Dear Editor, and Editor's Review (Jul. 1972)

Lirpa History

Dear Sir:

I was quite pleased to find your article on Prof. I. Lirpa's speaker design in your April issue. This is the first time I've come across any reference to Lirpa in an American publication, and I thought you might appreciate knowing more about the professor. I came to know him at U.B. ( Univ. of Bucharest) in the summer of 1953, and I was with him when he stumbled onto (literally) wickerwork, and its then unknown useful applications. In fact--and you will probably enjoy this little anecdote--he was expelled from school for making rude sounds in stereo while sitting in a wicker chair.

I believe, however, that your translation is in error, because in attempting to prove it out I re-translated the article back into Romanian, and it was unintelligible (at least, to the English-speaking world). But don't take that badly, I. Lirpa himself often spelled his name backwards.

-Harold Bryman Sherman Oaks, Calif.

The reason for Prof. Lirpa being comparatively unknown is because he was ostracized since a scandal in 1967 or thereabouts. I am not certain of the details but it involved a camel and the wicker basket. However, with the realization that one's private life should not detract from scientific achievements, Prof Lirpa's works are again being published and the University is even naming a chair in his honor.

-ED.

From the Soviet Union....

Dear Sir:

I'm a reader of your magazine for some four years and enjoy the material published in it greatly. Since I'm a record collector and hi-fi enthusiast, your magazine is very helpful to me.

Now I've decided to write to you and to ask for your help in establishing contacts between American and Soviet record collectors. I'd like to exchange records with anybody who might be interested in that. I can send records of world-famous Soviet performers, composers, etc. I'd like to point out just […] of. Soviet records are a lot of them, a serious collector. Also such contact would be useful to bring our peoples closer together. If you'll find a possibility to publish my letter in "Letters to Editor" column, I hope to get in contact with some collectors.

-Waldas J. Nenishkis, Zirgo str. 3, apt. 14, Antakalnis, Vilinius, Lithuania, USSR.

And Czechoslovakia

Dear Sir:

Besides being an audiophile, I am an avid jazz music lover and records collector. Unfortunately, the American jazz records are not available here and cannot be ordered from abroad in a normal way. My only source of jazz records was a swapping of records with an American friend who after having moved to Hawaii is not able to continue our exchange. I would be very happy and grateful to you, if I could through your magazine find somebody willing to swap records with me. I hope that there can be somebody interested in Czech music released on our Supraphon whose complete catalog I am prepared to send. I understand that this would be an advantage on my side mainly, since Supraphon records are available in your country equipped with far better covers. The swapping of records could be eventually extended to an exchange of opinions on the subject of sound reproduction.

-J. Burdych Na Maninách 34/1106 Praha 7 Holesovice, Czechoslovakia

AM Buffs, Arise!

Dear Sir:

I have been a follower of AUDIO magazine since 1963, and I have always had the same disappointment. It isn't necessarily directed at your editorial policy, but at the "snobbish" attitude that is displayed towards AM broadcasting.

The manufacturers of high fidelity stereo equipment seem to be the main culprits in this area. It is disgusting to see some of the outstanding tuners and receivers available that offer an AM section on an "also ran" basis. If the same people that design equipment as great as we know it can't also offer an AM standard any better than the "State of the Art of 1943," then the entire science is in great trouble.

Granted, AM radio does have a little noise, and some stations do not care if their signal could be compared to a "random noise source," but many broadcasters diligently strive to broadcast a signal as perfect as our "state of the art" permits. It is not uncommon to find less distortion and better frequency response in a well maintained AM transmitting facility than in the modern phonograph disc. Signal quality is fundamental to the responsible broadcaster, because he realizes that is really all he has to offer to the public.

There are too many FM broadcasts that could be categorized as random noise sources. It is not uncommon to find FM stations that transmit worse audio than their AM counterparts.

Many times the financial makeup of FM broadcasting does not permit the engineering budgets necessary to maintain quality that AM service can offer.

It would do my heart good to see: 1. AM tuners with an i.f. bandwidth to 15 kHz., with the attendant 10 kHz "whistle" filter. 2. Tuners with 2% or less harmonic distortion capability, as is now the standard in many AM transmitters. 3. All equipment reports on receivers or tuners with AM sections show frequency response, IHF sensitivity, i.f. bandwidth, and distortion.

4. More broadcasters promote their audio quality as "high fidelity" in every sense. All of these items are completely within the "state of the art" and would happen if enough enthusiasts desired them.

Granted, listening to AM will never compare to live performance listening, but I will never be convinced that cassettes and eight-track cartridges will either. How about some comments from your readers?

-David P. Hebert Chief Engineer, KXRO Aberdeen, Wash.

If there was a real demand for tuners with good AM performance, manufacturers would be only too pleased to make them-or so it seems to me. I believe the most urgent need is for FM stations to improve their incredibly bad transmission standards-and how about some live broadcasts?

-Ed.

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Editor's Review

MUCH HAS HAPPENED since our Quadraphonic issue last October: Electro-Voice has come to terms with CBS, matrix records have been released (over 400,000 SQ discs sold up to May), and companies such as Kenwood, Superscope, Pioneer, and Harman-Kardon have joined Sony on the SQ bandwagon. On the discrete side, RCA has announced the imminent release of several discs using the JVC multiplex system and they are supported by JVC and Panasonic with an impressive range of playing equipment. The straightforward confrontation between discrete and matrix is complicated by the SQ and E-V gain-riding logic modifications and by the recent appearance of the Sansui phase-controlled matrix which gives separation comparable with discrete-see page 36. It is possible (technically, that is) for RCA to use a matrix for recording their discrete system so the discs could be played via a decoder or a JVC type modulator but whether RCA will actually do this is anybody's guess. . . . Meanwhile most manufacturers such Fisher, Pioneer, Marantz, Kenwood, and Sherwood are fitting their receivers with switches to take care of discrete systems or any kind of matrix arrangement.

-----

According to Peter "Matrix" Scheiber, over 1 million decoders in one form or another have been sold. This estimate was given by Peter at the recent AES convention-which was notable for some rather stormy scenes between matrix and discrete protagonists! At about the same time, another conference was being held in Acapulco (who picks these places?). This was organized by the International Music Industry Conference (IMIC) and here RCA made a presentation of their system in company with executives from Panasonic, Motorola, JVC, and Quadracast. RCA's Rocco Laginestra said "By this time next year, all RCA records will be made in a compatible discrete format." JVC announced that they will introduce a cartridge using the Shibata stylus in July at about $69.95 and a modulator-decoder at $99.95.

Panasonic will also have a modulator available by September and the price with cartridge is expected to be $134.95. We hope to make an assessment of the RCA discs in the very near future-early JVC discs suffered from a restricted dynamic range, low signal-to-noise and reduced it is claimed that some of these The RIAA has just announced the 1971 sales figures for tapes and records. Cassettes were up $96 million from $77 million and 8-track up to $385 million from $378 last year. Reel-to-reel sales fell to $12 million from $18 million. Record sales increased to $1,251 billion from the previous year's $1,182 billion--a gain of 5.8%.

Calling All Antique Phonograph Collectors

Looking at our cover reminds me that there is a Society for Collectors of Old Phonographs. The name is the American Phonograph Society and it publishes a quarterly journal. The address is: P.O. Box 5046, Berkeley, Calif. 94705.

-----

My appearance in a Pioneer advertisement should not be taken as a specific endorsement of Pioneer products by me or by AUDIO magazine. Our unbiased, factual opinions of equipment can be found in the review pages.

------

I wonder how many people were actually privileged to hear the music of Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven before the advent of recording. Or how many travelled much beyond the confines of their own village just 200 years ago? These thoughts were prompted by reading Earl Lifshey's column in the Home Furnishings Daily (known to its devoted readers as HFD). Well, Earl quoted the late Adlai Stevenson as saying "Every new technological development wraps another fine stainless steel wire around our souls." A trite observation, but with some degree of truth-especially considered from the standpoint of pollution and chemical "food." But the truth is, most of us take technological advances for granted, and I am reminded of a debate which took place some years ago. One of the speakers was a Thoreau Back-To-Nature enthusiast and after he had held forth about the joys of a Simple Life, the other speaker asked him a simple question: What did you do after getting up this morning? After some prodding, the B.T.N. speaker confessed he had used the bathroom, made a phone call, put on his mass-produced suit, got his breakfast from the refrigerator, read his newspaper, and got into his car-but before he reached that point his voice was drowned by a sea of uproarious laughter from the audience.

Humor In Advertising

Seen in the window of a Philadelphia store, "Come in for a discreet quadraphonic demonstration." With Go-Go Girls?

-G. W. T.

(Source: Audio magazine.)

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