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Cylinder Deck Dear sir, I've just finished reading Mr. Shifrin's article on early records and would like to offer some additional information just in case I'm not the only one around whose interest lies in cylinders. I recently built a "state of the art" cylinder deck. I used an early Edison mechanism (pre 1905) with an end gate. This I stripped of motor, gears and worn assembly. I then installed a Philips 212 motor and servo-control system coupled with a new flat rubber belt. For an arm I use a Rabco SL8E. After debugging (you've gotta go pretty fast to track an Edison 2-minute cylinder) I mounted a Pickering V15 cartridge. For a "stylus" I use a BIC accountant's fine tip pen ball which I epoxied to the shank of the Pickering stylus assembly. The cartridge was wired for vertical pickup. When I was finished I found myself running backwards, but found that the motor winding can be reversed without affecting servo action and if the Rabco is exactly tangential to the cylinder and the stylus centered on the top of the cylinder, it does no harm to have the cylinder surface "pushing" the stylus instead of pulling it. An improvement in distortion can be achieved with the use of a .025-in. miniature ball bearing for 2-minute stylus. I have sent both two-minute and four-minute cylinders out for photographic analysis of their surfaces and soon hope to specify styli with precise accuracy. Anyone desiring further details may contact me directly. I am interested in trading information for any Edison Grand Opera series cylinders which your readers may wish to give up. Back to Mono! Richard N. Levine Monadnock Audio 28 Main St. Peterborough, NH 03458. Even AUDIO can Laugh Dear sir, After reading the article on "Converting to Monophonic Sound" on page 66 of your April issue I felt I had to write to express my delight ... Thank you for providing a little educated humor in your already technically superb magazine. G.J. Hugunin III, President, Magnetic Laboratories Cincinnati, Ohio Converting to Mono Dear sir, Gerrard Rejskind's "Converting to Monophonic Sound" (AUDIO, April, 1974) is a positively brilliant piece of humor. It made so much sense, and I so thoroughly enjoyed it that for a while I actually forgot I was reading Audio magazine. -Harron K. Appleman HKA Audio Engineering New York, NY Dear sir, The "Converting to Mono" article by Gerrard Rejskind in your April issue is a landmark which should make you justly proud. Keep up the good work. Howard Greenlee, Jr. President Fun Music Radio Scottsdale, AZ Dear sir, Your article regarding a student of professor Lirpa, was astounding. I happen to have a friend whose name is Háry Lirpa, a good old Hungarian. I don't know of any relationship. My friend Háry gave me once an old document that he once found in one of Budapest's old libraries. It was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, which floored me for a while, until I discovered that the language was modern Greek. After some effort I came to the following translation, although I cannot guarantee that it is idiomatically correct. ". . . When in 1891 Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky visited New York City, with his favorite valet Dmitri da Rimini, there was a little to do some night. Dmitri, by the way, came from first class old Milanese stock, and he was quite helpful in translating the Italian for Peter. Peter used to call him "Da" for short. "Well after opening of Carnegie Hall, Peter went off to a local tavern with the musical notables of the day to have some little water (I believe that is the Greek translation for vodka!) and to celebrate the opening of Carnegie Hall. It became a rowdy affair as the little waters took their effect, with speeches and more little waters. Peter had to make a pass at one of the pretty waitresses of the place; Francesca de Valetta was her name. (Irish?) "Later back in the hotel, Francesca's father came over to make a hell of a racket in front of the hotel. Dmitri woke up and later also Peter. Peter still quite high, turned around in bed and said: 'Oh, don't worry it is only the father of Francesca da Rimini.' " .. . Paul A. Elias Clayton, CA The New Stereo Bonanaza Dear sir, In regard to (Mr. Canby's) article "The New Stereo Bonanza" ... How right you are! Since the rudimentary days of putting the last twists on the wiring for Dynaco's hookup, to today's use of wave matching logic circuitry, the biggest thrill in quadraphonics has been to make my existing library come alive with new presence and placement not before possible in conventional stereo. No, the placement and directionality may not be that of an encoded disc, but that's hardly the fair or correct comparison. Here's hoping that more marketing people (and soon thereafter, the buying public) come to realize that the best reference point for anyone sitting amidst four speakers for the first time is material he is familiar with ... whether or not that material is encoded for (four-channel). Brien Lee Partner, Sorgel-Lee Multimedia, Milwaukee, Wisc. Uncensored Information Dear sir, At long last, you have provided in Mr. Heyser's speaker tests, the application of highly sophisticated measurement techniques apparently combined with the freedom to objectively discuss the problems a particular speaker might have without fear of a manufacturer reprisal. In this day when the public is being ripped off on everything from A to Z, your testing policies at last show some public responsibility and class. It will be indeed another blow to the concept of a free market place if the advertisers in your magazine put the pressure on to stop an unfavorable test report. Keep up with the good work! There are a lot of readers who appreciate the straight, uncensored information about high fidelity products you have pioneered in Mr. Heyser's speaker testing. - Gary C. Bailey Engineering Development Co., Los Angeles, CA (Source: Audio magazine.) Also see: = = = = |
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