Editor's Review (Dec. 1973)

THERE WERE some names from the audio field in the news during the past few weeks, and since the events associated with these gentlemen could easily have been overshadowed by the momentous national and international political events of the period, we thought we'd better stop and take a moment to pass along the information.

"It all came out of the world of music and some of it should go back as a replacement of a personal debt, you might say, but also as a civic responsibility." Those are the words of Avery Fisher, of Fisher Radio Corp., in giving an immense sum--said to be between $8-million and $10-million--to New York's Philharmonic Hall. In appreciation, officials of Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic decided to change the name of the hall to Avery Fisher Hall.

The gift was described as a breakthrough in the field of arts patronage as 80 percent of the grant will be used to help meet the hall's housekeeping expenses.

In the past, such gifts have been directed by their doners for the more glamorous areas, such as new opera productions or buildings.

The remaining 20 percent of the grant will go towards a special project dear to Mr. Fisher, who is a violinist: a fellowship program designed to give impetus to the careers of young American instrumentalists.

Dr. Peter Goldmark, chairman and president of Goldmark Communications and former director of C.B.S. Laboratories, has been presented the Golden Omega award of the Electrical/Electronics Insulation Conference. The award is presented at each E.I.C. conference to an outstanding person in science, engineering, education or industry who has made an important contribution to technological progress. The E.I.C. is jointly sponsored by the National Electrical Manufacturers Assn. and the I.E.E.E. Goldmark is, of course, well known for his creation of the long-playing phonograph record, which is celebrating its Silver Anniversary this year. (The LP, incidentally, grossed more than $2-billion in the United States alone last year.) Goldmark holds some 160 patents and is known for development of the first practical color television system and Electronic Video Recording (EVR). He was also responsible for the development of the high-resolution readout and ground recording system used in the U.S. Lunar Orbiter space program.

Goldmark, who developed the LP because he became annoyed with the constant interruptions of classical music movements with 78 rpm records, still receives courtesy copies of each new LP produced by record companies and thus owns one of the country's most complete record libraries. He describes the years of the invention of the LP and other developments in his autobiography "Maverick Inventor: My Turbulent Years in CBS," published November 1st by the Saturday Review Press at $7.95.

Hans W. Heinsheimer, executive vice president of G. Schirmer, Inc., is celebrating his 50th anniversary in music publishing. Having worked closely with such composers as Gian Carlo Menotti, Samuel Barber, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Bela Bartok, and Leos Janacek, Heinsheimer is credited with a significant role in shaping the concert and opera repertoire heard today.

Heinsheimer began his career in 1923, after graduation from the Univ. of Freiberg, with Universal Edition in Vienna-at no salary. In 1925, as director of the firm's opera department, he arranged for the premiere of Alban Berg's Wozzek and in 1928 for the premiere of Kurt Weill's Three-penny Opera.

Heinsheimer came to the United States in 1938 and, after a nine-year association with Boosey & Hawkes, he joined G. Schirmer, Inc., in 1947 as director of symphonic and operatic repertory. He was named director of publication in 1957, elected vice president in 1971, and attained his present position in April of this year.

New York City Watts Consumer Protection Law Regulation 36, covering power output disclosures on home audio equipment, went into effect October 17 in New York City, after its original publication in August. While there were a few changes from the originally published version, the amended regulation is unchanged in substance. Disclosure is not mandatory under the regulation, but when it is made must meet the following standards: (a) show watts per channel with all channels driven; (b) at 8 ohms impedance; (c) across a power bandwidth not less than 60 to 10,000 Hz, and (d) with THD less than 1 percent from 250 milliwatts to rated power. (The original low limit on THD specification was 0 watts.) We are, of course, glad to see that the regulation is going into effect. It will reduce the consumer's confusion about power ratings and should prove to be no hardship on the industry, as all are placed on equal footing by the regulation.

-E.P.

(Source: Audio magazine, Dec. 1973)

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