Behind The Scenes (Aug. 1973)

by Bert Whyte

The professional audio industry is currently enjoying an almost "boom" type prosperity. This is reflected in the activities of the Audio Engineering Society, which thus far this year has held its 44th convention in Rotterdam, its 45th convention in Los Angeles, and will sponsor the 46th convention in September at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. What other industry do you know of that has 3 conventions in a year? I've been back a few weeks from the Los Angeles convention, and my feet are still aching from tromping through the "biggest ever" exhibition of professional audio equipment. Convened as usual at the Los Angeles Hilton, there was so much equipment that additional space beyond the usual AES allocation was pressed into service.

Where to start? Always most impressive are the huge audio mixing consoles from such companies as Rupert Neve, Westlake Audio, Spectra Sonics and Quad-Eight Electronics.

All of them feature 24 or more inputs and usually 16 outputs. There is every kind of equalization, echo send and return, filtering, channel switching, pan-potting, preview monitoring mix . . . even automated "memory bank" input mix and retrieval. In spite of the mad profusion of knobs and switches and meters, these consoles are functionally beautiful and it is evident that much consideration was given to human engineering in their design. For those whose mixing requirements are on a more modest scale, but who nonetheless want professional quality, the Tascam people seem to be concentrating on this market. In addition to their Model 10 console introduced last year, they now have a compact "outboard" console with 12 input modules, which hooks up with the Model 10, affording a total of 24 inputs. With their "building block" philosophy of offering various modules such as remote control, quad panner, headphone monitor, talkback, etc., the mixing console can be tailored to meet the requirements of a broad spectrum of audio people.

Tascam vice president, Arne Berg, showed me some interesting prototypes of new equipment, including power amplifiers, an 8-channel half inch tape recorder, and a two-channel spring type reverb unit. I listened to the latter (with a chip on my shoulder, because I don't like springs) and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of that objectionable "boinnggg" sound that always seems to color these devices.

At the Altec room, old friend John Eargle was showing off a new small scaled monitor speaker with a new horn design with very wide dispersion.

Standing as far off axis as 45-50 degrees, the high frequencies were still very much in evidence, and the stereo imaging was very solid. John also played his "monster monitors," a bi-amplified system employing two 15" acoustic suspension woofers, and a big multi-cellular horn. These speakers have been re-designed since last year, losing about a third in size, but gaining in sound quality from new driver units and a newly configured throat construction in the horn. John says he aims to ship me a pair about mid July, so I can play all sorts of music and bring you a detailed report. At one end of the Altec room I was astonished to see a pair of gargantuan "C-5 bins" ... a theatre horn speaker designed by the late Douglas Shearer, chief of the MGM sound department for many years, and brother of the glamorous Norma Shearer. I met Doug years ago, and in fact Bob Fine and I were using his "C-5 bins" to demonstrate "Perspectasound" in an old theatre in the Bronx before a distinguished group that included Sherman Fairchild, Arthur Loew, Spyros Skouras and Joe Schenck.

Big speakers . . . big sound, brings readily to mind the Cerwin-Vega room. It is never difficult to find their room ... just cock your ears and they will guide you to the source of the awesome roar of genial Gene Czerwinski's corner horn bass speaker, powered by a mere 2000 watts. If you can stand it, when you are in the room the SPL will actually make your clothing flutter! It so happens that old friend Jim Cunningham, a stereo and quadraphonic pioneer, was presenting a paper at the quadraphonics seminar. Now Jim happens to be an expert in sound effects recordings, and earlier in the day he had been regaling me with the story of how he had just recorded the whistle of the "Queen Mary," now permanently berthed in Long Beach.

He was told the whistle "speaks" at 26 Hertz. God help us all, if Jim and Gene Czerwinski get together at the fall AES convention and send the "Queen Mary" steaming through the corridors of the Waldorf! The proponents of the various species of quadraphonic discs were on hand, with excellent demonstration rooms. Sansui was showing off their Vario-Matrix, which unquestionably enhances separation to a remarkable degree. The Vario-Matrix circuit is now in production in a number of Sansui receivers. To the list of Sansui supporters we can now add the catalog of French Pathe.

JVC was of course elated when the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic record group opted for their CD-4 discrete four channel system. The first fruits of that decision will be reaching me shortly, in the way of some pop releases, and a number of classical items from the Nonesuch catalog. In their room, JVC was demonstrating CD-4, but what caught my eye was a most unique peak and VU level meter for quadraphonic sound. Designated the MM-4, this amazing device utilizes a "plasma-film," which shows visually and dynamically the simultaneous level of four signals. The signals appear as concentric circles in each of the four corners of the plasma-film. Now get this ... the maximum signal level of each channel is displayed in a memory circuit, which will maintain it visually for one hour, while at the same time the fluctuating running signal is displayed! I hope to have one of these units before long and do some recording to put it through the mill.

Quad matrix pioneer Peter Scheiber was ensconced in a suite on the 5th floor where he was proudly showing his new variable matrix encoder and decoder, for use in the EV/SQ quadraphonic disc system. Pete had a nice set up using the new Crown electrostatic speakers powered by the new Crown DC300A amplifiers. It certainly was one of the best sounding exhibits at the convention. Pete played some SQ recordings that I had heard on fairly conventional SQ decoding equipment, and the difference in separation and instrumental localization using his decoder was very pronounced. Don't know what the status of Pete's system is, but there was some talk of the possibility of consumer models of his new decoder.

Speaking of Crown, they were on hand with an exhibit of their DC300A amplifier and a shiny new tape recorder, among the first production from their new factory. Crown is recovering nicely from the disastrous fire of Thanksgiving Day 1971. The DC300A is proving extremely popular, being able to cope with virtually any speaker load. In fact as impedance goes down . . . for example around two ohms ... power output rises to almost 500 watts. The DC30OA can also be simply strapped to act as a mono amplifier with 600 watts continuous power at 8 ohms.

Ampex always has an interesting exhibit, and this one was no exception. My friend Frank Rush, the "Dean" of the regional field reps, was on hand to explain the niceties of the new servo drive 440B recorder, which can be hooked into a gizmo to afford synchronous lock-up with the new 7900 video recorder, as well as the big studio professional video machines.

Scully was showing their tape recorder, about which they are claiming some very impressive noise specs.

Will be interesting to find out what combination of tape and type of record/playback electronics is responsible for a S/N of 72dB! Three M, after having introduced a new 16 track unit last year, has followed up with new quarter- and half-inch recorders. Impressive looking units, professionally detailed, it is obvious 3M wants to maintain a strong competitive position in the studio markets.

Ray Dolby was on hand with his always charming wife, Dagmar, showing off his masterpiece of electronic miniaturization, the M-16. It is hard to imagine that this unit contains 16 channels of A Type noise reduction in little more space than the original Dolby A-301 two-channel NR unit.

There were many more exhibits one could detail ... the first entry of Bose into electronics, their new 1801 amplifier, an 82-pound brute with an output of 800 watts at 4 ohms, beautifully finished with both power meters and peak indicating LED's ... the Burwen/ Schoeps microphone with exceptionally low noise circuitry . . . Rudy Bozak's new speakers combining two new design 8-inch woofers, with what is essentially the 8x2 inch tweeter array from the big Bozak "Concert Grand," which however, Rudy says is also a new design with response out to 40 kHz! One could go on and on ... but I would be most remiss if I did not tell you about one of the most fabulous exhibits I have seen in years and without doubt, the hit of the AES convention. This was a fascinating look at audio history, prepared by Mr. Jack Mullin. Mr. Mullin brought back the original Magnetophon from Germany after the war, and with Alexander M. Poniatoff (whose initials form the first part of the name "Ampex") and the help of Bing Crosby Enterprises, the Ampex Company was formed. Mr. Mullin has collected a great deal of record and tape equipment that has been historically significant over the years and it is these fascinating artifacts, arranged chronologically, which make up his exhibit. Thus we have the first Berliner disc phonograph, record machines with actual demonstration of the same piece recorded acoustically and then electrically. There are tremendous gear-driven turntables for handling 16-inch transcriptions, which were cut vertically and are played back with an arm and cartridge exerting a mere four ounces of stylus pressure! There are all kinds of early microphones, including some giant German condenser mics that weighed in at 14 pounds. Wonder of wonders, you can not only see what the original Magnetophon looked like, but by God, it is actually operating at 30 ips, and using the original BASF "Luvitherm" tape! Then there is the Rangertone, an early Magnetophone derivative. The first huge Ampex 200, which handled 14-inch reels of tape is on display. So is the old Magnecord, and the Pentron, and Wilcox-Gay and . . . well it is just staggering. Happily, Mr. Mullin is bringing the same exhibit to the 46th AES convention at the Waldorf in September. If you are a recording man, this is one exhibit that is an absolute must! So went the 45th AES convention.

There were plenty of papers by dedicated people exploring the technological frontiers of our industry, the seminars were well attended, and I'm sure the interchange among the members will set brains a-spinnin', and there will be products coming along that you have never dreamed of, Horatio.

(Audio magazine, Aug. 1973; Bert Whyte)

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