TALES FROM THE STRIP
above: Sansui's Tricode PCM adaptor works even at slow VCR speeds.
Considering the bleak economic climate in general and the depressed state of the consumer electronics market in particular, the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas from January 6th through 9th, surprised many people with a record 78,126 attendees. Also surprising was the upbeat mood of the Show, with cautious but nonetheless good sales activity. It should be noted that much of this activity centered around video games and computers/calculators, with a strong showing by personal telephones. The three major trade papers publishing daily editions on Show activities were heavily oriented towards the aforementioned categories, both in their reporting and the advertising they carried. Audio components, whether exhibited in the Convention Center or at the demonstration rooms at the Riviera Hotel, got very short shrift indeed, with little more than token coverage. Let's not forget our roots, fellas--audio components got the CES off the ground 16 years ago, and with the dawning of the digital era, their star will rise again.
Although many people still view digital sound with a jaundiced eye, this WOES will be remembered as marking the introduction of digital sound as a consumer product. No longer a "blue sky" promise, but a reality in several digital formats. There were numerous models of compact digital audio disc players from Sharp, Sansui, Sony, Pioneer, Yamaha, Kenwood, Phase Linear, Magnavox, Denon and NEC. Certainly some of these units were prototypes, with deliveries quoted as "mid 1983" or "the last quarter of 1983." However, there were also production models demonstrated, and Sony's CDP-101 is slated for March delivery.
As for the vital software, CBS, in conjunction with the introduction of the Sony player, is making an initial release of 16 Compact Disc digital recordings. The pop titles include Barbra Streisand's Guilty, Weather Report's Night Passage, Earth, Wind, and Fire's Raise, and Billy Joel's The Nylon Curtain. Although there may be some recordings derived from analog masters in this group, the classical releases appear to be all digitally mastered.
Among them are Shostakovich and Prokofiev symphonies (Leonard Bernstein conducting), Holst's "The Planets" (Lorin Maazel conducting), and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Zubin Mehta conducting). More software that apparently will be available around the same time are some of M & K's Real Time Records, releases of the Philharmonia Hungarica. Possibly some Vanguard and Telarc digital recordings will appear as well. [And AudioSource will import CDs. - I.B.]
above: Sharp's RX-3 PCM unit.
From all reports, the number of CD players and discs sold in Japan has far exceeded the most optimistic forecasts. Polygram, which presses CD records from the Philips, Deutsche Grammophon and Decca catalogs, among others, has a large share of this market. While they are obviously delighted, the strain on their production facilities may delay their release of CD records in this country. On a longer range basis, CBS has announced plans to build a CD processing plant in the U.S. by late 1983 or early 1984.
Let us not forget that Denon has been recording with digital sound for some years now and has over 600 digital records in their catalog. Denon demonstrated their DCD-2000 compact digital audio disc player in Las Vegas and announced their intention to release 10 Compact Discs every month. The first batch of releases will include the Beethoven Third and Fifth Symphonies, the Dvorak Ninth Symphony, and Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." In other digital activity, Nakamichi surprised many by announcing they would produce a PCM digital mastering processor. Their first entry in the digital field, the DMP-100, embodies all of the EIAJ digital specifications but also has 16-bit quantization, as in the Sony PCM-F1. In fact, up to now the 16-bit quantization in component-type digital processors has been the exclusive province of Sony. Methinks the DMP-100 may well originate as an OEM purchase. Nakamichi claims superior sound for this unit because of special, high-quality circuitry in the analog section.
Sansui demonstrated their unique PC-X1 Tricode PCM processor, which is capable of recording digital data at the slow, extended-play VCR speeds.
Deliveries of the PC-X1 are expected by April, at a price of $1,600. Sharp really made a big splash in the digital field. In addition to their CD player, they caused quite a stir with the CX-3, a compact cassette PCM digital recorder. The CX-3 utilizes a unique, fixed, thin-film magnetic head with 18 tracks (16 audio, one control, one spare for future use). This head affords a very high recording density. Although the quantization is 14 bits, dynamic range is quoted as 90 dB. Interestingly, the sampling rate is 44.1 kHz, same as the CD player's. The 16 tracks afford great redundancy for error correction. The result is two-channel stereo recording, with a frequency response of 2 Hz to 20 kHz, ±0.5 dB, a THD of 0.01% and the usual unmeasurable wow and flutter spec of digital recorders. Imagine inserting an inexpensive audio cassette into this unit and achieving these fabulous digital performance parameters! No price or marketing date as yet.
Sharp also introduced the RX-3 PCM digital mastering processor, an EIAJ 14-bit linear quantization unit with a sampling rate of 44.056 kHz and the by-now-familiar performance specs of this format. Sharp claims their ADD (Automatic Data Detector) has fine adjustment circuitry that will automatically match the RX-3 to the characteristics of any VCR. Sharp also claims the RX3 has a special memory function and anti-drop-out data input which guarantees 99.995% accuracy for drop-out correction! No price or availability information was provided.
Another new digital mastering processor is the Sony PCM-701 (reviewed elsewhere in this issue), which probably will be available by the SCES in June. Although almost half the cost of the deluxe Sony PCM-F1, it still features 14/16 bit quantization. All these digital developments are very exciting and, barring unforeseen problems, certainly have the potential to revitalize the audio industry.
There were a great deal of interesting new analog products at the WOES in every category. In order to report on as much of this new equipment as possible, my notes will be brief.
Sansui showed something unusual for them, a basic power amplifier. The Model B-2301 is a real brute, putting out 300 watts/channel into 8 ohms, with less than 0.003% THD. Using their patented Super Feedforward circuitry, TIM is claimed to be unmeasurable. Slew rate is a super-fast 300 V/µS, with a rise-time of 0.5 µS. The power supply uses a toroidal 1.3-kVA transformer.
The price of this 81-pound amplifier is $2,600. Audire had a most impressive array of new amplifiers. Their new Monarch 100 watt/channel pure Class-A amp is something to behold. It stands 3 feet high, 23 inches wide, but is only 5 1/2 inches deep. All you see on the front of the unit are the 3-foot vertical fins of the heat-sinks. The Monarch is contained within its own rosewood rack. It is claimed to be completely stable with any load and is said to drive 1-ohm loads "all day long" with an output of 750 watts! At one listening session, three pairs of Acoustats and a pair of Sequerra ribbon speakers were all hooked up in parallel and driven to levels over 100 dB SPL. According to Audire, there were no measured or audible anomalies. The Monarch will sell for $6,000 per pair. A less imposing and less expensive ($2,850) amplifier from this firm is the 100 watt/channel, 8-ohm, pure Class-A Parlando. This is a dual-mono unit on a single chassis, with 32 output transistors and 256,000 µF in the power supply. The Parlando is also claimed to be stable into a 1 ohm load, and at 2 ohms, output is 360 watts/channel.
Perreaux is a new name in amplifier manufacturers, and would you believe it is headquartered in New Zealand? The first product of this company, the 2150B 200 watt/channel amplifier, has been well received in the U.S. Now they have introduced a 100 watt/channel model, the 1150B. Designer Peter Perreaux emphasizes that all of his amplifiers are hand-crafted and hand-assembled, using only discrete circuitry; there are no ICs whatever. The 1150B uses a bipolar, transistor Class-A driver stage and a MOS-FET output stage (to eliminate the need for protective circuits). The amplifier is designed to provide 3 dB of dynamic headroom. Bridging for higher power can be accomplished with a rear-panel switch.
The THD and IM distortion figures are stated to be no more than 0.009% at 4 and 8 ohms. The 1150B is of very rugged construction, with a patent pending on its special heat-sink configuration. Price is $990.
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(Adapted from: Audio magazine, Apr. 1983; Bert Whyte )
Also see:
Dr. Thomas Stockham on the Future of Digital Recording (Feb. 1980)
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