SIGNALS & NOISE (Letters to Editor) Jul. 1984

East Bests West

Dear Editor:

In the January 1984 "Spectrum" column, you stated in "What's on Stereo TV?" that Japan has had TV with multiplexed soundtracks "for about two years now." That statement is incorrect by at least a factor of two.

I was transferred to Japan in September 1980, and within days of my arrival I rented a Japanese television set with a switch on it that enabled one to receive bilingual broadcasts. A month or so later, I purchased a used multiplex receiver to receive stereo and bilingual broadcasts. There was already in existence a thriving market for the used sets among resident foreigners, and the set I rented was hardly new. I suspect the Japanese have had multiplex broadcasts for at least four or five years, since I heard no comments about it being a recent addition to the broadcast capability. I know that the multiplex broadcasts, both stereo music and bilingual pro grams, were common in September of 1980 and changed very little in the three years I stayed in Japan.

As for the inexplicable listings you mentioned, almost all shows on Japanese television feature at least one song by a well-known singer, even quiz shows, and believe it or not, wrestling shows. I have seen a singer sing a song before the matches on Japanese television.

I would like to add that I find the American audio and video markets very disappointing after living in Japan, where one store sells both. And all releases, American as well as Japanese, of Laserdiscs, Compact Discs, videotapes, CEDs and VHDs, as well as audio records, are available in one store. Shinseido's Shinjuku store, or Yamano's Ginza store, are media de lights and stock everything released.

As in automobiles, the Japanese are way ahead of their American counter parts by light years.

-Rodney L. Thacker Omaha, Nebr.

Digital Humor

Dear Editor:

In your interview of Doug Sax (January) he says, "If the whole world goes to Compact Disc, I will be first-generation live-to-digital." I appreciate the broad humor here. But for the sake o' the readers, it should be made clear that one of the advantages of digital recording is that there is no information lost during transfer from digital tape to digital disc, so nothing is gained by direct-to-digital disc. In analog recording, there is a loss with each transfer, as there would be in the tracing of a copy of a copy of a drawing, and thus the value of direct-to-(analog) disc. In digital recording there should be no transfer loss, just as a copy of a copy of the sequence 001011 should be exactly the same sequence of zeros and ones as in the original.

Sam Craig Berkeley, Cal.

Pen Pal Request

Dear Editor:

I am an audio fan in Japan. I found Audio at a bookstore in Tokyo, and that is why I am writing to you now. I am looking for an American friend of any age who likes audio, and I want to correspond with him or her.

I am a 23-year-old man and go to college in Tokyo. My other hobby is amateur radio (ham). I like almost all kinds of music, but mostly I listen to pop and beautiful music. In 1981, I travelled alone through America for 45 days with a radio-cassette-recorder and I listened to many FM stations. I was very excited to hear the American FM because we don't have so many FM stations or such exciting ones.

Masaaki Arai 3-3-4 Minami-cho

Tanashi-city, Tokyo, 188 Japan

Clubbing in Atlanta & Mamaroneck

Dear Editor:

In the hope that your list of audio clubs and societies ("Where & When," December 1983) is an ongoing enterprise, I would like to add our name and address: Atlanta Audio Society, P.O. Box 92130, Atlanta, Ga. 30314. We formed last October, and our president is Howard Royal of Newnan, Ga. We generally meet on the third Sunday of each month, and dues are $25 a year.

Anyone can call (404) 253-6419 or send an SASE for more information.

-David L. Passler Atlanta, Ga.

Dear Editor:

Audio listed audio clubs in the December 1983 issue. One group listed was The Audiophile Society, a Westchester-based organization, but our official mailing address is: Box 312, Mamaroneck, N.Y. 10543. Membership in our 70-member group costs $25 a year and includes a subscription to our quarterly magazine, Format Minutes.

-Larry Greenhill, M.D., Mamaroneck, N.Y.

Thanks for the Memories

Dear Editor:

For an intellectual and business history of the Boston-area consumer audio industry from the 1950s to the pre sent, I would be grateful for anecdotes, reminiscences, and the like.

- David Moran Farrar Rd., Lincoln, Mass. 01773

Errata:

The Sony Book of Digital Audio Technology, referred to in "Error Correction in the Compact Disc System" in the April issue, is available in an updated version only from Sony Digital Book, P.O. Box 166, Lowell, Mass. 01852.

The price of the Akai CD-D1 CD player was incorrectly listed on page 76 of the June issue; the unit costs $1,000.00.

(Audio magazine, Jul. 1984)

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