SIGNALS & NOISE (Letters to Editor) (Dec. 1987)

Glimpse into the Future

Dear Editor:

I was disappointed to see, in the October issue, the letters of complaint about Audio's reviews of sophisticated, high-dollar equipment. Everyone in the mid-fi and bargain-basement realm owes the level of performance their equipment provides to the pioneering research of high-end designers and manufacturers.

Many of the features the average consumer looks for today at one time represented the state of the art, but these features have since filtered down into moderately priced gear where the rest of us can enjoy them too. Items like MOS-FET amplifiers, digital tuners, quartz-locked turntable drive motors, dome tweeters and midrange drivers, high-quality interconnects, and low-feedback audio circuits are just a few of the formerly esoteric features that are now available to the masses. By keeping its readers aware of the trends in esoteric gear, Audio gives them a glimpse into the future of high fidelity.

The reader who called such items "obscenities" is ignoring the debt he owes to the uncompromising high-end designers. Does he expect us to believe that he wouldn't own an Audio Research SP-11 preamp if he had five grand to spare? It is difficult to have sympathy for such sour grapes.

To the designers of such "obscenities," I say thank you and keep up the superb work. To the editors of Audio, I ask that you keep an open mind for the rest of us.

-Matthew Reiner; Silver Spring, Md.

Small Investment, Big Difference

Dear Editor:

I just finished making the modification described in "The Magnavox 16 Bit Series: Making Good Players Better" in the June issue. I own a Magnavox CDB650 CD player. The sound before the modification was great, but now it's unbelievable--this difference just by substituting a few parts. Neither my brother nor I have any kind of electrical background. The only experience we have between us is knowing how to use a soldering iron, which, for this, was all we really needed.

The one thing that confuses me is this: Why do I have to void my warranty and risk blowing my CD player for a modification that should come with the player, and with all Philips-made players that are on the market? I mean, the difference in sound quality is like night and day. If it only cost me a few dollars for parts and a service manual, plus a little time, I'm sure that it would cost Philips practically nothing to have this as standard. If the technology is there in the first place, why are they half-stepping?

-Joseph Predio; New York, N.Y.

Extra, Extra!

Dear Editor:

I have enjoyed Audio for many years now, and I really treasure the older issues that I have accumulated over the past several decades. I have many extra older copies of Audio which other readers may wish to add to their personal collections. These issues extend from 1956 through 1986.

Many thanks for a fine magazine!

-Freeman H. Matthews, 505 King Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43201

Oughta Write a Book

Dear Editor:

Ted Fox's interview with Alfred Lion of Blue Note in the June 1987 issue of Audio was fantastic. I learned many things about the great Blue Note re cord label that I never found in the three jazz periodicals I subscribe to.

To echo the sentiments of critics, Blue Note did indeed leave behind a rich legacy of recorded jazz and, in the process, maintained a high standard of recorded sound quality which, in my opinion, has not been matched by any other record label since then. Perhaps Mr. Fox could provide a more in-depth report on the history of Blue Note in the form of a book.

-Bill Zimprich, Milwaukee, Wisc.

Lion Lines

Dear Editor:

"Lion's Pride" by Ted Fox (June 1987)--what a title! And what a story about jazz and some of its people.

Thanks.

-Raleigh Yancy, Bruce, Wisc.

Bound for Extinction

Dear Editor:

Regarding L. A. Schwartz's letter, "Save the LP!" (June 1987 "Signals & Noise"), he has my agreement completely! Let the LP become the realm of the collector, for that is swiftly becoming its place.

Face the facts. Sound as interpreted by an LP is produced by dragging the earth's hardest mineral through a modulated, equalized waveform that spirals through something used to make automobile seats, creating sufficient G-force to turn a man into a jellyfish.

The signal is then demodulated, re-equalized, and amplified-all in addition to the recording and listening stages, which have their own inherent shortcomings.

Mr. Schwartz clearly states his point by saying, "Sure, the CD sounds great" and "... we can save history." His interest lies not with superior sound reproduction, it lies with preserving antiquity. Look at it this way. When LPs suffer their demise (a long time away), his collection may be worth more.

Digital encoding is simply logical or is it logically simple? Thomas Edison himself probably dreamed of the premise behind digital reproduction but was stymied by the requisite speed and volume of information. The terms "mega" and "giga" now have applications for more than aircraft-carrier shopping lists. We can quantize sound 44,100 times per second and then re read that information--is it four times we are up to now?--faster than that.

Let's see a phonograph compensate for all those dust motes (dare I mention the stylus?) that etched a record's groove the last 10 times you played it.

-Michael W. Thies, Sikeston, Mo.

One for the "1"

Dear Editor:

As a very satisfied user of the Yamaha DSP-1 sound processor, I thought I might offer some addenda to your excellent product review (June 1987).

While the secondary speakers need not be as large, or as expensive, as the main channel speakers, careful thought should be given to the choice.

The DSP-1 produces ambient signals whose average level is as great or greater than that of the main channels (program dependent). Power handling ability is thus of great importance, as is accuracy. Frequency extremes are of less importance, since deep bass is non-directional and can be carried by the main speakers and because very high frequencies are usually not found in a reverberant field. Also, it is good to be aware that the DSP-1 produces a low-level "wind" that can be exaggerated by an otherwise good speaker which happens to have a treble peak in just the "wrong" frequency. (I had to return an otherwise excellent set of speakers for this reason.) Another advantage of the DSP-1 is the effect it has on monaural sources, be they early Beatles or Furtwangler rereleases. The subjective distancing provided by many of the DSP-1's pro grams makes the monaural aspect of the original source less apparent, and a 3-D aspect is restored by the very realistic hall sound.

I hope these observations are helpful to fellow readers.

I thank you for the continuing excellence of Audio and congratulate you in your 40th year.

-Don Sucher, Brighton, Mass.

DAT's Not All

Dear Editor:

I am continually amazed that, all through the DAT anti-copy debate, so little is mentioned about the fact that digital products already have anti-

copy protection via their subcode data. It seems to me that CBS simply wants a system to protect all prerecorded material and that DAT is just used as an excuse to push the point.

I'm sure that if it is incorporated, CBS will then want anti-copying chips in all analog recorders too! Technically, there is another item which seems to get overlooked. Is this notch filter that the anti-copy chip incorporates going to be digital or analog? If it is analog, then a digital master tape would have to be converted to analog, passed through the filter, then converted back to digital to make either CDs or DATs. We would then not only have a notch taken out of the music, we would also have an additional D/A and A/D conversion. That would be the end of direct digital recordings (DDD).

I would like to compliment Audio on its coverage of this topic, editorially and technically, since you were, until recently. a division of CBS Inc. I have written CBS and my state representatives on this subject, and I have discontinued buying CBS products. It's not hard to see why U.S. companies can't compete with Japan and others when CBS spends so much time de signing backward technology.

-Brad Smith Seattle, Wash.

Worth the Wait

Dear Editor:

Thanks for the excellent article, "Designing a Home Listening Room," by B. V. Pisha and Charles Bilello in the September issue. That article has real substance which is bound to have great effect in future listening rooms.

Thanks also for Ken Pohlmann's review of my Auditory Perception training course. He has done a fine job-better than I could have done myself!

-F. Alton Everest, Whittier, Cal.,

A Cheer for AM Stereo

Dear Editor:

Thanks for taking an innovative step and including information on AM stereo in your Car Stereo Directory (May 1987). To some of us, it's very important, and your advanced attitudes make a great statement about your publication.

-Paul Gundlach; Fallsington, Pa.

Doubly Lucky

Dear Editor:

It was kind of you to forward the "Coda" on Richard Heyser's life--and, so sadly, his death. Frankly, I cannot think of one whose brainchild assisted more--if indeed as much--to the advancement toward the goal of perfection in audio, whatever branch one considers. He was a lucky man to be born with such an intellectual gift, but perhaps even more lucky because of his ability to share it.

I am completely confident that the Wellington Audio Club will join with me in expressing sorrow at the loss of this fine engineer and most likable man.

-Norman A. Williams, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

(Audio magazine, Dec. 1987)

= = = =