Cautious Entry into the '80s -- New equipment consolidates gains
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Consolidation of past gains overshadows the bold new thrusts in the products announced so far this year.
by Robert Long and Peter Dobbin
------- On the cover: 1. Fisher microcassette deck with Dolby
HX; 2. Bose Spatial Ex pander time delay; 3. Logical Systems noise filter; 4.
Harman Kardon hk705 deck with Dolby HX; 5. ADC tube preamp; 6. Ampzilla's new
face; 7. Kenwood tuner-cum-computer; 8. Sony flat-driver APM-8; 9. Yamaha tangential
tracking; 10. Dennesen air-suspension arm and turntable isolation base.
If home-entertainment product entries in recent years have sometimes suggested technology run amok, the first round of the new decade shares little of that tendency. The pace may pick up again at midyear-traditionally the time to sound out the market with new ideas but in the meantime there is much evidence that the international economic climate is inhibiting high-risk projects among the major manufacturers. Many are displaying prototypes of some very advanced gear (and some of the smaller domestic manufacturers are going full tilt along roads that are anything but well trodden). The international companies, however, generally are very circumspect in stating their plans for production, pricing, and marketing of the more outré designs.
Instead they tend to be concentrating on "sure sellers" until the outlook becomes more settled. That means, for example, that some well-made, relatively inexpensive receivers with all the current "good stuff" will be showing up this year. Unfortunately, it also means a good deal of tinsel whose glitter is any thing but sterling: Expect an overuse of LEDs, particularly for functions that might better be handled by meters (LEDs cost less and wink more seductively in the salesroom) or omitted altogether. If you try tuning your FM antenna for maximum signal strength or minimum multipath using a receiver whose signal-strength meter has been replaced by a few LEDs, you should see the folly of this trend.
Automatic, remote-control, and microprocessor-controlled features seem to be retaining their appeal for manufacturers of mid-priced equipment in search of premium models. In some cases, the extra features-like the fabulous prototypes of indefinite introduction date-may represent an attempt to sell the sizzle, rather than the steak, to quote from a favorite aphorism of advertising folk. In this view, the glitter creates "brand awareness" that then can be converted into sales of plainer fare. A related phenomenon is taking place in video tape decks, where the models on display compete in programmability.
The elaboration of these auto-recording microprocessors has pushed list prices up from the original $1,000 base toward the $1,500 mark over the last year or so, yet manufacturers are talking of the need for broader appeal via simpler decks and lower prices. By summer, we may well find that many of the razzle dazzle trends have run their course and have been replaced by a thrust toward simplicity and value.
Not that all expensive products betray a fast-tarnishing glitter, by any means. Indeed, the pursuit of sonic perfection at any price-a pursuit that, in some cases, implies simplicity through the elimination of what are believed to be the fidelity-inhibiting elements of standard designs (active tone controls, or any tone controls at all, for example) remains untouched, as far as we can see, by the economic jitters that infect the mass-market companies. Amps, preamps, and loudspeakers are the most obviously active product categories in this respect, though turntables and phono cartridges also are under perfectionist scrutiny. Cassette deck designers, after setting a blistering pace of innovation in recent years, appear to be catching their breath.
They may be keeping a wary eye on what promises to be the major audio thrust of the Eighties: digital techniques.
That this technology will be used more and more in professional applications is a foregone conclusion; domestication is another matter. Radical opinion may be summarized this way: "We all know that digital audio is taking over, so why are the producers of home equipment so slow to deliver?" A number of reasons are given in rebuttal: once again, the sluggish economy, in which the high en try prices for present digital gear severely limit its market; public satisfaction with the recordings and equipment it can buy now; the assumption that many consumers would see digital technology (as they saw quadriphonics) as an arbitrary attempt to generate sales; the lack of standardization in proposed consumer products; and, occasionally, questions about the quality of digital sound and whether it may not substitute new "infidelities" (as yet inadequately defined) for those of the analog systems it would replace. The long-term course of digital audio is thus anything but clear, though the short term should see still more digital studio recordings for play back on conventional phonographs and tape decks.
Electronics Digital audio recording adapters for home use, first introduced by Sony two years ago with its PCM-1, sample an incoming analog audio signal and trans late that information into digital (binary) bits to be recorded on a video cassette recorder. They are still extremely expensive (in the $3,000-$4,000 range) and still are most appropriate for live recording where they can make use of the in creased dynamic range and high-frequency headroom of the digital medium.
Sanyo, however, stresses the eventual use of digital adapters as the ultimate audiophile component: Packed in with its Plus 10 adapter ($4,000) is a digitally en coded tape of Ry Cooder's album "Bop Till You Drop." Released on disc late in 1979 by Warner Bros. and billed as rock's first digitally mastered record, the album as supplied by Sanyo is a digital transcription of the original digital master tape onto a Beta-format video cassette; thus, there is no analog step in its reproduction. Sanyo promises to make this Beta version available separately at selected audio stores for about $25; of course, you'll need a digital decoder to play it. Also showing digital adapters are Toshiba, which claims that its Mk. II will be in dealers' hands sometime in 1981, and Sharp and Kenwood, both of which state that their units are still proto types.
Ambience enhancers, those black boxes that attempt to re-create a sense of concert hall realism in the home setting, are being offered by Bose and KM Laboratories. The highly publicized Bose time-delay system is an add-on, bucket-
brigade-type unit. Dubbed the Spatial Expander ($450), it needs no external amplification when matched with a Bose Spatial Receiver, since it can make use of the receiver's built-in extra channels of amplification. It can, however, be used with other receivers and/or separates.
The KM Laboratories system is de scribed in language reminiscent of Carver Corporation's Sonic Holography preamp. This Belgian company claims that its A.I.R. model (for acoustic inter-modulation reduction), operating with just two basic stereo speakers, can re store the acoustic environment in which the original recording was made. Like the Carver system, it needs no extra channels of amplification. It is priced at around $350.
Though still in prototype, a device designed by Joel Cohen of Sound Concepts tackles the Sonic Holography preamp more directly, reportedly achieving a similar effect with the bonus of no-fuss setup. While the Carver unit assumes a single best listening position, that from Sound Concepts, tentatively labeled a stereo image enhancement sys tem, will allow the user to dial in the correct speaker/listener angle in a range from less than 20 degrees to more than 90 degrees. Though work remains to be done on the cosmetics, Cohen says that the unit will cost less than $200 and will operate with any existing stereo system.
Noise-reduction systems are also news this spring with DBX's introduction of the Model 224 Type II. This compander provides a claimed 40-dB in crease in usable dynamic range when used with tape recorders and doubles as a decoder for DBX-encoded discs. Logical Systems has the Model 8801 ($290) dynamic noise filter, a playback-only unit. The 8801 is a variable bandpass filter that lops a claimed 15 dB of hiss from tapes, disc, or radio. A mono bass circuit is also said to maintain low-frequency signal phasing while eliminating up to 20 dB of rumble and hum. Finally, SAE has announced a second generation of its impulse noise reducer, the Model 5000A ($225). It is said to contain improved logic circuits for more accurate, less noticeable action while it removes clicks and pops from program material.
Frequency spectrum analyzers are also represented. Rotel offers the RY 1010 ($430), a 10-band display device with built-in pink-noise generator. Logical Systems' Model 1081, also a 10-band display unit, can be purchased in kit form at a considerable saving ($295). Of course, when used without a companion equalizer, a spectrum analyzer is of only limited use. Not to worry, though, for the crop of frequency equalizers at a variety of price points is ever increasing.
Symmetric Sound Systems Model EQ-2 in kit form is the lowest-priced 12-band, two-channel equalizer we've yet seen ($165). Marantz' EQ-10 is a highly styled single-channel, 10-band unit and comes in at around $200. Others include Tamon's EB-100 ($250), Rotel's RE-1010 ($250), and Lux's G-120A, all two-channel, 10-band models.
------ Though standardization remains elusive, digital adapters
like this Sanyo Plus 10 continue to appear. Newest noise reducer, DBX 224,
both decodes discs and serves recordists as Type II simultaneous compander.
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Power metering, now common place, is supplemented by spectrum display in Optonica SX-9305 power amp. New circuitry appears in integrated as well as separate amps; this is Lux L-480 Duo-Beta model.
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Once again, preamps are the object of much technical refinement and innovation. For several years, Harman Kardon has been promising that its association with Finnish audio engineer Matti Otala would result in some important new products. Its first Otala-inspired design is the Model 725 preamp ($270), in which it claims to have cut negative feedback (one factor associated with dynamic intermodulation phenomena, originally identified by Otala) by some 30 dB. Harman Kardon has opted not to use integrated circuits in its construction, claiming that they were made unacceptable by discrete components' higher resistance to thermal distortion.
Lux, too, addresses the issue of negative feedback in its two new preamps, the C-500A and the C-120A. Priced at $1,400 and $445, respectively, they employ Lux's Duo-fl circuitry, which limits the negative feedback over most of the band and employs separate DC/infrasonic feedback.
Maintaining correct RIAA equalization without compromising cartridge loading is one of the claims for Hegeman Audio Products' Model Hapi 2 preamp ($900), which relies on passive equalization. So does the $325 Sirius preamp from Dennesen Electrostatic, which now has a full line of electronics. A company that we reported on back in September 1979, JSH Laboratories, has been re formed under the name MTI, Inc. Its Model 500 is an all-Class A design said to provide enough output to allow use of the line amp section as a separate power amp independent of the preamp functions; it will supply up to 50 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load. Also ship ping their first preamps are Tandberg, with the $1,000 Model TCA-3002, and ADC, whose tube model was demonstrated in prototype last year.
Audionics of Oregon incorporates a unique device into its RS-1 Class A preamp ($1,200): An AXIAL TILT knob makes electronic corrections for up to seven degrees of vertical misalignment of the phono pickup to improve stereo imaging. One of the most flexible preamps offered comes from Soundcraftsmen in the SP-4001, which com bines a 10-band dual-channel graphic equalizer with full preamp circuitry ($550).
Finally, kit builders will appreciate the appearance of Audible Illusions. A spokesman told us that the new West Coast company plans to fill the void left when Dynaco stopped manufacturing high-quality tube amplifier kits. First offerings from Audible Illusions include a low-priced three-tube preamp, the Mini Mite I, the more sophisticated Dual Mono, and a solid-state model, the M-1.
In amplifiers, integrated and otherwise, the emphasis appears to be on moderate power output combined with subtle circuit refinements. Akai's three integrated amps range in output from 37 watts (15 3/4 dBW) to 68 watts (18% dBW) per channel. The top-of-the-line Model AM-U06 ($350) features a pulsed power supply, three-step loudness contouring, and an independent recording-output defeat to prevent interference from unused decks. ReVox' integrated amp, the B-750 Mk. II ($1,000), has a rated out put of 75 watts (183/4 dBW) per channel with 1 dB of dynamic headroom. Lux has incorporated its Duo-,Blow-negative-feedback circuitry into its three integrateds, the L-580, L-480, and L-450.
Kenwood has put a lot of thought and engineering expertise into its L-01A integrated amplifier ($1,500). Having determined that conventional amplifiers built on chassis formed of magnetic materials exhibit magnetically generated harmonic distortion, the company constructed this 100-watt model of non magnetic materials and separate from its power-supply module. Somewhat more conventional in construction is the Kenwood KA-500 integrated amp, rated at 43 watts (16% dBW). With the KT-500 tuner and RC-500 remote control, it constitutes a full remote-controlled system.
Marantz' three new integrated amps range in power output from 38 watts (15 3/4 dBW) to 87 watts (19% dBW).
The top-of-the-line PM-700 is packed with features, including a dual-channel, 5-band graphic equalizer and a Freon cooling system. Prices for the Marantz amps range from $225 to $420. Toshiba's entry is the SB-445 ($260), an integrated amp with a 45-watt (161/2 dBW) output.
And Qysonic, now a division of-guess what!-Motown, has entered the electronics market with its M-1 integrated model. Rated at 85 watts per channel (19 1/4 dBW), the Qysonic is a high-speed, Class A design.
Gone are the days of power amps with enough output to run a washing machine, it would seem, though some pretty hefty models continue to appear.
An English company, Esoteric Audio Research, has a 500-watt (27 dBW) mono tube amp for $2,650. It also has one with an output of 100 watts (20 dBW) and a price tag of (just) $1,000. Another unusual entry is from Spectron Electronics in California, whose Class D switching amp is said to pump out 500 watts (27 dBW) per channel from its 18-pound chassis. And Infinity, which was the first to introduce a Class D amp some years back, is now offering a hybrid Class A power amp. The Model HCA ($4,000) employs tubes in the input stage and high-speed transistors in the output stage for a rated power output of 150 watts (21% dBW) per channel.
SAE's three power amps range in output from 100 watts (20 dBW) to 250 watts (24 dBW) and in price from $550 to $1,000. Dubbed the SAE 01 Series, each of these amps combines two amplifiers per channel-one to handle the positive slope of a musical waveform and the other the negative slope. SAE claims that this design handles complex speaker loads-even 2-ohm loads-more easily than conventional amps. Harman Kardon's approach to low negative feedback is reflected in its Model 770 amp ($400).
Though its output is a moderate 65 watts (18 dBW), the 770 employs separate toroidal power supplies for each channel. Two new Ampzilla amps sport re fined faceplates and a toned-down logo but hefty outputs; the top-of-the-line Ampzilla Model 500L ($1,600) is rated at 256 watts per channel.
Optonica's SX-9305 power amp ($850), with an output of 100 watts (20 dBW) per channel, includes a unique three-color audio spectrum analyzer that displays the relative energy content of the music being reproduced in ten frequency bands. The Freon-based heat pump method of cooling output transistors (first shown last year in amps from Sony and Sanyo) is put to use here and in Eumig's M-1000100-watt amp ($800).
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Tuner/preamp-a sensible idea, if seldom employed-is available again in
Technics ST-K808. Several receiver designs seem influenced by companies'
cassette decks: here, Sony STR-V55. ----------
MTI, Inc., has rated its Model 245 ($600) at a modest 40 watts (16 dBW) output but claims transient handling to the equivalent of 250 watts-for a dynamic headroom of some 8 dB.
Technics' SE-A808 power amp joins integrated circuits and transistors in a hybrid configuration for an output of 40 watts (16 dBW) per channel. Also coming in at 40 watts per channel is the Model 335 Mk. II power amp, part of Toshiba's designer series of separates.
And finally, we return to tube amps, which obviously have many admirers.
Audible Illusions has its Mini Mite II, rated at 45 watts (16 1/2 dBW) per channel and available in kit form or prewired.
Conrad-Johnson Design has a 75-watt (18 3/4 dBW) tube amp for $1,000. And Dennesen Electrostatic has two models: the DM-4 mono 50-watt (17 dBW) unit and the DM-73S at 35 watts (15 1/2 dBW) per channel, priced at $700 and $1,000, respectively.
Digital quartz-referenced circuitry and digital displays are still the bywords in tuners, with price breakthroughs in this formerly high-end area. Kenwood, however, is demonstrating a prototype tuner called the L-X3 (on our cover) that promises much in the creative application of computer technology. It really is two tuners in one, plus a fully functioning computer (not just a microprocessor) and CRT display. While you're listening to one station, a press of a button can summon a CRT readout of the signal strengths of all FM stations in your area, expressed as a bar graph; another button summons up the IF range, percentage of multipath, and signal strength of the station you are listening to; still another command brings an alphanumeric read out of ten preset FM stations with their call letters, frequencies, IF bands, and signal strengths.
But for today, Kenwood has applied its nonmagnetic concept for cleaner FM signals and emerged with the L-01T ($1,000), incorporating a pulse-
count FM detector and double IF conversion circuitry for better signal-to-noise ratios. Optonica's bid in the super-fi tuner area is the ST-9405 ($1,000), a digitally synthesized tuner with digital display plus an analog scale with forty-four LEDs in place of a tuning needle. Sony's $900 ST-J88B is a quartz-lock, frequency-synthesizer unit with nonvolatile MNOS memory circuits that will store seven FM stations indefinitely without external power.
Harman Kardon continues its slimline separates approach with two new tuners: the digitally synthesized Model 715 ($370) and a more conventional design, the Model 710 ($230).
Qysonic's push into electronics includes the $400 MT-4 FM/AM model. Lux's T 450 tuner ($400) takes a different tack in helping assure positive center tuning. As the user rotates the tuning wheel to a de sired station, a mechanical interlock pre vents rotation of the wheel beyond the exact center-frequency point. Marantz' top-of-the-line ST-500 ($375) foresees possible action by the FCC in tightening up FM spacing: Its frequency synthesized circuitry is adjusted to allow tuning in steps of 50 and 100 kHz, rather than the conventional 200-kHz increments.
The step selector switch also provides compatibility with any future change in AM spacing from 9 to 10 kHz. Rounding out the Marantz line are the $280 ST-400, with analog tuning scale and digital readout, and the ST-300 for $225.
Tandberg's high-end separates line is joined by the TPT-3001, a $1,500 programmable device offering three-position IF bandwidth and adjustable muting. Akai has also entered the digitally synthesized tuner market with the AT VO4 ($280) and the AT-K03 ($230).
Toshiba has expanded its roster of digitally synthesized tuners with the ST-445 ($260), capable of storing six AM and six FM stations. And Technics has introduced a combination tuner/preamp, the ST-K808, as part of a total remote-controllable system. (The full Technics ensemble consists of the tuner, the SE-A808 power amp, the SL-D33 direct-drive turntable, and the RS-M45 cassette deck.) Receivers, being the broadest segment of the high fidelity component market, tend to respond the quickest to prevailing economic conditions, and in this tight-money year manufacturers are concentrating on price points keyed to attract the greatest number of buyers.
Sony packs lots of sophistication and good looks into its four new receivers with the top model priced at just $500.
All are direct coupled, with power out puts of 28 watts (14 1/2 dBW), 35 watts (15 1/2 dBW), 40 watts (16 dBW), and 55 watts (17 1/2 dBW). The top-of-the-line STR-V55 boasts low negative feedback circuitry, a pulse power supply, and frequency synthesized tuning. Pioneer has also introduced four receivers, each with Fluoroscan power meters and, in the two top units, non-switching DC amplifiers.
Prices range from $800 for the 120-watt (203/4-dBW) SC-3900 down to $275 for the 30-watt SX-3600. Unique to each of the Pioneer receivers is an input that will accept an adapter for reception of AM stereo broadcasts when the FCC finally decides on one of the competing systems. The appropriate adapter will, of course, be available from Pioneer.
Toshiba's slimline-styled receivers include models rated at 25, 35, and 50 watts. As in its separate high-end tuner, Marantz' top-of-the-line SR-8000 receiver provides frequency synthesized tuning with a choice of 50 and 100 kHz tuning increments. This $700 unit is rated for the same 88 watts (19 1/2 dBW) per channel as the SR-6000, at $550, which lacks the 8000's frequency-synthesized tuning. Three other receivers round out the Marantz line, with power ratings between 25 and 63 watts (14-18 dBW) and prices of $275 to $415.
Technics' receiver line contains the lowest-priced unit we've seen this year, the SA-101 with an output of 18 watts (12 1/2 dBW) for $180. Other new Technics receivers range from the 30-
watt (14 3/4 dBW) SA-202 at $220 to the 63-watt (18 dBW) SA-505 at $420. Sansui's three new receivers, called the Su per Compo Series, are marketed either separately or as part of total systems. At the top of the line is the 64-watt R-70 ($400); for $230 you can get the 25-watt R-30. If this bevy of moderate-priced receivers leaves you thirsting for some thing, well, a bit less modest, there's al ways the ReVox B-780. With all sorts of goodies like frequency synthesized tuning, room for 18 preset stations in its electronic memory, and a power output of 75 watts (18 3/4 dBW) per channel, the B-780 is billed as "the world's most expensive receiver," and at $2,700 we'd be hard pressed to disagree.
Speakers and Headphones
Designers are once again devoting their talents (and computers) to perfecting the driver. If the Sony APM-8 (shown on this month's cover) looks a bit surprising, the square shape and flatness of the drivers are anything but cosmetic conceits. The flat, honeycomb-sandwiched diaphragms are said to move with unerring pistonic accuracy to pro duce coherent sound waves unmatched by conventional cones, with their inherent breakup patterns and phase cancellations. Each of these flat diaphragms is driven by standard voice coils, though the woofer's large surface area requires four voice coils-each at a specific node of vibration, as determined by laser holography. Sorry, but you won't find these speakers in your local stereo store.
They are being marketed only in Japan and Germany, and when they reach the U.S. they will be sold-for $14,000 a pair-only through professional audio dealers.
Onkyo, too, is concerned with maintaining accurate, pistonic diaphragm motion. The F-3000, its $350 three-way system, makes use of a flat woofer and midrange driver, accompanied by a thin-membrane tweeter.
Technics' exploration into driver design has led to a similar solution in its SB-10 and SB-7 systems. Currently marketed as professional products in its Recording and Broadcast Division, these speakers have flat woofers plus midrange diaphragms constructed of an aluminum honeycomb material.
Phase Linear enters the speaker market with three bass-reflex, three-way models. The top-of-the-line P-580 ($1,200) mates a 15-inch woofer with concentric ribs for added stiffness with a 2-inch beryllium dome midrange and a ribbon tweeter. Joining the JVC series of ribbon-tweeter speakers is the Zero-3, a bookshelf-sized version of the Zero-5 and-9.
Accuracy in high-frequency and midrange reproduction has made the electrostatic driver an audiophile favorite for years, and Dennesen Electrostatic makes good on its name with the ESL-110. A hybrid system, it consists of three electrostatic elements and a dynamic woofer. Configured as a vertical line source with phasing adjusted by in depth placement of drivers, the ESL-110 is priced at $250. Dayton-Wright, the Canadian company that (uniquely) seals its electrostatic drivers in a plastic bag filled with inert gas for minimum arcing with its very high biasing voltages, has produced the impressive XG-10. Not only is it intended to improve on the sound of the former model (XG-8), but big strides are claimed in reliability. If you have to ask about the $3,500-per-pair price, perhaps you should be looking elsewhere.
------ Some of the mood in speaker design this year is reflected
in models such as (from left to right) Onkyo's phase-aligned F-3000 with
flat woofer and midrange diaphragms and thin-membrane tweeter, Infinity's
Reference Studio Monitor with low-coloration polypropylene diaphragms,
and Wharfedale's TSR-18, whose high efficiency breaks with English tradition.
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Yamaha has introduced five speakers, ranging in price from $190 to $480. Each of these acoustic-suspension systems employs a newly designed soft-dome tweeter fabricated of a resin-impregnated fabric to provide rigidity for reproduction of sharp transients without harsh resonances. B&W, the English speaker manufacturer, has modified its well-known DM-7, which now carries the Mk. 2 suffix, with a redesigned cross over network and electronic protection circuitry. Another English company, Rank, has introduced the Total Sound Recall series of three systems that combine "English" tonal accuracy with "American" efficiency and power. To that end, materials such as polypropylene and mineral-filled homo-polymer were used in the woofer and midrange drivers and computer-optimized techniques have been employed to wring as much sensitivity as possible from the mating of drivers, crossover, and enclosures. Still another British-based company, Celestion, is appealing to the first time audio buyer with a line of four moderately priced speakers ($100-$330).
Infinity, too, has opted for poly propylene diaphragms in its new speakers: The three-way Reference Studio Monitor ($300), the smaller three-way RSb ($240), and two-way RSa ($190) all use Infinity's Emit tweeter. Following the success of its floor-standing System B, Jensen has come up with a bookshelf version dubbed the System C. A three way, four-driver system with a rear-firing tweeter, the System C carries a price tag of $400. And JBL has announced that all the speakers in its Standard line from the two-way L-19 bookshelf sys tem to the three-piece L-212-feature symmetrical-field-geometry magnet structures for extremely low second harmonic distortion levels.
The trend toward "mini" speakers, especially appropriate for the crowded apartment dweller, continues this year. Design Acoustics' shoe-box-sized Model LDM ($175) features a beveled baffle board for minimum high-frequency diffraction. Essex Speaker Systems (a division of United Technologies), a new name in the field, is offering three mini-speakers ranging in price from $72 to $114. Sansui's entry in the mini market is the SP-MI ($250 a pair), consisting of a 4-inch woofer and 1-inch soft-dome tweeter in an acoustic-suspension enclosure. Technics continues its linear-phase concept with three small systems housed in heavy die-cast aluminum enclosures. Prices for the Technics SB series range from $220 to $340 a pair. Audiosource has expanded its LS line of compact, full-range speakers with three models priced at $90, $130, and $160 each.
Separate subwoofers (low-bass extenders) and subwoofer/satellite systems are still increasing in popularity be cause of their flexibility and range.
Sound Labs, Inc., has the Model R-2 with two 12-inch woofers loaded in their own sealed chambers. At $450, the R-2 is said to complement Sound Lab's R-1 electro static array ($1,100). A New Hampshire company, 3D Acoustics, has introduced the Model 3D610B, a complete three piece approach consisting of a 10-inch woofer in its own cabinet crossed over at 100 Hz to two bookshelf-sized satellites ($400 complete). SEAS, a Danish manufacturer, is marketing the DD Tower system. A stackable modular system, the DD Tower comprises two subwoofers and two three-way satellites.
ReVox rounds out its products with the Triton system, consisting of a subwoofer commode with two 10-inch drivers and two small bookshelf satellites ($1,600 complete). DCM, whose Time Window speaker has developed a cult-like following, now has a companion piece called the Time Bass that connects to the Time Window via a built-in phase-correcting passive crossover.
Fried Products' Model D is a dual sub-woofer system employing a 10-inch driver, passive crossover, and ported en closure. Cizek Audio Systems carries its lovely handcrafted construction methods into subwoofers with the KA-20.
Complete with its own 250-watt amp, built-in electronic crossover, gain control, and subsonic filter, the $2,000 KA 20 is intended to complement the highly regarded KA-1 compact speaker system.
And finally, Audio Pro of Sweden has a self-powered "baby subwoofer" system called the B2-14. A smaller version of the B2-50, it is priced at $550.
Headphone introductions are few in number this spring. Sony claims that its MDR-3 headset ($50) is the lightest ever made-only 1.8 ounces. A newly developed driver with samarium cobalt magnets and a high-compliance diaphragm is said to have made the weight reduction possible. Audio-Technica's ATH-2 headphone promises high performance at under $50 and employs a light polyester diaphragm, photo-etched aluminum "voice coil," and two perforated circular magnets. GC Electronics has a whole new line of open-air and sealed-cup headsets, ranging in price from $35 to $100. And JVC has come up with three lightweight models with dual-band construction for minimum wearer fatigue.
------------ Pioneer PL-600 is one of many high-spec quartz-locked
direct-drive turntables with automatic features.
------- Shure has put technology from its top models into the more
modest Era IV line of four pickups.
Among several sophisticated separate tonearms, Sumiko's premium model is called simply The Arm.
Record-Playing Equipment
What used to be considered the workhorse of audio reproduction, the turntable, is now more properly regarded as a thoroughbred-beautiful in form and utterly graceful in function.
With direct-drive motors and quartz-referenced speed controls already firmly entrenched in turntable design, some manufacturers are taking this opportunity to fill in their lines with units that add to or subtract from features of successful existing models.
There is some trend toward straight-line (tangential) tracking in premium turntables. Yamaha is showing a tangential prototype with direct drive and microprocessor control, the PY-2.
ReVox' B-795, similar to the highly regarded B-790, has the same tangential-tracking tonearm and quartz lock for its direct-drive motor. But by omitting the digital speed readout and pitch adjust and by building its own motors, ReVox held the price of the B-795 to $600. Other tangential models have been shown in Japan but not yet announced here.
Optonica, a company that never ceases to reveal to us the possibilities of automation in audio gear, has the $950 RP-9705. This quartz-lock, direct-drive unit is capable of automatic track selection and stores up to ten separate commands in its electronic memory.
Onkyo's newest, the CP-1280F, is a fully automatic single-play model with a separate motor to operate the tonearm's start and return mechanism. What used to be considered an audiophile extra, the carbon-fiber tonearm, is standard with the Onkyo. Fisher built its MT-6360 around a microprocessor for automatic track selection and cueing. Other features of the $350 Fisher turntable include infrared wireless remote control and digital readout of the track being played.
Kenwood broadened its line with three models, ranging in price from $170 for the fully automatic belt-drive KD 2100 to $550 for the direct-drive, quartz-locked KD-850. Akai has also updated its offerings with two direct-drive units (for $190 and $150) and a budget-priced belt drive ($100). Each of Pioneer's five turntables features a direct-drive motor and what it calls a coaxial suspension, in which the platter, motor, and arm are mounted on a single bottom plate suspended from the cabinet via four springs for increased immunity to feedback. The series starts with the $150 semiautomatic PL-200 and advances to the fully automatic quartz-locked PL-600 for $400.
Garrard continues its Advance Design Group with five models: three with core-less, slotless, brushless direct-drive motors to prevent cogging and two with belt-drive mechanisms. Prices for these range from $100 to $250.
A low-mass, straight-line tonearm is incorporated in Scott's PS-18 belt-drive model ($130) and in Lux's Model 264 direct-drive turntable ($225). By far the greatest number of introductions comes from Toshiba, with five direct driven and four belt driven. Prices range from $300 for the SR-Q300, a quartz-lock direct-drive with carbon-fiber arm, down to $115 for the belt-driven SR-A100. Technics has added the SL-D33 to its extensive line of turntables. A direct-drive model, the $260 SL-D33 features a newly developed double-layered base construction to minimize feedback.
Marantz' entries include the TT-4000, a fully automatic single-play with quartz-referenced speed control ($250), and the TT-2000, a direct-drive unit without quartz lock ($200). And finally, Hitachi has introduced two direct-drive turntables with photo-sensor arm return systems, the HT-466 with quartz lock for $240 and the HT-464 without quartz for $200.
Moving-coil phono pickups are gaining ever more popularity, and manufacturers have responded with several models that compete in price with fixed-coil designs. Sony's XL-44 ($200) builds one into its own headshell. Sumiko has two moving-coil cartridges designed to be compatible with moderate-priced turntables or changers and priced accordingly, at $110 and $150. The high output of Adcom's XC-LT ($240) obviates a stepup transformer or head amp.
Technics' high-output EPC-305MC, being marketed through its Recording and Broadcast Division, comes mounted in its own headshell and is constructed with a boron pipe cantilever and a core-less twin ring coil. Osawa offers a new low in moving-coil prices-the $100 Satin M-117Z, a high-output design with a user-replaceable stylus.
In fixed-coil designs, Shure leads off with a new line of moderately priced pickups based on the V-15 Type IV's damping/brush design. The M-97 Era IV Series consists of four models ranging in price from $68 to $113, each with the viscous-damped dynamic stabilizer and a telescoping stylus shank to minimize the possibility of damage from lateral shocks. Ortofon has three low-mass models, the LM-10, LM-15, and Concorde 10. The LMs, designed for mounting in conventional headshells, weigh just 2.6 grams; the Concorde 10 (the LM-10 in its own headshell) comes in at 6.5 grams. Signet, marketed by Audio Technica, has added the attractively priced TK-1E-$40 unmounted or $45 in its own headshell. Among budget-priced pickups are the Nagatronics 244DE for $64 and the Osawa MP-10 at $40.
Dennesen Electrostatic has a tangential air-bearing tonearm ensemble, constructed from such elements as a brass tube with small perforations, a lightweight arm (which rides across the brass tube on a cushion of air), an air pump, and lots of bionic-looking plastic tubing. At $1,000 we thought that was the most expensive arm we had yet seen until we ran across what Sumiko calls simply The Arm, at $1,250. It is a medium-mass dynamic type with non-detachable headshell and three separate counterweights to accommodate any pickup. Somewhat more affordable, per haps, is the Lustre 801 for $500, also from Sumiko, which applies vertical tracking force and antiskating bias through magnetic force rather than springs or counterweights. Its magnesium headshell allows for precise azimuth adjustment. Osawa claims that its AC-30 arm comes in at "just the right price"-$300. For that you get an oil-damped unit with single needle-point support. Finally, Technics is introducing-once again through its Recording and Broadcast Division-its EPA-100 tonearm, which rotates on ruby ball bearings and offers variable dynamic damping so that the user can tune it for any cartridge available.
Tape and Tape Equipment
Last February we wondered in print whether the cassette's improvers were its worst enemies; the growing in compatibility or only semi-compatibility of the products in the field seemed, at best, to threaten confusion to prospective purchasers. Judging by the decks introduced so far, however, chaos will not reign in 1980 because one consideration has moved into the foreground and forced the others to assume subordinate roles: high-frequency headroom improvement-the virtue that distinguishes metal tapes above all others. From what we see, only super-budget models or portables will be appearing without the metal capability. Dolby Laboratories' HX headroom-extension option for its familiar noise-reduction circuit also is making headway, with several announced models already incorporating it. And none of these developments con tributes to the incompatibility problems, of course. Metal tapes and/or HX recordings need nothing special for playback; HX will extend the high-frequency overload ceiling in metal tapes as well as ferric ones.
By contrast, the dynamic-range extenders that depend on special play back equipment-noise reducers that outstrip Dolby B in this respect and the high (3 3/4 ips) transport speed-are experiencing no comparably rapid growth in adherents. Machines with the double-
speed option and such noise-reduction units as DBX's, Nakamichi's High-Com II, and Sanyo's Super-D generally are considered of interest primarily to recordists who want extra performance for live recording and are not really interested in whether their tapes will play well-or at all-on anyone else's equipment. Of these capabilities, only Super D has been incorporated into a new deck (not counting models that, like Marantz' extensive two-speed line, had already been announced last year for future de livery); Dolby B (with or without HX) plus 178 ips remain essentially unchallenged standards. But in the long run, HX, metal tape, and even the more esoteric (and generally more expensive) noise-reduction systems may help one other cassette mutant: half speed. While no new cassette decks with 15/16 ips have appeared, we note with interest that Fisher has a prototype microcassette deck with Dolby HX.
Only a few years ago, $1,000 was considered an outrageous price for a cassette deck and anything in that range fit only for professional use or the lunatic fringe. "Better" decks seldom cost much over $350; anything below $200 was a make-do strip-down that might not qualify as high fidelity in some important respects. That bottom price category re mains, but the equipment in it today has a degree of sophistication and a level of performance heretofore impossible. The middle ground stretches to approximately $750, accumulating special features and performance refinements as it rises. This continues to be the most active range. The ultra-performance and luxury-featured decks at higher price points (reaching to about $3,000) remain much as they were last year.
----- Metal capability, standard in new decks, is added to previous
ones: Hitachi D-5500 has become D-5500M. -- Among few new semipro
open-reel models, Ferrograph SP-7 has so many options it can be "custom-built." ----
One obvious exception is the automatic azimuth-adjustment system developed by Nakamichi for its 600 Series decks. The two-speed model (still the only premium deck with the 15/16-ips option) announced last year will remain available without the new feature as the 680; with it, and called the 680ZX, it will cost $1,550. Two single-speed models complete the series: the $1,150 670ZX with full Dolby monitoring and the $995 660ZX with all the same features except the simultaneous monitoring. All include Nakamichi's RAMM random-ac cess feature. There also are new "music-lover" models that emphasize ease of use: the 482 ($775) and 481 ($655), again with and without simultaneous off-the-tape monitoring.
Tandberg's TCD-3004, which is expected to sell for about $2,800, is the first break with the company's traditional cassette-deck styling and intended as the summation of all the technology that can be mustered on behalf of the cassette medium. Delivery date for the TCD-3004 will not be announced for some months. For only $1,200 (!) you can buy Sony's TC-K88B, its most sophisticated model but one so small it almost looks like a micro-component. The cassette "well" plus the tape adjustments and other technical controls are hidden in a drawer that slides open like that on a cash register when you push the eject button. We were much taken with the prototype when it was shown last year before Sony had made firm decisions about marketing it. Harman Kardon uses a similar drawer in its superbly styled hk705 ($450). The 705 is, not incidentally, the first deck we encountered incorporating Dolby HX circuitry.
The Super D noise reduction is incorporated into the flagship Plus D64 in Sanyo's recently introduced Plus Series.
So is Dolby B; the switching allows use of either system or neither, but not both simultaneously. Aside from the probable inadvisability of employing "cascaded" noise reduction, since any two systems tend to compromise each other, we understand that the Dolby license prohibits switching that would make the practice possible (just as the Philips cassette license prohibits noise reduction without a defeat switch).
Technics continues its low-profile rack-mount Professional Series (which are conventional front-loaders) with the $700 direct-drive, metal-ready Mk. II version of its RS-M85; and it has a new micro-the $500 RS-M02, also with direct drive. The Hitachi line, which also features direct drive in its top models, has metal-ready decks. At the top is the D-5500M, a reworking of the original auto-tape-matching D-5500 but selling for the same $1,200 price. The ATRS tape-matching has been incorporated into the $750 D-3300 as well. Teac has added the metal capability, at no in crease in price, to its A-500 and A-510 decks and two new budget models, the $230 CX-350 and $250 CX-370.
Metal-tape handling plus such goodies as IC logic characterize Rotel's RD-1000M, at $440. Kenwood has two more metal models-the KX-500, whose sophistication of features, controls, and styling belie its $225 price tag, and the feature-laden KX-2060 at $600. JVC has three, ranging from the three-head KD A77 down to the inexpensive (and, like a budget-model predecessor, Dolby-equipped) KD-A2. Fisher has the $350 direct-drive DD-300; Toshiba's several entries contrast the low price and full size format of the $170 PC-X10 with the $550 D-15 micro, which is available anodized in black for $10 extra. Akai's three range from $180 to $300. Technics' models cover an even wider price range from a mere $150 for the RS-M6 to the aforementioned $700 model. Sansui's moderate-price metal-ready deck is the $200 D-100, and Lux has its K-1 metal-ready model for $230. H. H. Scott's is the impressively styled 671DM, whose specs and DC drive make the $250 price very attractive. For even tighter budgets, $200 is the cost of the similar 610D, one of the few new decks to dispense with the metal feature; while industry executives are openly pooh-poohing the metal capability in inexpensive decks on the ground that "if you can't afford a better deck, you can't afford the expensive tape," only Scott seems to be heeding that concept. But the lowest priced deck we know of from any component house this spring is the $130 Sharp RT-10, which will record on metal tape.
And the scarcity of metal tape to use on such machines would appear to be a thing of the past. By year's end, Fuji claimed to be the first to be delivering C-90s to dealers, while TDK was readying a second shell type-conventional MA cassettes, as opposed to the MA-R metal-spined shells in which its metal-particle tape originally was housed. At the beginning of this year, Ampex and Memorex announced their metal formulations. The Ampex product will be styled MPT; initially, it will come in the C-60 length for about $10. Maxell was said to be ready for shipment in C-46s and C-60s immediately, with C-90s to follow this month; selling prices for C-60s, again, are expected to be in the
$10 bracket. Hitachi also has announced metal tape, though its formulations generally are assumed to be interchangeable with those of its subsidiary, Maxell, and we have encountered no spokesman willing to deny the relationship. In Hitachi's terminology, the metal is called MR, the premium ferric (UDXL-I) UDER, and the chrome-compatible ferric (UDXL- II) UDEX; both brands also offer "low-noise" ferric tapes.
In addition to MA, TDK has announced an improved formulation for its AD (Acoustic Dynamic) premium-ferric tape plus an even better (premiumer?) one of the same general description: OD (for Optimum Dynamic). AD remains available in all standard lengths from C-46 to C-120; OD will be available in C 60 and C-90 lengths only and at prices about $1.00 higher than those for AD.
EMI's Superchrome II, which costs about the same as OD, has been introduced here by Empire. A little lower in price is RKO's Ultrachrome (based on Du Pont's improved chromium dioxide formulation), which will be made in C-60 and C-90 lengths. A second new RKO formulation is the budget-priced ferric XD. (Its premium ferric Broadcast I was announced last summer.) Meanwhile, what is billed as a super-performance ferric otherwise unavailable on the U.S.
consumer market can be purchased by mail order only from Tape 5.
For the video recordist there are a number of new cassette tapes. Maxell has a line for Beta decks in L-250 and L 500 lengths; VHS-deck owners can buy Maxell's new HG formulation in T-30, T-60, T-90, and T-120 lengths. The 3M Company has brought the shortest of these lengths into its Scotch VHS cassette line, while Memorex has added T-90s to its T-60s and T-120s. Ampex's new line covers both formats and is available in a choice of packagings: conventional sleeve or (at slightly higher prices) plastic boxes.
Open-reel recordists will find a new Scotch 1-mil tape this spring: Master XS, which replaces the Master of last year and is said to have exceptionally high sensitivity and resistance to print-through but remains compatible with decks biased for Scotch 206 or the original Master. New here from BASF (though not new in Europe) is Ferro LH DP 26, a low-noise open-reel tape selling for moderate prices in plastic library boxes and featuring sensing foil.
As usual in recent years, there are few new open-reel decks to record these tapes on, but there are some. Sony has three. The $500 TC-399 is moderately priced by today's standards, but it in three-position switches for bias and recording EQ-the latter with a special position for ferrichrome tape, which Sony has made available in open-reel form. These options also are included in two semipro decks handling NAB reels.
The $1,200 TC-765 is a quarter-track stereo deck with 7 1/2 and 3 3/4 ips; the $1,500 TC-766-2 is a half-track deck in which 15 ips replaces the slow speed, but it has an extra playback head for quarter-track tapes. Neal-Ferrograph's SP-7 offers so broad a range of options that the company talks of custom-building models for specific applications. You can have any three contiguous standard speeds in the range from 15 to 15/16 ips; you can have NAB or CCIR/IEC play back equalization; Dolby B circuitry and rack-mounting kits are available, as are NAB-reel adapters; 10-watt amps and speakers can be built in; power supply options include the U.S. standard (110 VAC/60 Hz) plus two common in other countries, 50 Hz and either 220 or 240 VAC.
On the Video Front(s)
As we said earlier, the expected turn toward basics and lower prices in video cassette gear still was beyond the horizon as the year began. A dramatic harbinger came from Sanyo, however, with a reduction of $200 on its VTC-9100 Beta deck. In the meantime, we continue to be regaled by luxury decks-modular portable home combinations, ultra-programmables, models with non-real-time playback options, and the like. The $1,350 Mitsubishi HS-300U, for example, uses five direct-drive servo motors to achieve beltless operation in multiple real-time modes plus two slow motion modes, freeze-frame, and single- frame advance. The memory will accept complex seven-day programming; microprocessor logic can handle fifteen different commands from an optional ($100) infrared remote control, and program search operates in either fast-wind direction. The RCA SelectaVision VDT-625 ($1,395) and Quasar VH-5155 ($1,350) share many of these features. All are VHS-format home decks.
----------- Among compact video decks, Quasar VH-5300 offers add-ons-here, "special-effects"/programmer.
A comparable thrust is evident in gear for the Beta format. Sony has announced the $1,350 SL-5600 Betamax. It adds the sophistication of BetaScan (Sony's fast-wind visible cue/review feature) and fourteen-day programmability to the previous technological flag ship of the line, the SL-5400, which costs $100 less. Either can record for up to five hours with the L-830 Beta cassettes, brought out simultaneously by Sony.
The "special effects"--as several manufacturers style the freeze-frame, program search, and similar nonreal time playback options-also are coming to more compact gear. Quasar has prototypes of a VH-5300 that includes them and that can be used either with a home AC power supply or, as a portable, working from a battery pack; in the home, a VA-520 tuner/programmer can be added. But the real news in compact equipment centers around the two very different LVR systems. Chez BASF, LVR stands for Linear Video Recording, a long-awaited system expected to be on the market this year. Toshiba, which began its move toward a 1980 introduction only last year, uses the term to represent Longitudinal Video Recording. (The basic differences between the two LVRs were outlined in "Video Recording:
State of the Art-For Now," HF, November 1979.) The Toshiba system has undergone some refinement-in particular, to increase recording capacity-and is expected to sell for about $500 in a basic deck when it appears this summer.
There may be another longitudinal sys tem from Funai in the offing, but no for mal announcement or details have been forthcoming.
Impetus for the push to lower prices (whether via crash diets in the helical-scan cassette camps or via intrinsically simpler longitudinal-scan systems) is partly attributable to recent developments in video discs. Pioneer is, if anything, pursuing more avidly than ever its plans to provide home players for the Philips/MCA system this year, Kenwood (or, rather, its Japanese parent company, Trio) recently signed a license to make Philips-system players. Such events, plus IBM's entry into the Philips camp last year, give this design the appearance of strong front-runner, but that may change. Shortly after RCA announced its competing SelectaVision disc for marketing next year, CBS took out a license-a nonexclusive one, meaning that it could also sign a Philips license and actually produce discs with either or both (or neither) of the techniques. And a third contender is likely. Matsushita (Panasonic), which has been demonstrating its Visc system in prototype, early this year announced its shelving of Visc in favor of VHD, a different disc system from its subsidiary JVC. (VHD resembles RCA's system in using a capacitance pickup.) This unanimity suggests greater likelihood that VHD will be available in the near future History seems to be repeating itself here. If you have been following the labyrinthine unfolding of home video recording, you will remember that Matsushita a few years ago shelved its cassette system in favor of JVC's VHS and that, along with other licensees, it then lost no time in overcoming Beta's lead.
---------52 Inherently compact longitudinal video tape systems include Toshiba's, shown here in prototype deck.
Monitors for video recordists of ten double as camera viewfinders; this is separate Akai RC-V10 "micro-monitor."
As though to emphasize the home recording capability that tape does not share with the disc media, manufacturers have presented a host of new products specifically for the recordist.
Video cameras abound, though there are no major design breakthroughs so far.
Sony has a "visuals" generator for creative home videophiles who want to mix, title, and so on: the $150 HVS-2000.
There are many inexpensive switching gadgets. The Superex VTRS-4 ($60), for example, allows dubbing among four decks. Others switch RF inputs, and some are intended to edit out commercials automatically during taping by activating the deck's PAUSE whenever a cue signal is broadcast.
Akai has a minimonitor called the Peek-A-View ($170) so that you can keep track of the program you're recording while you watch another on your main set. The alternative approach multiple images on a single receiver screen-has spawned a Sharp unit that can handle nine images simultaneously, each from a different channel, if that's what you program it for. Toshiba, whose lineup includes several impressive innovations, has a model that will hold up to four 10-inch pictures on its 25-inch screen. It has a remote control and, like the Sharp, can freeze the motion on any one of the images.
Toshiba also is one of the companies offering new projection systems.
Its one-piece unit with 45-inch screen is priced at $3,500 including tuning electronics and can be bought without tuner as a monitor for recorded video. Among the add-on lens systems that use a conventional receiver as an image source for projection, Futurevision (from F&F Sales Company) comes in screen sizes from 4 to 7 feet, selling for between $500 and $1,000 plus the cost of the receiver ($425 for a Sony Trinitron 1206 modified to accept the lens system).
And one last twist, again from Toshiba: a prototype TV receiver that not only will respond to voice commands, but will reply "okay" when a command has been accepted by its microprocessor logic system. (A similarly controlled microwave oven has been shown by Quasar.) The idea logically follows the "talking calculators" that were last year's showpieces. Perhaps your stereo system eventually will be able to improvise harmony to whatever tune you whistle for it.
-HF.
(High Fidelity, Apr 1980)
Also see:
Predictable Crises in Classical Music Recording, by Allan Kozinn
Audio Research SP-6 preamplifier