SIGNALS & NOISE (Letters to Editor) Mar. 1984

CD Hooray

Dear Editor:

It is hardly surprising that Messrs. Sax and Mayorga ("The Audio Interview," Jan. 1984) find a 30-ips, half-inch studio master analog tape slightly better than a Compact Disc! But when, after 30 years of trying, will analog technology be able to provide a pressing containing anything close to the exact content of those tapes, much less a cartridge which could track such a pressing? The Compact Disc may not be quite as good as a studio analog tape, but it gives the consumer an affordable medium for reproduction capable of consistent superiority to anything ever before put into a groove, cassette, or reel.

So please ask the purists to stop telling us what's wrong with the CD and to let us enjoy what's right. When they develop a 30-ips tape player for under $1,000 and exact copies of their tapes for $19.95, I'll buy them. And when they make the perfect pressing, I may still have a turntable to play it.

-Leon Vick; West Hollywood, Cal.

What's Up, Audio?

Dear Editor:

I am concerned with the direction Audio seems to be taking; too many nontechnical articles are appearing. I specifically question the need for mini reviews of one-brand systems. Are they appropriate for Audio? Does the answer depend on the nature of the readers you are trying to attract and/or hold? I prefer to see Audio lean more toward the serious audiophile and not the beginner.

Memorable technical articles seem to be a thing of the past, and I would like to see more loudspeaker reviews by Dick Heyser.

Finally, why has Audio gotten thinner over the past few years?

-Karl Hartman; Kingston, R. I.

Editor's Note:

The technical heritage of Audio is not being abandoned to pander to the beginner, and we are not jettisoning articles of technical merit.

The one-brand reviews are of interest to many of our readers, and if you will note, we do include technical data on each system.

More reviews by Dick Heyser would be nice, but there is a limit to how many such in-depth tests he can do.

We have a partial solution in the works to provide more speaker reviews. As for being thinner, editorial pages have remained fairly constant; only the total number of ad pages has decreased.

-E.P.

SOTA Revisited

Dear Editor:

How refreshing to see our efforts so nicely justified with such a detailed and comprehensive technical report of the SOTA Sapphire turntable ("Equipment Profile," June 1983). We are gratified by a couple of measurements, some of which hitherto modesty had not permitted us to claim: The figures on speed stability, flutter (0.03%, DIN weighted), rumble (-84.5 dB, weighted), and-34 dB "breakthrough" attenuation in a 100-dB SPL field.

We wish to make these brief points.

One, we do believe that specifications are meaningful, because many do correlate with sound quality directly. Isolation and damping, plus stability and integrity of setup and placement, are always factors in sound reproduction, even if perhaps we cannot now measure all the variables. Similarly, "high definition" and "clarity" are not magical effects, but directly reflect engineering decisions open to logical, scientific and public validation.

Second, a small correction: Our "base, from which the subchassis is suspended" has not "twice" the mass of the subchassis and platter. The nonmoving subchassis, at 22 lbs., has about twice the mass of the moving platter, at 11 lbs. The weight of the "base" or cabinet, somewhat less than the platter, is not the critical factor in defining the SOTA's "excellent stability" since it mass-couples to the environment, thus providing the necessary inertia.

Finally, a larger issue of general interest. Ed Long's discussion about the very slight resonances in the record disc, from 880 to 1,350 Hz, supports our findings regarding spurious energy when using a "passive" disc clamp (simple pressure at the spindle clamp). There are limits to how well this approach will minimize vinyl resonances.

An "active" system, such as a vacuum hold-down, with continuous yet adjustable low-level suction on the entire surface of the record, provides the most effective way now available to damp resonances, no matter the nature or condition of the record. A good "active" system will always be superior to even the best "passive" disc clamps, where unequal pressure and bowing are impossible to avoid. We're pleased to have our judgment confirmed by Ed Long's finding that the SOTA Sapphire was superior to his reference turntable, which uses a "semi-active" clamp system.

We appreciate Ed's support and salute his thoroughness. We also thank Audio for its coverage of emerging American companies. In the face of an awesome media blitz for the "new technology on the block," here is a report which captures the undeniable merits of a known system that, we feel, is as yet unsurpassed in the reproduction of recorded music.

-Robert S. Becker, President, SOTA Industries, Berkeley, Cal.

Editor's Note: Thank you for the nice words concerning Ed Long's review, and please accept our apologies for our confused description of the relative weights of the base and platter. From my point of view, it is somewhat disconcerting, now that we are finally beginning to find some ways to measure "definition" and "clarity," to find that there is, indeed, a "new technology on the block," which requires development of new analysis techniques and new critical listening habits. "Unsurpassed"? Well, at least in numbers of releases, CD lags behind the LP, which will continue to give me much pleasure for many years.

-E.P.

Addendum:

Boston MC-1 vdH Cartridge A few of the very early Boston Acoustics MC-1 vdH phono cartridges (see "Equipment Profile," Feb. 1984) had their rubber dust shield loosen up and hang down from the cartridge, thus rubbing the record surface. You should not attempt to stuff the rubber sheath back into the body of the phono cartridge. Simply return the defective cartridge to the manufacturer for a replacement.

-B. V. Pisha

(Audio magazine, Mar. 1984)

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