Dear Editor (Mar. 1970)

Cry of Anguish

I was flipping through the January issue of AUDIO, when my eyes were caught by the headline "Simultaneous 4-channel stereo." Four-channel! Four not two! Two-channel has been causing me enough trouble over the years. Spare me, please, from four.

I have succumbed to the various phases of Audio right from the early stages. I've had a ton of bricks in the living room to help (?) with the solid sound of speakers. I've appeased neighbors for interference to their TV sets from experimental speakers, and so through various stages to two-channel stereo.

Two-channel brought enough problems to my living room. Every time we move and start house hunting, I'm eyeing the living room windows, deciding if the drapes will still fit, while my husband is jumping up and down on the floor to see if it has the minimum vibrations for sound reproduction, and that the corners of the room are in the right place for his speakers. My valuable antique corner cabinet is then pushed off to any odd corner that's left after the speakers have been placed. With four speakers there just won't be a corner left for my cabinet--will probably have to sell it to pay for the new equipment. Then there's the seating arrangement, the number of rugs we have worn through swiveling the sofa back and forth. `It has to be here for the hi-fi,' 'Yes, but it looks better against that wall.' All this upheaval for two-channel stereo, what am I going to do with four of everything? But I see the experts have solved the problem nicely, see Figs. 1 and 3, January Audio. To start with, the room shown doesn't have a door; that's great. Maybe all the stereo fanatics climb inside, block up the door and stay there.

Also, it doesn't have a fireplace. Maybe one shouldn't, in case all the sound goes up the chimney? What about book shelves, end tables, and all the other paraphernalia one finds in a living room, where does that go? So we've come to four-channel, what next? Six-channel, eight-channel, ten-, twelve-P the mind boggles at the possibilities. The sooner someone finds a pill for speaker systems the better.

Is it any wonder that my husband rails me “Cloth Ears.”

-JUST A HOUSEWIFE. Danbury, Conn.

"Cloth ears" is a very distressing disease and it cannot be cured as easily as dandruff, for instance, because of the psychological factors involved, I once knew a young married lady with this affliction and I advised her to attend a course on Musical Appreciation at the local College. It worked out very well for a few weeks and she and her husband spent many happy hours discussing the merits of "The Vienna Octet" and so on.

But it did not last--after three months of marital bliss she ran away with the music teacher.

About the room with no doors and windows, yes, I think you have put your fingers on a real problem here. I tried to call the designer, but his wife said she had not seen him since he built the room some weeks ago. -Ed.

Bouquet I want to sincerely thank you for the report on the AR-5 speaker in your January issue. Each issue has been eagerly awaited since January 1969 when I purchased a pair of AR-5's. Thereafter, two other reports in other magazines left me somewhat confused. A third report and AR's (prejudiced) rebuttal tied the score somewhat.... Your carefully worded report might well be an example of how a loudspeaker should be presented.

-W. R. Rank Madison, Wis.

(Source: Audio magazine.)

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