New 1982 Equipment Preview, Part II: The Extras by Robert Long--Latest add-ons, noise reduction units, headphones, and ancillary devices.
Our fall audio-debuts coverage concludes with the systems extras.
by Robert Long
LAST MONTH (Sept 1981; coming soon) WE covered most of the "meat and potatoes" components--the basic system building blocks--introduced at this year's Sumner Consumer Elec. Show and elsewhere, and Michael Riggs completes that job in this issue with his speaker roundup. Now it's time to look at the "extras" that you can add to an existing system--or use it conjunction with it. We'll be talking about headphones and record-care products and various sorts of cables, among other things. But the most interesting add-ons, as usual, and the electronics; and of them, noise reducers must take pride of place this year.
Dynamic-Range Expansion
As I pointed out in writing about tape equipment last month, the confrontation between DBX II and Dolby C looks like a major battleground, with both companies proclaiming the very real progress each has made. But, forgetting tape recording for the moment, the most radical companding system around is CBS Records' CX, about which rumors has been abuzz since late last year (1980). It is similar to DBX in using a 2:1:2 comparisson ratio that influences the entire frequency range and, thereby, makes possible LP's with a dynamic range far beyond the limits of un-processed discs. But there the similarity ends. CX is specifically engineered for discs (when asked, late last spring, about its potential for cassette tapes, one CBS engineer claimed that he and his colleagues had not yet examined the subject) and uses a different scheme of control-band time constants, making CX and DBX tmutually incompatible. CBS's most important reason for marching to its own laboratory's drummer is that DBX-encoded discs sound very aggressed unless you play them through an appropriate decoder, the way DBX intended, CX discs should be playable without decoding and sound, in theory, no more compressed than what we've become used to (unfortunately!) in regular discs and broadcasts.
Now this is pretty heady stuff, from the point of view of recording executives.
CBS is offering them--at minimal equipment cost and without licensing fee--a way of making superdiscs that will out-spec the dynamic range of everything, except the DBX variety, but (unlike DBX discs) require no double inventory and therefore pose no threat of confusion or extra cost at the retail level. The audiophiles in the audience buy themselves a CX decoder and hear a stunning dynamic range; the listeners on a budget dispense with the decoder and hear very much what they would have anyway. Already two recording giants--CBS (of course) and WEA (Warner/Electra/Atlantic) -- have announced plans to cut CX masters, eventually converting their entire output to the technique and even re-cutting some old masters. RCA joined them a July.
There's always a spoilsport around to raise objections, however. Some engineers are not as enthusiastic about the system as recording executives seem to be. Aside from claiming that the undecoded sound is excessively compressed for some sorts of music (and on the basis of CBS's all too brief press demonstration, I have some doubts about its appropriateness to classical music in this respect), some allege frequency-response alterations in undecoded signals. According to the trade magazine Billboard, some mastering engineers are therefore refusing to cut CX.
Because the disc market is so much larger than the prerecorded tape market, the infighting over CX is of more moment to music lovers than the DBX/ Dolby confrontation. A great deal re mains to be said on both sides of the CX argument before the future becomes clear. In the meantime, if you want to make your own comparisons, you'll need a CX adapter. Almost all cost about $100, which seems a bargain for units constructed from discrete parts. When the CX integrated circuit is ready, it may trigger a flood of built-ins, but the price of the outboard decoders doesn't have all that far to drop.
Phase Linear calls its adapter entry the Model 220 and puts the level-trimming control necessary for spot-on CX decoding on the back panel. MXR adds wood ends, puts the adjustment on the front, and calls its model the CX Ex pander Noise Reduction System. At Sound Concepts, it's simply the SX80 CX, and the level adjustment is kept in side, away from sticky, mis-calibrating fingers. The Audionics model, with front-panel adjustment, external power supply, and bi-FET Class A circuitry, is expected to sell for $125; later, there should be both a professional model and a less expensive (possibly $75) consumer model using the IC.
Separate Dolby C noise reducers are only starting to trickle in. Nakamichi began with the "dedicated" NR-100 (for the Models 1000ZXL and 700ZXL only) and added the NR-200, with both Dolby B and C, as an outboard for any deck.
Sony has the C-only NR-500, and Rotel is readying the RN-560, with B and C.
----------In the illustration, spiraling outward counterclockwise
from the small, dark unit at the middle left, are the Phase Linear
Model 220 CX adapter, Kenwood KH-5 personal-portable headset, A KG
K-130 headphones, RG Dynamics PRO-20 Series Two dynamic processor with
Programmed Attack, SAE Model E-101 Computer Direct-Line parametric
equalizer, A DC Sound Shaper SA-1 real-time spectrum analyzer, and
KM Laboratories SSO-300 Servo Suboctavator bass-response extender.
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There's a new Super D noise reducer in Sanyo's Plus Series. The N-33 is expected to retail for $300 and includes either/or encode/decode mode selection with line/mike mixing in recording.
(The N-55, on which we reported in August 1980, costs a bit more and offers simultaneous encoding and decoding but no mixing; otherwise the two models are quite similar.) Among single-end noise reducers (that is, dynamic filters as opposed to en code/decode companders), the DNR integrated circuit from National Semiconductor (incorporated, for example, in the Advanced Audio DNR-450, HF test re port, May 1981) seems to be attracting growing support, particularly for tele vision audio, where hiss levels are relatively high by audiophile standards. Addressing the same market is Phase Linear's' Model 1300AV Correlator ($250). Like Phase's earlier Autocorrelator circuit, it is said to filch the noise out of the "cracks" in the program without band-limiting the desired signal; unlike the earlier models, it does not reduce rumble (only hiss above 2 kHz) and has no so-called peak un-limiter.
---- The most interesting add ons, as usual, are the electronics.----
RG Dynamics prefers "dynamic processor" to "expander" on the ground that the extra sophistication of its products in this genre puts them in a class beyond garden-variety expanders. The company has upgraded several of its dynamic processors (there-I said it!) to make them even more sophisticated.
The PRO-20 Series Two has a Programmed Attack circuit (which RG bills as "the greatest processor improvement since the independent left and right channel processing"-also an RG feature). The PRO-16 has a two-position ATTACK switch. The baby of the line, the X-15/Improved, has been redesigned and adjusts itself to the input signal level.
(RG's recent spinoff, RGR-for Robert Grodinsky Research, the perfectionist division of the enterprise-so far offers no signal processors, incidentally.) Other Signal Processing Stereo image enhancement continues to attract more companies. As we documented last month, Yamaha offers such a circuit built into two of its receivers. Among the separates, Phase Linear has added its $150 Model 180 Dimensional Sonic Localizer, and Omnisonix has moved into the automobile with The Imager 801-A, which includes a power amplifier in its $150 price.
Benchmark Acoustics has taken a different route. Its ARU Ambience Access System ($850) combines ambience information extraction with equalized analog delay lines and outputs for side and back as well as front speaker pairs.
Used with two accessory stereo power amps and sets of speakers (which, the company says, need not be super-fi models), it is designed to give you an unusual amount of control over the "space" in the program material. To that end, a re mote control offers listening-chair tuning of rear, side, and master levels plus deep-bass fill at the back.
Speaking of deep bass, KM Labs' Servo Suboctavator and Audio Control's Richter Scale ($250), an equalizer-cum-crossover devoted to that area of the frequency spectrum, are now avail able. The two newest units in the latter's line are the surprisingly inexpensive ($170) D-10 octave equalizer and the matching D-11 equalizer/analyzer ($230) with warble-tone generator.
Soundcraftsmen's $450 Model AS-1000, called the Auto-Scan-Alyzer, has a built-in pink-noise source, a choice of automatic or manual scanning of the ten octave bands over which it operates, proprietary differential-comparator circuitry for an analysis accuracy rating of ±0.1 dB, and means for comparison using mike (for room or speaker analysis, for example) or line (useful in adjusting tape decks).
BSR/ADC's SA-1 spectrum analyzer, which also employs a pink-noise generator, is more basic in concept and costs only $230. BSR also has redone the ADC equalizer line, using integrated circuits and adding-IC to model numbers to indicate the change. The four models range from the $500 Paragraphic Sound Shaper Three-IC to the five-band Sound Shaper One-IC at $120.
MXR's latest is the Model 153 Stereo Five Band Equalizer ($150), which-like the ten-band Model 114-is designed for chair-side use so that you can tweak response from the listening position. The Phase Linear Model 1400 ($550) is intended as a consumer version of its Professional Series model. CM Laboratories has added the CM-540, at $400; Numark Electronics offers the inexpensive ($200) EQ-2400 octave equalizer. And Cerwin-Vega has entered the professional equalizer field with a third-octave model, the $600 TO-1.
There's no dearth of graphic equalizers in the offerings of the full-line component companies, either. The Sansui SE-8 combines an octave-equalizer with a spectrum display; either in brushed aluminum (SE-8S) or black finish (SE-8B), it costs $400. Add a pink-noise generator, electret condenser microphone, a few more sliders, a pair of motors to position the sliders automatically, and a four-curve memory, and you have the $700 SE-9S or-9B. There also are two simpler models: the $300 SE-7S/7B and the $230 SE-5B.
The Marantz Gold line includes the $250 EQ-20, with ten octave bands per channel. Harman Kardon's $250 EQ-7 also offers ten octave bands, plus an extra tape monitor, input level controls, and an overload indicator. Technics' latest is the $200 SH-8015, with five bands per channel; Nikko's comparable entry is the $220 EQ-500. Rotel has an octave equalizer (RE-1010) with a matching peak-level spectrum analyzer (RY 1010). And as yet un-priced is JVC's SEA-60 equalizer/analyzer, which has a novel touch: One switch reverses the equalization so that you can recover the pre EQ balance, for use as a sort of encode/ decode system to override hiss in tape recording.
Since I happen to be partial to parametric (rather than graphic) equalizers, at least for program EQ, I'm a little dismayed to find so few new parametric models. The three-band SE-P900 in Sony's perfectionist Esprit series costs $1,750, and has the distinction of being the most expensive new one I've seen this year. Another model possibly has the most panache. It's the two-band $650 E-101, a part of SAE's Computer Direct Line series, and it includes stepping controls with digital readouts and memory settings.
Other Electronics & Electricals DB Systems has introduced a two-band electronic crossover with slopes of 24 dB per octave. As a result, both bands are mutually in phase at all frequencies, which gives rise to the name In Phase Crossover. Crossover frequency is not adjustable; you must specify it when you order the DB-3-24. The price is in the $400 bracket.
Crown International has added the $550 MX-4 to its professional line. Essentially a three-way single-channel crossover, it offers four frequency-selector knobs giving a wide range of options for the filters, which roll off 18 dB per octave. In addition, there's a subwoofer output with three turnover-frequency options. E-V/Tapco also has added a model with slopes of 18 dB per octave; the EX-18 is designed as a two-way stereo model but can also be used as a mono three-way crossover. And Ace Audio has a low-cost ($156) two-way model with slopes of 12 dB per octave and plug in frequency-selector modules.
A whole new class of component, as far as I know, is created by the Phase Linear Model 190 ($95), which is de signed to permit safe speaker switching even with the most powerful of super-amps. The silver-plated switch contacts and other parts are rated for continuous use (or, rather, abuse) to 200 watts and pulses to beyond 50 kilowatts, based on current ratings into an 8-ohm load.
Not new as a class is the "system switcher-offer," this year embodied in the Cheli International Auto Stop, which contains a circuit said to distinguish be tween program and noise and which turns off your system in the absence of the former-even in the presence of the latter. Timer operations also are built in.
Russound has added three models to its tape-recorder switching-box line.
The TMS-3 handles up to three decks, costs $56, and is the present incarnation of the company's "classic" TMS-1. The $90 TMS-5 and $150 TMS-10 similarly handle five and ten decks, respectively; all three models can be bought with solid walnut end pieces for $10 more, while the TMS-I0 also comes in a rack mount for $10 extra.
Audio Interface offers its Missing Link interconnect cables made of oxy gen-free copper Litz coaxial wire terminated in pin connectors plated with 24-karat gold. The 3-foot length (LZ-10, $32) is intended for normal runs between components; the 1 1/2-foot LZ-5 ($26) connects head amps to magnetic-phono inputs. Both models come with a separate ground wire. Meanwhile, Monster Cable has added its first speaker hookup for automobile audiophiles: HotWires.
The company also has taken over distribution of a pair of products introduced some time ago: Cramolin Contact Cleaner and Cramolin Preservative cure and preventative, respectively, of RFI and other ills attributable to corroded contacts.
And Then There's ...
A brace of turntable mats has been introduced recently. Several-Platter Pad II ($18, Trace Systems), the conductive Music Mat ($40, Ionian), the Mission Mat ($40, Mission), and others-are made of compliant materials for use as vibration dampers; some are made of glass or other rigid materials on the theory that stylus vibrations should be conveyed away from the pickup, not reflected back to it (as, in theory, they could be by the boundary between a compliant mat and the rigid platter beneath it). "Not so," say the soft-mat clan; "the boundary between the vinyl disc and a hard mat does reflect vibrations back toward the stylus, but a compliant pad damps and dissipates the vibration before it has a chance to muddy the sound." The TriPad, again from Monster Cable, splits the difference by using what is said to be an optimum combination of three materials: compliant ones on the upper and lower surfaces of the mat, with a rigid substrate "barrier" be tween them.
Addressing a similar problem, Sony has created the FW-90 equipment base for the Esprit line. By using a magnetic suspension instead of springs, Sony says it has solved the problem of compliance that changes with load and hence is potentially oscillatory. An electrical isolator-or Super Isolator-is available from Electronic Specialists: the $95 Model ISO-3 is said to eliminate "contaminants" in the line current (everything up to and including lightning-induced surge) for three grounded AC lines.
Keith Monks has added a domestic model to its line of Record Cleaning Machines: The CR-500 costs only $940.
(And if you think there's a misprint in there somewhere, you evidently aren't familiar with the Keith Monks line.) Once you've got your records clean, Nautilus now has a line of Super-sleeves ($3.50 for a ten-pack) to store them in and keep the dust out.
For cassette fans, Sony has the AC-powered BE-100 eraser/re-winder for $70. Allsop has redone its cleaner, mounted in a cassette shell, for tape heads and capstans; the Allsop 3 is a part of a cassette-care line, with prices ranging to $15.
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AKG microphones don't have to be high-price professional models, as the D-40 matched stereo pair ($100) demonstrates. The moving-coil cardioids come with attractive metal stands. Sony has a whole line of five microphone models equipped with its Uni-match plug. which is said to make them compatible with the inputs of all home recorders.
There are the usual speaker stands appearing this year. A less usual one is the Missing Linx from Produx Research, which incorporates SoundZorbers. (As Anna Russell said, "I'm not making this up, you know!") The idea of the Sound Zorbers evidently is to mitigate the potentially negative acoustic effect of the resonant cavity formed between the floor and a speaker that is on a stand.
Among the real furniture pieces, CWD (Custom Woodwork & Design, Inc.) has a Woodmore series that is particularly impressive. Prices-in the $400 bracket for most basic models-are at tractive, as are the slabs of solid oak and walnut employed in the designs. Timberline Products uses real wood veneers in its handsome line, but most new audio furniture tends not to use this high quality of finish.
And there is a whole new category of "outer wrapping" for audio and video products: portable cases. Most that I've seen copy the styles that are well established in camera bags, from fancy leather to trendy canvas; now Osawa has a whole line of bags constructed of silver nylon taffeta over urethane padding. De signs range from the $6.50 Model 204 pouchette that holds two cassettes to the $70 Model 201, scaled to battery-port able radio/cassette or TV combos.
Headphones
Koss finally has run out of As. At one time it looked as though the Pro 4AAA would be succeeded by the 4AAAA and the 4AAAAA as the premier model from the world's premier stereo headphone company. Mercifully, the new two-way hybrid piezo/dynamic model is called the PRO-4/X. And even more merciful is the price: $85--a bargain among top models these days. Like its predecessors, it is designed for relatively high rejection of ambient noise, making it a practical monitor for location recording. Koss has also made its microphones bid at the other extreme of the field: the featherweight, low-seal headset for personal-portable use. The $35 KSP folds up into a dandy little denim pouch when it's not being used; particularly nice is the standard jack adapter, which attaches to the headset cord so that it's al ways there, ready for use when you want to plug into your home system.
Pioneer SE-6 headphones; AKG D-40 microphones
Sony, which began the personal-portables rage, has added more headsets to its line, and so has just about every body else. Wald Sound, for example, has the $30 Verit SC-3, with an adapter for standard headphone jacks. Mura's Model hs sells for only about $15 but has no adapter. And the list goes on end lessly. Many companies appear to have the same supplier (Audio-Technica, I'm told by those who say they've seen such superlight headsets on the production line in Japan), and the likelihood of major sonic differences between these look-alikes seems remote. Be warned, how ever, that the fine art of product copying is not dead, and closely similar cosmetics don't guarantee similarity of innards.
Meanwhile, Kenwood has a three-model line in the $25-$80 range that adapts the superlight construction of the personal-portable models to home-sys tem use. Two of Pioneer's three additions, the SL-5 and SL-3. also are very light; the third, Master IS, is described as "deluxe pro style." JVC's three new models all are full-size lightweight de signs and sell in the $30-$60 range. Mura, too, has a model of this general description: the $30 HV- 190. And returning, finally, to a headphone specialist, AKG has added the $49 K-130, a lightweight full-size open-air design.
-HF
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Also see:
1982 Speaker Designs: Closer to Perfection? by Michael Riggs and Peter Dobbin-- A look at 100 new speakers; plus, how four speaker designers view their work.
High Fidelity News by Peter Dobbin--Super Concorde; Two-in-One Filter; Home-Grown Supervinyl