start of Christmas for me. With the Worxlab being situated in the heart of the tourist trap that is Haworth Main Street, this means getting into the spirit of the festive season by putting a tree up on the outside of the building so that visitors can be cajoled into emptying their wallets/purses into the assorted fine shops in the street. But it also started in the right way for me by the delivery of an unexpected package* — did Santa come early?
* If you have something that you’d like us to take a look at, or you just want to send us something nice, you can find the address right here.
Well sort of. For in the box courtesy of Steffen Schulte contained two cool things. The first is called SNAP, a product designed to tame your cables and assorted accessories. And seeing as somebody commented on my terrible cable management in an Instagram post (my setup changes all the time — leave me alone), I’ll be sure to give them a try.
But by far the most interesting thing for us DJs is a brilliantly clever little gadget called the Play Again. Just by looking at it, it’s obviously what it does. But for the non-Ortofon owners out there — with the most gentle of hands and the best will in the world, accidents will still happen. And from time to time, the finger lift becomes a casualty, rendering use of the Concorde considerably more difficult than before. And there’s no amount of Heath Robinson fixes that will make it look or work as it once did. Gaffer taping a match to it isn’t really a fix.
So you end up with a fully working cart that’s a pig to work with. But a quick tidy up of the stump, and slipping one of these Play Agains over said casualty of DJ war, you’ve got your finger lift back. It’s a tad heavier — a single Play Again weights 2.2g, so minus the weight of the broken lift, you’re probably only adding maybe 1.5g max to the cart, something that is easily compensated for with the counterbalance. It’s a ridiculously simple fix that save you replacing the whole cart, or busting out the super glue, which we all know will never last.
NOT JUST FOR BROKEN CONCORDES
What I like about the Play Again is that ability to customise your setup a little. I got sent an orange one (obvs) which is also UV reactive. And they come in a range of colours too, so should you wish to add a little colour to your setups (and have something that easy to spot under UV lights), you can simply cut the lifter from your Concordes and add Play Agains.
Aside from being a great product, I like the package. Each one comes in a cardboard sleeve with a corrugated inner that keeps the Play Again safe in transit. But when you open up the inner, it becomes a new liner for your Ortofon case, converting it from a single to double Concorde case. That’s a very smart innovation right there, and gets a double thumbs up from my recycling conscious side.
SUMMING UP
I could have just written some words about the Play Again, but by the time I’d explained it all, it sort of became a mini review. But to be clear — I’m not about to snap a finger lift from an S-120 just to see how well it fits OK? That stops it from being a complete review.
But when all is said and done, it doesn’t need me to mod my own carts in the name of a review. It’s clear what the Pay Again does, and largely how well it does it. It’s an ingenious idea in all elements of execution, and the colour options makes it idea for adding some personality to your Ortofon Concorde based setups. While the finished result might be a tad bulkier than what your started with, you’ve just fixed your broken cart for the fraction of a new one.
So should You have a broken Concorde, or if you just want to customise your carts, you can get your own for €14.99 plus shipping from the Play Again online shop.
* If you have something that you’d like us to take a look at, you can find the address right here.
GALLERY
