HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kauff@neit.cgd.ucar.edu (Brian Kauffman)
Subject: Re: "Digital Is A Huge Rip-Off" (Neil Young)
Organization: NCAR, Boulder CO
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 17:37:51 GMT

>> = elliott@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Elliott New) writes:
>  = mike@nmt.edu (Michael Ames) writes:

>>           
>>                 "Digital is a Huge Rip-Off" by Neil Young
>>                    (from Guitar Player, May '92, p.14)
>>
>	[ Neal Young's article about him saying CDs sound bad deleted ]

>	This may not be the correct newsgroup for talking about this
>issue, but the nutshell of it is that Neal Young is right.  The very
>best analog tapes sound *to me at least* quite a bit better than the
>best CDs.  I am talking about high quality studio reel to reel, not
>home system quality cassettes.  Direct to disk LPs also sound better
>when played on equipment that costs more than most people make in a
>year.  I suspect that type of equipment is what Mr. Young is talking
>about.  [...]

I agree.  If you have really high-buck stuff, like say recording studio
equipment (or a $3k sound reproduction system w/ dynamic range expansion), the 
engineering/production technique will be the real issue, not analog v. digital.
But on a low-buck stereo, and ASSUMING competant recording/mix-down/mastering 
(analog or digital), I think a standard price CD w/ $100-300 CD player 
blows away a standard price album w/ $100-300 phonograph. 

-Brian
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: al@qiclab.scn.rain.com (Alan Peterman)
Subject: Re: Sherwood?
Organization: SCN Research/Qic Laboratories of Tigard, Oregon.
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 15:15:23 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.034549.28667@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> gunter@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (Gunter Ahrendt) writes:
>markw@hpcss01.cup.hp.com (Mark Williams) writes:
>
>>Like Marantz, Harmon Kardon, Fisher, Crown, and Scott, Sherwood
>>was an old respected American firm
>
>No your very wrong here.
>
>Marantz is owned by Philips and always was.

Saul Marantz - founder of this famous AMERICAN company would be
quite suprised at this bit of news.  The Marantz company was
purely American, until it was sold to Superscope in the late 60's.
All the "classic" tube stuff was made in New York (well Long Island
to be more exact).  The quality went WAY downhill with the Superscope
produced gear like the model 25 and so forth.

>Harmon/Kardon is German and still is and always was.

Again there would be quite a few very suprised folks who worked
at HK in the 50's & 60's in the only facility at Plainview, NY...

Maybe I should claim Telefunken is a Mexican company!  :-)


-- 
Alan L. Peterman                                   (503)-684-1984 hm
                       al@qiclab.scn.rain.com
It's odd how as I get older, the days are longer, but the years are shorter!
From: max@hal.com (Harry Max)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Dyna Stereo 70 Parts is Parts
Date: 14 Apr 92 18:53:58 GMT
Organization: HaL Computer Systems
Originator: max@itude


I need to get ahold of a transformer for a Dynaco
Stereo 70.  I seem to remember that a company exists
that sells OEM parts for Dyna equipment.  Do you 
have the name and number of that company?


harry max
HaL Computer Systems
(408) 379-7000 x1155

-- 
=========================
 Is G*d a hermaphrodite?
From: bemlbk@nuscc.nus.sg (Liew Beng Keat (Mr))
Subject: advice
Organization: National University of Singapore
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 07:51:51 GMT


Advice required! I'm relatively new to the sort of stuff available but a
couple of months ago, i just happen to drop by a shop distributing Arcam
products. I tried the Arcam alpha and was pretty pleased with what i
heard. I was told that the Arcam delta ( the delta transport, black box,
preamp and power amp ) system would sound much better altho' they
couldn't set them up for me. Any opinions on the Delta in terms of price
(it was approx Singapore $6000) and performance in comparison to other
audio product ? There are just so many in the market that i'm a bit lost
for which hi-fi to acquire myself. My budget is for something less than
Singapore $5000! Thanks.
From: lionel@cs.city.ac.uk (Lionel Tun)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Improvement to cost ratio of moving speakers
Date: 10 Apr 92 13:53:19 GMT
Organization: City University, London

The other day I was polishing the walnut veneer on my speakers. I moved
them a couple of feet into the room. I did this while music was playing
through them. My wife immediately noticed the difference in sound.
After polishing them, I changed the toe in by a few degrees and the
siting by a few inches. There was a big improvement in sound quality.
Using purely non technical terms I would describe the new sound as more
open or airier, the bass less heavy or thick.

Neither my wife nor I can tell apart CD players or amplifiers in A-B
comparisons in the same room. It seems to me that speaker positioning
in the room can play a important role in ultimate sound quality.


--
Lionel Tun   (lionel@cs.city.ac.uk)
Vision Group, City University, London, EC1V 0HB. 071-477 8000 x 3889
From: artis@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu (David A. Artis)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Advent Heritage Speaker Opinions?
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:36:21 GMT
Reply-To: artis@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu (David A. Artis)
Organization: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Any opinions on Advent's Heritage speakers? I got a pair from
Crutchfield and have been happy with the sound.  But curiosity
gets the better of me, and I wonder what persons with more
discriminating ears think of these speakers...

David  Artis
From: DKAMERUD@cmsa.gmr.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: bookshelf speaker advice needed
Date: 10 Apr 92 18:59:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: cmsa.167C5C4B4.DKAMERUD
Organization: GM Research Labs

I've got a family room with bookshelves across one end, TV
and stereo in the center cabinet.  I need shelf speakers, as my
tall-skinny BAs won't fit there.  Listening will be from across
the room (eating and working in the kitchen) or in the center
(viewing TV), so I don't want to focus sound on a narrow spot.
Any advice about "mid-market" brands, good values, etc.?  I've
got plenty of room on the shelves and don't need to minaturize.

Also, the bookcase is divided into 5ths.  Should I use shelves in
sections 1&5 (wide spaced, but next to walls) or sections 2&4?

Finally, I heard some JBL 4408's ("commercial line" the
salesguy said).  Any opinions?  Thanks to all, in advance.
----------------------------
 Dana Kamerud (313 986-1335)
 DKAMERUD@CMSA.GMR.COM
(General Motors Research & Environmental Staff--Warren MI USA)
----------------------------
From: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Info wanted for Non-audiophile
Date: 16 Apr 92 03:20:28 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

>Steve Fuller writes
>> I am looking for titles of books, magazines, or magazine articles
>> that would help me become a bit more informed about audio terms
>> and how the things they describe relate to what the best
>> equipment to buy is. I would prefer material that is unbiased
>> towards any particular manufacturer or type of system.
>> 
>> Examples of terms that need explaining: headroom, sensitivity,
>> bandwidth, etc. Articles that are borderline technical are fine,
>> though my knowledge of electronics is cursory at best.
>
In article <1992Apr15.123602.6334@wam.umd.edu> floyd@wam.umd.edu (Jim Matthews) writes:
>Stereo Review had a series of articles that spanned many issues and described
>a lot of terms and concepts on many aspects of audio.  I guess it was about
>a year ago - does anyone have the dates?  Check it out!
>								-Jim
>--
   It is a continuing series on audio basics.  It was a bit TOO
   basic IMUHO...the source of the "all amps sound alike" and "all
   CD players sound alike" statements oft repeated.

   Stereo Review is ok, but Audio magazine tends to be a bit more
   technical...and comprehensive in their equipment reviews.  Audio
   also carries more techie-oriented articles.  

   I would honestly recommend reading BOTH of these...they have
   somewhat different slants on audio in general.

   And since you might as well get used the the amount of wishful
   thinking and pseudo-science afflicting the audio field, you might
   also want to get The Absolute Sound and Stereophile.  Sometimes
   these have excellent articles (those that agree with MY
   prejudices) and sometimes they aren't fit as toilet tissue (those
   articles that disagree with MY prejudices).  Oh yeah... >:-)  

   There is an EXCELLENT British magazine, hopefully Paul or someone
   can give you the name of it.  You can usually find it in bigger
   cities, but my caffeine-blood mixture is a bit too lean at the
   moment to recall the name...


> ____                           |
>(   /	   floyd@wam.umd.edu    |       University of Maryland
>   /._ _         eng.umd.edu    |          Computer Science
>\_/// X \         ni.umd.edu    |        Standard Disclaimers
From: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Blind Listening
Date: 15 Apr 92 02:01:31 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Distribution: na
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corp., Mountain View, CA

In article <1992Apr14.170813.25129@sbctri.sbc.com> smueller@sbctri.sbc.com (Steve Mueller) writes:
>> 
>A former coworker of mine went through a phase where he toyed with going
>the high end route.  He joined an audiophile club in the city where he lived to
>learn more.  The club decided it would be fun to go to a live symphony concert.  
>It turned  out most of them left at intermission.  It didn't sound right to them.  
>Make of it what you will.
>
    Obviously the selection for the evening wasn't the lp-ophiles
    favorite, the:  "Pop, Hiss, and Tick Symphony"
From: reha@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Reha Elci)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: A Golden-Ear perspective on CD players.
Summary: one question
Keywords: flame bait, CD accuracy
Date: 7 Apr 92 22:29:13 GMT
Reply-To: reha@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Reha Elci)
Organization: Columbia University

The CD sampling rate is at 44Khz. Why hasn't anybody pointed out that this 
sampling rate is not really sufficient to reproduce accurate high frequency
signals? If the sampling rate was, say, 1Mhz or something, I would have
believed fairly accurate reproduction of signals but just 2x the sampling
rate of the frequency you are trying to quantify does not seem sufficient.
Can interpolation and extrapolation, no matter how clever, really reproduce
the correct shape of a 20 microsecond period signal?

The number of bits is also somewhat of a problem. 16 bits mean, at best,
1 part in 65536 parts resolution. -20 * Log (1/65536) = 96.33 dB of
dynamic range (is this how it is calculated??). This also seems somewhat
low if you are interested in accurate and detailed sound quantification.

Given the specs above, it is not too shocking to hear how some people
may prefer analog recordings, especially good ones, to CD reproductions.

I am a strong supporter of digital technology and it is the best delivery
system of *any* type of information, be it sound or video. However, the
design engineers never really give enough credit to the consumers; thats
why the CD technology is "under-designed".

Reha Elci
email: elci@bugs.gs.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio,rec.music.cd
From: iscstk@nuscc.nus.sg (Siew Teng Kean)
Subject: Need help to look up Noteworthy catalog
Organization: National University of Singapore
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 01:31:34 GMT

Dear Netters,

I need help in finding selection numbers for the latest Noteworthy catalog. The
catalog I have is about a year old. Is there someone out there who has the
current catalog handy that can help me look up the numbers and prices for 
about 10 CDs I hope to order from Noteworthy? I'm in a little bit of hurry, so
cannot wait 3+ weeks for Noteworthy to send another catalog. If you can help me,
please drop me email, thanks very much.

Teng-Kean Siew
-- 
Teng-Kean Siew         Dept. of Information Systems & Computer Science
iscstk@nuscc.nus.sg    National University of Singapore
(65) 772-2719          
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: tmkk@uiuc.edu (K. Khan)
Subject: Re: James Bond microphone wanted
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 14:16:21 GMT


In article <9204042122.aa09981@Bonnie.ics.uci.edu> mmcguire@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU writes:
>Netters,
>  I live in an apt. complex with very thin walls.  I can tell whenever anyone
>is talking in the next apt., but I can not understand it unless I put my ear
>to the wall.  Is there some sort of microphone that I can attach to the wall
>that will pick up voices in the next apt.?

No, there isn't any such thing. The best you can do is pound on the wall
a few times and yell real loud "Hey over there - Speak up! I can't hear
you!!" Or, better still, go buy yourself a scanner so you can listen in
on their cordless phone calls.

I only wish there were some sort of electronic device which would do the
opposite of what you want, i.e. mask out noise from adjacent
apartments... :-(
From: vincentc@ocf.berkeley.edu (Vincent Y. Chen)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Kenwood Recievers?
Date: 8 Apr 92 02:34:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: agate.rtm3nINNgfr
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: plague-ether.berkeley.edu


In terms of features, clarity, power and other Subjective and Objective
aspects, how would you rate the Kenwood KR-V9030 versus
similiar AV/Pro-Logic/DSP recievers by Sony, Onkyo, and Yamaha?

Is the KR-V line going to be discontinued?
I keep seeing the KR-V models (7030,8030, & 4030) being
reduced in price.


Thanks!
|\/\/\/|
|      |
|  (o)(o)
|       _)
|    ___|
|     /
From: lionel@cs.city.ac.uk (Lionel Tun)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Pre-Amps
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:56:25 GMT
Organization: City University, London

In article <180883@pyramid.pyramid.com> lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell) writes:
>In article <9209420.10573@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> weic@mundil.cs.mu.OZ.AU (The Guru) writes:
>>
>>	Hi all. I know this is a dumb question but I really need to find out
>>so I can die peacefully... :-)
>   
>   Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together.....
>
>   Sorry wrong ceremony....
>
>>	I'd like to know if a pre-amp can be used normally as an amplifier.
>   
>    Nope.  At least not a "pure" preamp.  They're designed to EQ
>    and switch signals...then present the result to the standard
>    input of a power amplifier.
>
>    Of course, some have headphone amps built in...so if you had
>    REAL efficient speakers...   Or if you feed a set of powered
>    speakers that would work, but I doubt that's what you meant...

My brother has a neat little television/monitor (Matsui or something)
with a headphone socket on the front for a headphone. This cuts out
the built in speaker on the side of the case.
If you plug speakers into the headphone socket you get real sound!
Not hifi standard but certainly better than the built in speaker.

Anecdotal aside:
I went round to my brother's the other week to fiddle with his
hi-fi and to check out the karaoke scene (not for us, but for our
dad!). My brother plugged his microphone into the headphone socket
and music came out of the microphone. I was flabbergasted even
though I knew some _theory_ behind transducers. Then we used the
mike but it was really crummy, so we hooked up his Ross headphones
to the mike input and used the headphones as the microphone. We even
unhooked the two sides of the headphone so we could both have one
mike each! The final biscuit was taken when I held the headphone
wire in a certain direction and picked up radio loud and clear!

I'm wondering whether this `using microphone as speaker' phenomenon
can be used to communicate with performers on stage? If you need
to tell them something important, you can shout down the cable!
You could try this on an unsuspecting soloist and watch their
reaction!

Lionel Tun   (lionel@cs.city.ac.uk)
Vision Group, City University, London, EC1V 0HB. 071-477 8000 x 3889
--
Lionel Tun   (lionel@cs.city.ac.uk)
Vision Group, City University, London, EC1V 0HB. 071-477 8000 x 3889
From: myers@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Bob Myers)
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 19:13:09 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: Golden Ear perspective on digital......
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.audio


To expand just a little on what Lon already said:

The problem with "what does the A/D converter 'see'?" is that we're
getting into an area of confusion between the "time domain" and the 
"frequency domain" representations of a given signal.  When you think of
a sqaure wave or a triangle wave (or, for that matter, even the normal
mental image we have of a sine wave), you're thinking of the *time-domain*
picture of that signal - the graph of how its amplitude varies vs. time.
The conversion between say, "square wave" and "sum of certain sinusoids"
is really the transformation between the time and the frequency domains.
In the frequency domain, a "sine wave" appears as a "spike" or "impulse"
at exactly one frequency (remember, "freq. domain" means a plot of amplitudes
vs. *frequency* - as a sinusoid only has one frequency, it just shows up as
a "spike" of amplitude X at that frequency).  But a square wave, or any
other "complex" periodic signal, has more than one "component" - in other
words, many "spikes," each at a different (but related!) frequency.  Each of
these separate components ARE sine waves, though, and can be treated as such
in any analysis you'd like to make.  (And, for example, if you use a
bandpass filter to isolate one of these components from the original signal,
SURPRISE! - it IS a sine wave!)

Again, this is a very non-intuitive area; it's not at all unusual for
experienced engineers to get confused in going from one domain to the
other.


Bob Myers  KC0EW   Hewlett-Packard Co.      |Opinions expressed here are not
                   User Interface Tech. Div.|those of my employer or any other
myers@fc.hp.com    Fort Collins, Colorado   |sentient life-form on this planet.
From: gfl@hera.uucp (27223-lenahan)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Vandersteens
Keywords: 2s
Date: 9 Apr 92 20:49:56 GMT
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ

(Michael Meyer) writes:
> Does anyone out there own or listen to Vandersteen speakers that would
> care to offer an opinion of same?

Well, I've owned original 2s, 2Bs, 2Cs (early) and 2cs (late).
SO, regardless of my criticisms, I often return to Vandersteens.

They're a nice compromise speaker, one of the few good sounding,
affordable speakers with bass.  From 100 Hz up, Spica TC-50s
kick their *bleep*, but emasculated symphonies, pianos, and
rock groups are hard for me to stomach.

Teh Vandersteens fall down as follows:

        1- lack of detail / too "sweet"
        2- imaging problems / finicky
        3- not the cleanest treble

They also have the following good points:

        1-really easy to drive 6.8 ohms or more 20-20k
        (20W NAD works fine.  I'm serious)
        2-bass
        3-not boxy sounding (comes from open frame construction)
        4-easy to sell if you want to
	5-lack of detail / "sweet" (:-))

If you're interested, I know of a pair for sale 2nd hand,
perfect condition.

Grant
hera.cc.bellcore.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: gfl@hera.uucp (27223-lenahan)
Subject: Re: requesting CD player advice
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 13:53:49 GMT
Summary: oversampling = good sound? ...   NOT!


> (Les Nemeth) writes:
> 
> >What you are missing here is the fact that distortion is of no relevance
> >in this equation.

I hope you are referring to THD, not to distortion in general, which IS
relevant.

> There are going to be better and/or worse players than
> >others regardless of price. Sound quality of the CD player has to do with
> >how well the player converts the data from digital to analog

Hard to argue with.  So far, so good.

> Therefore,
> >it is in your best interest to buy the player with the most oversampling
> >per dollar spent. It has been proven that, the more oversampling a player
> >has, the better it is at reproducing the sound faithfully.

ARRRGGHHH! What? Excuuuuuuuz me???
And nothing else in a CD player makes any difference.  In fact,
we can just toss all that stuff out, since it doesn't affect
the sound.  Why amplify it at all?  Ditto the timing circuits.
Screw the LSB trim; who cares about linearity.  Just gimme
656 cajillion times oversampling, and we get great music out of
*THE WRONG BITS*!!  Its great folks!

:-) :-) How do you make the utterly befuddled face???

Grant

From: myers@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Bob Myers)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 19:36:40 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: CD rot -- who gives a damn?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.audio

In rec.audio, kurts@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Kurt Strain) writes:

....one of the more content-free posts I have seen recently.  Kurt, was that
post supposed to contain ANY information or value whatsoever, or was it just
dumping more gasoline on the flames?


Bob Myers            | "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh." 
myers@fc.hp.com      |                     - Lazarus Long/Robert A. Heinlein
                     |                                
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: bill@verdix.com (William Spencer)
Subject: Re: Rec.audio.pro - when?
Organization: Verdix Corp.
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 23:12:41 GMT

In article <77840001@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM> gwatts@hpcvia.CV.HP.COM (gary_watts) writes:
>I have it here also although there have been virtually no postings
>on it.  Hopefully others will take note.  I am assuming the category
>was intended for PA and live sound discussions which I do enjoy.

I show 363 postings to date.
bill
From: Barabbas@bach.udel.edu (Barabbas)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: portable CD player for the car
Date: 13 Apr 92 17:53:15 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: UDelaware, pillar and manna posse

i used to put my portable sony in the car, and the skipping
was really horrid when i just sat the player on the car
seat.  however, it came with a soft case which had a 
short strap.  i was able to hang the player from the rear
view mirror by this strap.  except for the occassions
when the player would kiss the windshield (really seldom),
there was nary a skip.  don't know if it would work with
all cars and mirrors tho'....

cheers,
barabbas
From: jhaensly@druco.ATT.COM (HaenslyJ)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Question about dBu's
Date: 13 Apr 92 21:09:57 GMT
Distribution: rec


Hello,

Can anybody out there explain to me what a "dBu" is and
how it is used?  The term came up when I was trying to 
connect up a DAT machine.

Thanks in advance.

James Haensly
jhaensly@attmail.com
or
att!attmail!jhaensly
From: v064mb9k@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Neil Gandler)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Measuring power output
Date: 10 Apr 92 02:45:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

I built an amplifier from scratch using a manufactured I.C. not intented
for an audio amp, although it sounds great. I wondering if there is any
easy way by using a multimeter to measure power output rms and peak and
what is a simple way to measure harmonic distortion. At the university
I attend its very hard to get to much equipment except maybe an oscilloscope
or function generator. Anything could help. Thanks in advance..
            Neil B. Gandler
Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov ( Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Recording Studio
Keywords: Multitrack
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center And Storm Door Company
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 19:53:22 GMT

In article <1992Apr11.170543.8227@nic.unh.edu> dcm2@kepler.unh.edu (Tommy the Cat) writes:
>
>     Hello fellow net.people.edu  I have a slight predicament... I have 100,000
>dollars to burn, and I/we (my band) want to open up a recording studio.
>However, we are new around the music scene and equipment area.

Take half of your money and hire a good recording engineer for a while.  He'll
know what to use the rest on.
--scott