Against a snag, no modern cartridge is proof .... One touch of knitted wool
and the snag would be complete.
I've had my fingers into my hi-fi system again, to hook up and de-hook still more LP disc playback equipment--it's hard to keep up these days.
Some people have objected that I condemn the LP by touting the day when a true all-digital disc, or several, will take over the field. Wrong! Wrong if they read me carefully. I have lived with LP for its whole life and I respect it, past, present and future--whatever this last may bring. That future has certainly NOT stopped unfolding, as anybody can plainly see and hear. So now for Installment Two, after a fashion, following my account in January of Sony's PS-X75 "biotracer" turntable.
Yes, human fingers are a lot better than remote control buttons when it comes to landing an LP stylus precisely on the quiet grooves between LP bands.
But in other respects our thankless digitals are being asked to do a great deal in a negative way by the competing inter national manufacturers. Namely, to keep out of trouble. The damage that even a slightly unwary finger, or thumb, or even a human arm or sleeve can do today is appalling. I should know. Are your fingers bulkier and clumsier each year? That's the way it feels. I get the shaking palsy just looking at a new cartridge--me, I'm supposed to install THAT? And I can't even see the point, with 20-20 vision.
As far as I can tell, my professional colleagues on this magazine, bless them, seem never to make finger-faux-pas the way I do. Not if you read them, anyhow. I've figured out how they do it.
Specially designed mechanical fingers, controlled by micro-circuits. What else? You put them on like surgical gloves.
These fingers, I postulate, must be of spring steel, delicately tuned to a micrometer's breadth, tipped with iridium curved to a Shibata, with fingernails of nude diamond, the better to grasp. You don't make ANY mistakes with that kind of finger. Joints of sputtered silver, babbitted and lubed with silicon, powered by tendons of braided niobium sheathed in Teflon for precision movement. Some fingers! Maybe I'd do better if I had a pair. As it is, if I ever wrote an Equipment Profile, it might go like this, in excerpt:
"... On the left, the bias is controlled by a three-position toggle switch--oh--oh, there it goes. Fell right off in my hand. Must have tweaked it too hard." Or: "The cartridge was lowered care fully to the record surface and EEEK--a one-inch scratch was seen to appear across the grooves at an angle of 93 degrees. This produced a peak reading of +87 dB at a frequency of 33.33 occurrences per minute, +1 percent,- 1/2 percent." Or even: "The phono stylus of stressed nubidium alloy was examined closely for tolerances. Oddly, two-thirds of the stylus bar was unaccounted for.
However, the segment which proved visible easily exceeded manufacturer's specs." No, only the people whose ordinary digits are no more precise than Neanderthal's could expect to run into that sort of testing trouble. Me.
So--to business, and all praise to my colleagues who do not write as per above. Today's account is of a quite fabulous new cartridge, as maybe you could begin to guess. I particularly had asked to try it because it is different in rather fundamental respects. The unit arrived just as I came down with digitalis (see February), followed, alas, by pericarditis, which is no fun at all. So I tossed the little package quickly to my intelligent neighbor along with another brand-new table. I can't use more than one table at a time, after all, and these two would match, both of them state of today's art. Within a day, this guy called me back in distress. "Hey," said he, "why does this new cartridge skip grooves all over the place? My old one didn't." "WHAT," said I, "impossible! That thing should track anything, including a quarter-inch vertical warp." "Well," he said, "I put it right into my old table and--." "YOUR table! You mean that thing you've had for 22 years already?" "It works," he said. "So why not? Your new cartridge is just lousy, that's all. It won't track. Even at 2 1/2 grams." "Good Lord, man," I shouted, as my fever went up two degrees. "Please," I said, "the NEW table. And two and a half grams--get that thing out of there and put it in the new table or I'm ruined! Repeat, the NEW table. And let's hope there's no damage. New cartridge, new table. They match. Get it? You CANNOT use a new high-quality cartridge in a table as old as that one, with its big, fat heavyweight arm and semi-rigid bearings. This thing is delicate, man! You've set up hideous strains on it, you've got horrible resonances. That is, as the cartridge sees them. If you want a cartridge for that table, I've got a batch of them in my museum and any one will do a fine job, an optimum job. But lube things up a bit, first, will ya? That arm of yours sticks." For once, this man was meek. Brains, yes, but no experience, like entirely too many of our consumers today. He'll learn. So the new cartridge and the new table were returned to me, each re packed circumspectly in its own box. No apparent damage, and I breathed the well-known sigh of relief. I tend to be reckless on that score.
When I got back home from a rest cure, my friend came right over, all apologies.
Could he help me install the new cartridge? COULD he! I gave what passed for a faint whoop of joy. His fingers are big but he has patience. I just get exasperated. In short order, I was listening to the finest cartridge sound I have yet experienced. I was quite sure the sound was, indeed, in the cartridge, because with some foresight I had put away that other new table (later, later) and inserted the thing into my Sony, the PS-X75, al ready familiar to me. One variable at a time, please. No change in my entire set up except the change of cartridge.
My state of bliss lasted several days, and you have been reading this for any number of pages. So I will now name names. The Micro-Acoustics System II is the cartridge and it is remarkable, perhaps unique, on a number of scores--most immediately, that it is not a magnetic. Neither moving coil, moving iron, variable R, or any other. It works by direct-coupled electrets, and it includes in side the ultra-light body of the cartridge a tiny micro-circuit adapter--no more extra black boxes, transformers, etc.--which automatically matches the unit to any combination of cable capacitance and preamp phono input, within one-half a percent. Moreover, it claims to be "the lightest, fastest cartridge ever," with the smallest stylus ever seen and a jewel point that is virtually invisible.
I went to the early press introduction for this cartridge last summer and was immediately impressed by these and a wealth of other quite astonishing innovations, even though at that point there wasn't much of anything in the way of sound. Some knowing readers will al ready surmise that this is the latest product of one of our most inventive minds, Arnold Schwartz, whose Micro-Point cut ting styli are used everywhere in the business. "Arnie," as he is informally known, was once at CBS Labs, where I met him way back. I still have a quadruple array of his loudspeakers, one of the earliest units to cope with the problems of forward-beaming highs and the cavity resonances set up by drivers mounted inside cutout boards, as the old ones mostly were. We have many innovators in our business but only a few, like Arnold Schwartz (like Edgar Villchur, like Ray Dolby, like S. Marantz), are the sort whose products work, reliably, predict ably, uneccentridally, practically, for all their differences. My strong feeling was that any new cartridge from A. Schwartz should be worth a try, no matter how zany.
This System II from Micro-Acoustics (there are three in the line, from fancy to ultra-fancy) is no less than bewildering in the extent of its innovations. It has no business working at all, with so many "departures" from the delicately tuned experience of years in this touchy design art! And yet-. For instance, a lightweight body made of carbon--yes, carbon. Carbon fiber, to be exact. An entirely new coupling system, direct from stylus bar to the pair of electrets via a twin-pivot dual-bearing "resolver"--new word to me--and a whole galaxy of new dampers, iridium-platinum axial, dynamic feedback, and more. Not like anything you've seen, even if you know cartridges. And that stylus bar, made of rigid beryllium and said to be 60 percent lower in mass than "conventional aluminum stylus bars"-- take your choice. I believe that. As I say, I have seen that stylus bar, though barely. You have to catch it with the light just right.
I'll stop with the quoted technicalities since this is not an engineering report.
Frankly, I was a bit unsure whether I could plunge right back into my record reviewing with this unusual cartridge, just playing music as I had been doing with its worthy predecessors. Thanks, I do not want trouble. No eccentricities. I have work enough to do, just listening. I forget the cartridge--it's the sonic product that matters.
Unless you are an inveterate testing--testing type, whose life moves from one comparison to another, you would eventually feel the same way. Let's go! Let's play music.
And so I did. Not only was I instantly impressed by a kind of liquid, velvety smoothness of sound but it happened (it usually does with me) that the first record I put on the Sony table was warped. An up-bulge on one side, maybe a quarter inch off the rubber mat. At one-half gram the new cartridge, even so, played most of the music, skipping lightly into the air (the Sony is a good arm, definitely) for part of each turn. At one gram all but the outer inch of the record played without blemish. At 1 1/4 grams even the outer edge tracked, without distortion or skip ping.
Now that is impressive! And a hasty trial of some other warped monstrosities (I have a few) only proved the point. The tiny beryllium stylus just gracefully bends up and down, the ultra-light cartridge body easily displaces itself and, you might say, the ultra-modern Sony arm (you do need that) is happily surprised and cooperates perfectly.
Not only good sound but, to my growing surprise, a sort of background silence that had me baffled. The "surface noise" seemed lower, disc for disc, than I would ever have expected, knowing these records pretty well. In fact, after awhile, I put aside my usual surface-noise ratings until I could probe this welcome change. I really didn't know how to rate. When I later phoned Arnold Schwartz I mentioned this; silence from him. He may also have been surprised but more likely he meant, whaddya expect? Of course! Being modest, he let silence tell its own story.
The denouement was simple enough.
I've set the background and you may guess what happened. On the third day, I finished up one last record review, playing the music as I wrote about it (my usual procedure) and then allowed the Sony to put the stylus to bed via its automatic shut off. Arm goes up, linear motor moves arm over to rest. Arm sinks to rest.
Next day I had other business, now being on the road to recovery, and on the fifth day got back to my typewriter, turned on my system and put another record under the plastic cover and onto the Sony table. After a few seconds a skittery noise came forth, shreds of faint music as the arm skated over the surface. Zero point pressure? Remember, this is adjustable in the new tables by an outside knob, even while the record is playing. I checked--it was set at one gram. With foreboding, I took the arm's headshell off and looked. Then just to be sure, I pulled out the removable stylus assembly.
Yes, a segment of beryllium bar was left, about one-half. It had snapped cleanly, right in the middle. The half with the diamond had, of course, vanished.
Now that stylus system had been tested by a drop of several inches without damage. It simply bows, bends compliantly into the housing--as it had with the warped record. Did this one break off, then, of its own accord due to some internal defect or stress? Possible. Improbable.
MUCH more likely is what Arnold Schwartz calls a snag. Against a snag, no modern stylus is proof and especially this ultra-tiny one. Snag? Well, the Sony armrest is near its turntable and the arm sits on it like a feather. True, the Sony's mechanism ingeniously prevents the stylus from ever touching the rubber mat or the "floor" below. But what about a human arm, with a wool sweater and cuff, inserted under the dust cover to place a record on the table? One .tiny touch of that knitted wool and the snag would be complete. I would never even feel it. That's my theory, anyhow, and I cannot blame Micro-Acoustics or Sony.
So it goes today. We must live with our new and perhaps delicate technology, not only fingers but human arms and even sleeves. One wrong move and disaster. And don't think your cartridge is immune, whatever the brand.
They're sending me a new stylus assembly and I have every intention of using the Micro-Acoustics System II once more, with absolutely enormous caution.
Meanwhile, if you run into an equipment report on this cartridge, look to see whether the testing engineer ran into any snags. He might have, at that. Though he should know better.
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VIDEO SCENES
by BERT WHYTE
With all the hullabaloo about the videodisc, which system is the best, which system is likely to be chosen as a standard, what the chances are for some degree of inter system compatibility, etc., it might appear that the videocassette recorder is taking a back seat in the world of video.
Nothing could be further from the truth! The fact is that 1980 was a banner year for videocassette recorder sales.
Perhaps even more important is the degree to which the VCR implanted itself in the public's consciousness. The VCR is no longer an exotic object of today's high technology, something that most people approach rather gingerly, tentatively. Good old "word of mouth," con tact, and demonstrations of VCRs in department stores and appliance dealer ships have removed many of the apprehensions and misconceptions about the VCR. In short, the VCR has gained recognition as a useful time-shift device and as a practical means for greatly enhancing the enjoyment of television.
Above all, it must be kept in mind that the primary function of a VCR is to record, whether it be off TV or with a video camera. While there has been some talk about the possibility of home recording of videodiscs, the technical problems are so formidable that its likelihood appears to be far off (if ever) in the future.
Part of the public's acceptance of the VCR is a matter of price. Not that there has been much of an "official" reduction in the prices of VCRs and blank videocassettes, but substantial discounting is widespread and has given considerable impetus to the market. Some portion of the rapid growth in sales of VCRs must be attributed to a "stabilization" in the general design and features of both Beta and VHS recorders. Not long ago, VCRs changed models so frequently, offering new convenience features and technical improvements, that many people put off making purchases for fear of obsolescence. Presently, while there certainly is no stagnation in the design of VCRs, there is a commonality of features in most recorders and it's become more a question of refinements within the de sign parameters.
A good example of a videocassette recorder, which has what might loosely be termed "all the standard features" and which has been brought to a highly refined state, is the new JVC HR-6700U.
At first glance, this unit appears smaller and more compact than most VHS recorders and is less flashy looking than its competitors. While it may look slightly intimidating to some people because of its multiple control knobs and switches, all the controls are logically grouped, thoughtfully functional and, with mini mum experience, not at all 'difficult to master.
As most videophiles are aware, JVC is the company that invented the VHS videocassette recorder, and the firm quite justifiably wanted to establish a reputation for its VCR in terms of picture resolution. They succeeded admirably in this respect, since most critical viewers gave the JVC VCRs high marks for consistently good picture quality. However, when the "pressures" of the video market forced its licensees to offer VCR units with extended playing time, JVC resisted this change, stating that in their view, picture resolution at the slower playing speed would be considerably degraded.
When JVC finally decided that their VCR must "go with the market," and offer extended playing time, they caused quite a furor by introducing a VCR that could record up to six hours on a T-120 videocassette. As I'm sure you know, in creased playing time in a VCR is accomplished by either reducing tape speed or using thinner tape, or a combination of both modifications. While these expedients do permit increased playing time, there is, unquestionably, a concomitant degradation in picture quality. This is what JVC contended all along, so they countered this apparent contradiction of their stand by equipping their extended play (two six-hour) VCRs with a special four-head recording drum. Two heads are for standard tape speed, and the additional two heads are for the slower ex tended-play tape speed. The gaps in both pairs of heads are optimally configured for the particular tape speed. By using this special four-head technique, JVC is able to offer six-hour extended play capability with a picture quality remarkably close to what is obtained at standard tape speed.
This JVC Vidstar HR-6700U is distinguished by its four-head drum, but is loaded with other features and amenities. I have been using one of these units for some months now, and I have found it to be exemplary in all respects, per forming flawlessly within its specifications and design parameters. There are many little touches that are appreciated-- for example, the cassette compartment is specially damped and rises smoothly and quietly when the eject but ton is pressed. These days, most VCR units emphasize their capabilities in the area of programming and special effects. In this respect, the HR-6700U is very versatile indeed. This VCR offers double-speed play (in standard play mode), with minimal picture distortion due to noise generation, and also permits intelligible audio to be heard. In the six-hour extended-play mode, triple-speed playback is afforded with, however, no audio. Slow-motion playback is available in the s-p mode with variable control from 1/4 to 1 /30th of normal speed. There is a slow-motion tracking control, which I found can be of considerable help in reducing noise bar distortion. Still picture playback is possible in the s-p mode, but to me, there still is too much noise generation in this mode, which is a common fault with all other VCRs. A hand-held, wired, remote control duplicates all the motional special effects. I personally do not often use the special effects available, but I should sound a warning that if you do much still or slow motion picture viewing, this can seriously reduce the longevity of the tape and even damage it. To this end, the HR-6700U has a clever automatic re lease mechanism which cancels any still, slow motion or pause mode longer than seven minutes.
One of the big features of the HR-67000 is its versatile micro computer programming function. The permutations possible with this system are almost frightening, and first time users of the system are urged to diligently study the excellent instruction manual. Once you run through the procedures a few times, it actually becomes quite easy and there are quite a few aids built into the system to guard against various goofs. You can program this VCR to record six different programs on six different days of the week, or the same TV soap opera every day for six days, or six different programs on the same day, etc. In fact, you can program more shows than the six-hour capability of a T-120 cassette. Another neat little touch is that in the event of a power failure, the commands in the memory in the programmer will not be erased. The HR-67000 has its 12 VHF channels pre-tuned, and I found them pretty accurate.
However, there is provision for performing your own pre-tuning of each channel, and I found I could get even more precise results and a better picture by doing it this way.
Unlike many VCR units, I found that the HR-6700U runs smoothly and generates little mechanical noise. Tapes recorded off the air via my local cable service were of exceptionally good quality. The picture was stable, with little evidence of "jitter" distortion noted. Color quality was excellent, bright and clear with good saturation, and whites were clear with no color overcast. From a video viewpoint, the JVC HR-6700U has to be judged as the best of the VCRs with extended play capabilities I have used so far. But the audio is another matter. The sound in s-p mode is barely acceptable, and while in the e-p mode, wow and flutter can make such things as bells and pianos quaver excruciatingly. This is a common problem with all VCRs, and how they can even consider the ultimate possibility of stereo sound telecasting is beyond me.
In connection with testing this JVC HR-6700U, I wanted to check how well it worked with commercially available prerecorded video cassettes, which are almost .all feature films. Among other things, I wanted to see how the cassettes held up physically, and in play back after repeated use. Mr. Paul Cirino, the forward-thinking director of my local library, loaned me a number of videocassette films which had been borrowed many times by his library members.
Some had been run through VCR units more than 50 times, yet very little degradation of picture quality was apparent.
However, the sound was often quite distorted and noise levels were high.
During the course of these tests I came across an unfamiliar aspect of prerecorded videocassettes. I had just enjoyed viewing "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Chapter Two" through the JVC HR-6700U and had inserted the videocassette of "The Blues Brothers" in the unit. Imagine my surprise when the picture was immediately subjected to violent vertical rolling.
Thinking that this might be a cassette re corded at the wrong speed, I checked with my friend at the library and found out that all prerecorded videocassettes of movies are recorded at standard play only. My next move was to try a Panasonic VCR, thinking something might have gone wrong with the JVC unit. Result? Same thing--violent rolling of the picture! Getting more perplexed, I hooked up the JVC Vidstar to a different N set in another room, inserted the "Blues Brothers" film and--voila ... the picture played perfectly! Now thoroughly confused, I called a couple of experts I know in video technology, explained to them what happened, and was told with a laugh that I had run afoul of something called "Kopyguard" which is a negative-going, inverted sync pulse encoded on some prerecorded videocassettes and which prevents them from being copied illegally by consumers. When an attempt is made to copy a protected cassette, all you get is this uncontrollable vertical rolling. You can't blame a film company for employing a way of protecting their copy right material. Some companies protect all their videocassettes with Kopyguard-- others don't use it at all.
However, the Kopyguard process presents a problem. About 30 percent of the TV sets on the market have what is termed "sloppy vertical sync circuitry." In other words, when these sets encounter the Kopyguard signal via playback from a prerecorded videocassette on a VCR, their vertical sync circuits are not good enough to overcome the vertical rolling induced by the Kopyguard signal. Obviously, if the VCR owner is a perfectly honest person and merely wants to see a movie, not copy it, he is nonetheless penalized if he happens to own one of these TV sets influenced by the Kopyguard signal. For example, there was nothing wrong with my JVC Vidstar unit-- it was the particular TV set I was using that was the source of my trouble. As you might expect, such a situation demands some sort of remedy. There is, in the form of a black box device called a Kopyguard Stabilizer, which enables TV sets with "sloppy sync circuits" to pro duce pictures without vertical rolling.
This device also enables one to make copies of prerecorded videocassettes, but the device is sold with a warning that it is illegal to use it for copying. The Kopyguard stabilizer costs about $95.00. You live and learn.
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ADs:
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Empire
NEW HIGHS. The 500ID defines hard-to-get high frequencies because it comes with a cantilever that doesn't easily distort them.
It's boron-vapor hardened to track under "G"-forces that would buckle ordinary cantilevers.
NEW FIDELITY. In addition to hearing more highs you're going to hear less noise from a 500ID.
There's nothing complex about the benefits of Samarium-Cobalt magnets. They are simply less massive and higher in output than conventional ones.
So, if we had to give a reason for our signal-to-noise ratio being better than most, it's because the materials we use are better than most.
NEW TECHNOLOGY. Because the 500ID features Empire's inertially damped tuned stylus system, its performance is consistent-even when the capacitance varies from one system to the next.
Which means, the performance we monitor in our lab is the performance you're likely to hear at home.
NEW SECURITY. Empire's two-year limited warranty is 365 days longer than the one-year limited warranty offered by many other manufacturers.
An extra year in no uncertain terms.
NEW SOUND. The Empire 500ID. You're an arm's length away from a new listening experience.
EVERYONE WHO WANTS THEIR OLD SYSTEM TO SOUND LIKE NEW, RAISE YOUR ARM.
EMPIRE--There's a new sound waiting in system.
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Technicraft (from audio-technica)
Fine sound and great value... that's why leading audio dealers are offering new Technicraft phono cartridges. With models to insure the best possible sound for every system, every budget.
Inside each Technicraft cartridge are two completely independent micro-magnetic systems. One for each stereo channel. No sharing of parts, no com promises. Which means you get best response from each channel and best stereo separation with Technicraft. And full pleasure from every other component in your music system.
There are four Technicraft models.
The lowest cost TC1000 has a precision-ground UniRadial tip. The TC2000 and TC3000 with popular BiRadial styli offer improved tracing of even the most complex record grooves. And the premium TC4000 features a sophisticated Line Contact stylus to extend frequency response while reducing record wear.
Technicraft: the new name for top performance. When your dealer recommends it, listen. To his good advice... and our great sound.
audio-technica. 1221 Commerce Drive, Stow, Ohio 44224
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ADS--Analog & Digital Systems. Inc.
Will you still respect your speakers in the morning? Sure, they sounded great last night.
But the real test of a speaker system is the morning after.
Will your speakers sweeten your morning coffee with Vivaldi, or will they make you wish you'd never turned your stereo on? Do your speakers make you glad you're alive, or do they only serve to re mind you of last night's excesses? Some speakers are impressive when played loudly. But a truly great speaker is equally, if not more, impressive at low listening levels. "Loud" is desirable at times, but a speaker to be lived with must do much more.
For years, and without fanfare, ADS has been building monitor speaker systems for some of the most demanding sound engineers in the music industry. ADS technology is uniquely able to accommodate their diverse and challenging requirements. This same technology, not surprisingly, produces some of the finest speaker systems available for home use.
The new ADS L730, for example, is a direct outgrowth of ADS' continuing involvement in digital recording technology.
An unusual combination of extended frequency range, uncanny sonic accuracy, razor-sharp stereo imaging and true to-life dynamic range, the L730 delivers untiring musical performance. Although the system is capable of shaking walls with clean, undistorted sound, you'll appreciate it most on those mornings when quality counts more than quantity.
The L730 is only one of many ADS speakers, all meticulously engineered and superbly crafted. Your ADS dealer will be happy to help you select the model which best suits your purposes. For more information and the name of the ADS dealer nearest you, please write ADS, Dept. AU24, or call 1-800-824-7888 ( California 1-800-852-7777) toll free and ask for Operator 483.
ADS--Audio for the critically demanding. Analog & Digital Systems. Inc., One Progress Way, Wilmington, MA 01887, USA. (617) 658-5100
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by Edward Tatnall Canby (adapted from Audio magazine, Mar. 1981)
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