HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jeh@cmkrnl.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Where to buy 1/4 open reel tape?
Date: 12 Jan 93 07:58:45 PST
Organization: Kernel Mode Consulting, San Diego, CA

In article <5070322@hplsla.hp.com>, kens@hplsla.hp.com (Ken Snyder) writes:
> / hplsla:rec.audio / umcarls9@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Charles Carlson) /  3:01 pm  Jan  8, 1993 /
> 
>> For nostalgic reasons and for long recording times I've been thinking about
>> picking up a used open reel tape deck. 

Yup.  Somehow there's nothing to compare with the sight of those big metal
reels turning... 

>>(I've seen good quality ones in pawn shops for < $100)  

Careful!  Servicing on these beasts is a real bear.  The good news is that,
unlike (for example) cheap cassette decks, the better r-r decks were built for
the "pro-sumer" market, *intending* that they be serviced rather than scrapped
and replaced.  The bad news is that finding a really good technician who can do
justice to these machines can be difficult.  

It has been asserted here (rec.audio) that Akai is getting out of the U.S. 
audio market.  So parts for Akai machines may be scarce.  

If the deck you buy is in proper alignment, reel motor and brake tension 
correct (thoroughly test the fast wind modes as well as play/record), correct
eq and bias, etc., it will probably stay in good shape for years.  But if it
ever has problems, you may have a tough time getting it right again.  

(Oh, check the speed stability carefully also, especially if the deck has a
variable pitch control.  The ones that merely have a knob with a detent in the
center are not as good; the "normal" speed can drift while the knob is in the
detent.  Ones with a separate switch, e.g. pull out the knob to get variable
speeds, are better.)

>> However, I can't find any place in town selling the tape anymore!  

In this city, 1/4-inch r-r analog tape is still sold by shops catering to
professional and up-and-coming musicians and sound techs.  Such a place 
should also be able to recommend a good place to have the deck serviced.  

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Kernel Mode Consulting, San Diego CA
Internet:  jeh@cmkrnl.com, hanrahan@eisner.decus.org, or jeh@crash.cts.com
Uucp:  ...{crash,eisner,uunet}!cmkrnl!jeh
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: flower@rtsg.mot.com (Tom Flower)
Subject: Where can I get Stereophile?
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 16:11:50 GMT


  I was wondering were I could get a copy of Stereophile Magazine.
  I have never seen it on any newsstand.  Are they in sold in 
  audio stores?
  
                              Tom Flower -> flower@rtsg.mot.com
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: george@mu.ee.ufl.edu (George L)
Subject: Pico-cassettes?
Summary: Looking for source of Pico-cassettes
Keywords: pico, cassette, small, magnetic, audio, tape
Organization: State of Confusion
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 05:58:44 GMT

I have a small tape recorder for dictating notes and recording presentations.
It uses a very small tape called a pico-cassette that is about half the size 
of a micro-cassette. Several businesses in town that used to carry this type 
of stuff now concentrate on other products.

So anyone know of any good mail-order sources for the pico-cassette? It 
measures 3.6cm by 2.5cm by 0.4cm (about half the size of a micro- or mini-
cassette). The unit I have was made for dictation, but I have heard these 
size cassettes are also used in other devices such as language trainers.

Too bad DAT isn't this size. I imagine small high capacity disks will 
eventually replace tapes, but this unit sure is cute (and well made, 
possibly manufactured by SONY or JVC?).

Please respond via email to the email address below (as our newsfeed is 
intermittent).

Thanks,
george@alpha.ee.ufl.edu
From: allana@hpmwtd.sr.hp.com (Allan Armstrong)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: How can different digital cables sound different?
Date: 8 Jan 93 17:06:21 GMT
Organization: HP Santa Rosa Site (SRSD MWTD)

lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell) writes:
>In article <C0I0Jq.IJM@iphase.com> grima@iphase.com (Gary Rima) writes:
>>>    Most commercial circuits I know of a 0 is at least 0.7 volts or
>>>    more...as that's the saturation of silicon.
>>
>>CMOS logic, which is the basis for most modern LSI circuitry.  0.7 volts is
>>not the "saturation of silicon".  Rather, it is the saturation voltage (base-
>>emitter junction voltage) of a silicon junction transistor.  A (silicon)
>
>    OK, we can run this thread into the ground.  You wanna publish
>    the voltage thresholds for ECL, ECL*2, ACT, LCMOS, etc. etc.
>    etc?

No. A little bit of knowledge of device physics will substitute quite
well for looking in data books. It's well known what sort of devices and
topologies are used for the logic families you cites. I don't have to
walk across the hall to look at the data books.

Allan
From: igb@fulcrum.co.uk (Ian G Batten)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Stereo Review's critical judgement
Date: 6 Jan 93 09:32:13 GMT
Organization: Fulcrum Communications

In article <1993Jan5.175945.15406@spang.Camosun.BC.CA> dbarker@spang.Camosun.BC.CA (Deryk Barker) writes:
> Meridian in England first started to build CD players after they -
> merely out of interest - bought a Philips 1st generation player and
> took it apart to look at it. As Bob Stuart said at the time "we found
> some state of the art digital circuitry and some of the worst analog
> circuitry we'd ever seen'.

Deryk actually has one of the early Meridian players.  At the time I was
in maximum analogue bigot mood, having heard some truly hateful early CD
players.  I was shocked when a Linn-ite of Deryk's stature bought a CD
player.  Until I heard it.  It was the first CD player I heard that made
me think the medium was worthwhile.

I finally dropped analogue bigotry when (a) the market had moved on so
that new vinyl was hard to get and (b) I realised that no me ---
misguided I may be --- CD players seemed to have differences and it was
worth looking for a good one, rather than dismissing the whole exercise
out of hand.

ian
From: srk@sunrise.genrad.com (Stephen R. Klein)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Seeking cassette deck recommendation
Date: 11 Jan 1993 18:06:09 -0500
Organization: GenRad, Inc.
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: sunrise.genrad.com


Greetings,

	I'm considering buying a cassette deck, and would be interested in
any recommendations from the net.  I'm looking for a durable machine with
excellent sound quality and no frills (single well, no auto-reverse). Speed
accuracy and standard equalization are important (so that recordings will
sound good when played on other machines).  3-heads would be nice, but is
not required (although it is handy to have this if the deck has bias and
equalization adjustments).  I'm not sure what a good cassette deck would
cost, but I'm guessing it would be around $300.

	Thanks in advance -- I'll post a summary if I hear from others who
are interested.
-- 

						Stephen Klein
						srk@genrad.com

From: kirk@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Kirk Lindstrom)
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 19:05:24 GMT
Subject: Re: Those b*s*a*ds in the white van - I hope they got them.
Organization: Shredding the water of SF Bay, HP-OCD
Newsgroups: rec.audio

In a way, this thing sort of pisses me off in that my tax dollars get 
spent trying to return money to fools.  There are many old addages that
have been around for along time for good reason:

-Let the buyer beware
-You never get something for nothing

Con men rely on greed and lack of understanding the 2nd phrase to apply
their trade.

One of my favorites is "a fool and his money are soon parted".

My personal philosophy is "The state shall make NO LAW preventing 
fools from parting from their money".  Of  course, out right fraud
should be illegal.

If someone comes up to you on the street and says "I got a Rolex watch
in my van that I'll sell you for 1/10th the price you can get it anywhere
else" would you be very surprised that once you remove the phony ROLOX
(note misspelling) faceplate, that there was a cheap movement inside?

Why would you expect speakers to be any different?

The last thing we need is more government.

Kirk out

Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: wdh@grouper.mkt.csd.harris.com (W. David Higgins)
Subject: Re: How can different digital cables sound different?
Organization: Harris CSD, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 16:05:54 GMT

In article <C0DCtn.4vL@CAM.ORG> pascal@CAM.ORG (Pascal Gosselin) writes:
>
>In this case, we were refering to a 1meter long coax cable.  There is
>nothing short of an EF-111 (electronic countermeasures aircraft) in
>the garage that going to screw up bits on a coax at less than 1megabits
>per second (which CD is).

	16 bits * 2 channels * 44.1k == 1.4 mbits/sec

and that's not counting whatever is added by framing, etc.

If you're going to post such authoritative b.s., try to get it
right next time.
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: graeme@labtam.labtam.oz.au (Graeme Gill)
Subject: Re: How can different digital cables sound different?
Organization: Labtam Australia Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 06:56:44 GMT

In article <184818@pyramid.pyramid.com>, lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell) writes:
>     Believe it or not, there ARE lan technologies more advanced than
>     the 70's.  The 1.5 or so megabit range of digital audio could
>     easily be done in reliable ack/nak mode on an ethernet, token
>     ring, hyperchannel, fddi, etc. etc. etc.  

	No, it wouldn't meet the objectives set for these types of
links. A major objective is that it has to be cheap - the digital
equivalent of an RCA lead. Putting error correction etc. on a
data link with good shielding, a limited distance and a 90 db
signal/noise ratio just doesn't make any sense. The chips at either
end would need to be noticeably more expensive.


>     present on the external digital interfaces.  To me this is
>     really silly...the coding on a CD is supposed to tolerate
>     signal/noise ratios of about 3 dB if I remember correctly.  You
>     could run optical or coax cables thru hell if you had that kind
>     of forward error correction.   

	But they're not meant to run through hell, they're
meant to be cheap. If you want to run a signal lead through hell, by a
suitable encoder/decoder.

>    Of course you are assuming perfect DAC's....or DAC's being fed a
>    signal well within their operational limits...where the levels of
>    1's and 0's are well beyond the transition region and the noise
>    floor is near or below a 0 signal.   I'm still waiting for one of 
>    those....

	Then order one from Sony. They have one there that will
reproduce a 16 bit sample with about +- 1/16th of a lsb.
The whole point about digital systems is that you can re-constitute
the digital signals at every step. If this weren't highly reliable,
do you really think that all the computer we have around here, with
literally millions of digital interconnections per  unit, running
at 10s of MHz, where a single error in interpreting a 1 or a 0
would crash the system, would stay up for months on end ?

>   Of course this is not a chop at the real scientists....most of
>   them admit that some people can hear things they can't measure
>   with the tools of the moment, but don't dismiss it out of hand
>   with arguments based on theory..and frequently unwarranted
>   assumptions.

Of course some people have a built in assumption that they'll always
be able to hear something that can't be measured. It's all that
"warm, fuzzy human vs. cold hard science" emotional stuff.

	Graeme Gill
From: richard@newt.ee.byu.edu (Richard Christensen)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Graphite composte sub-woofer
Date: 12 Jan 93 08:41:15
Organization: Brigham Young University, Provo UT USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: newt.ee.byu.edu
Originator: richard@newt.ee.byu.edu


I have the opportunity to create a project out of a 
graphite composite.  I would like to create a flat 
woofer 1'x3-4' out of the composite,  but I don't 
know where to get the magnets, voice coils, or foam 
gasket.  Has anyone tried this approach with success?  
Does anyone know where I can get the supplies.  I have 
Zaylatron's(sp?) catalog but the individual parts are not 
mentioned. Does anyone know of good books that would help 
me build the enclosure?  Is Dickason's book okay or is 
the data of the typical pyramidal cone speaker?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Richard Christensen

Richard@newt.ee.byu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: kega@nobeltech.se (Kent Gabrin)
Subject: Re: DCC and MD bugs
Organization: NobelTech AB
Distribution: rec
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 13:58:17 GMT

In article <MARC.93Jan11132025@mamba.es.ele.tue.nl> marc@es.ele.tue.nl (Marc Heijligers) writes:
>
>Hi,
>
>After seeing some MD bugs on rec.audio I'm also interested whether people
>found some bugs or other annoying things with DCC(!)/DAT/CD players. 

1.)  A tiny little bug in JVC XD-Z505BK (DAT):

You insert a recorded DAT which have some indexes written on it. The
tape is fully rewinded at the beginning. You use your remote control
and enter digit 2 (play the second tune). Due to the fact that the
cassette just has been inserted the machine does not know which the
current index is (index display reads --) and then it tries to rewind
the cassett to find the resent 'used' index to determine which
direction it should continue to search in to find index 2. Nothing
happend as the tape is already at the beginning.

If however you once has located an index and then rewind the tape to
the beginning the current index will read 00 and now the machine is
fully capable to recognize the right direction (forward) to search in.

A renumber of all indexes will not help.

2.) SONY TCD-D3 (Walkman):

If you have a DAT with indexes let say 10 and you at the end of tune
10 has an END-code and now F.F. to the 'end' to start adding new tunes
the little machine will forget that the last index number was 10 and
all new automatically generated indexes will not have any numbers. A
later renumber will fix that.

BTW The end code was generated by the JVC model.

3.) If you use a computer DAT of length 90 meter the remaining time
display of SONY TCD-D3 shows unreliable figures. The machine does not
know that you have loaded it with a tape that is over 3 hours playing
time in standard 48 kHz format. It has no pins to distinguish between
thin tapes or thick ones.

4.) The JVC Z505BK has a memory remembering the highest peak level of
a recording since reset. However it can not remember if there has been
any overflow during the same period.  The memory will present it as 0 dB.
Therefore if I record analogue input unattended I must set my upper
limit to 1 dB to be on the safe side. If the memory show 0 dB I don't
know if overflow has occured or not.

    /Kent

---------------------------------------------------------------
Kent Gabrin   NobelTech Systems    ! My thinking is not as great as
S-175 88 Jaerfaella      Sweden    ! Oliver Berendinus Bumble /Will Try
KEGA@nobeltech.se ! DAT owner and waiting for DAB to show up.
From: co940@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Nicholas E. Damato)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: CD Cleaning Suggestion (in article form...)
Date: 7 Jan 1993 06:27:30 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Lens cleaners are a great Idea too, Too bad I didn't think of
it, contact lenses are lenses, but the cleaners go a step further,
I believe you will fine the BOSTON ADVANCE (tm) cleaner superior
at getting the dirt out of the very fine scratches, the silica
gel adheres to the tiniest dirt particles and puts them it
in suspension it the water. Your discs are squeaky clean, look
at them through a magnifier.
The stuff is only $4 a bottle and you only need a couple of
drops and some water, and you get squeaky clean discs. A bottle
i bet will clean 500 discs.
 
-For occasional use only, great on fingerprints and foodstuffs. 
 
sincerely, Budding mad scientist 
 
Oh, by the way, Camera lens cleaners are pretty gentle too
so they won't remove the coating on the lenses.
and they aren't designed as much for protien based dirt...
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: Frank2.Simon@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Frank2 'Biber' Simon)
Subject: Re: MiniDiscs -- What Are They?
Organization: University of Oldenburg, Germany
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 13:29:41 GMT

[..]

>I currently have two DCC machines and one MD machine on the test bench.
>Subjectively, the DCC units aren't half bad.  There are some artifacts,
>but you have to listen for them.  The quality of the A/D stages on one of
>them is dreadful, but I am using my reference converters for all
>of the testing.

>The MD machine is awful.  It's really bad.  It's got a noise floor that
>pumps, even.  You can do better with a good cassette deck.  The numbers on
>it aren't even any good: the high frequency response is flat at very high
>levels, but when it drops down 1/2 MSB, everything above 10 KHz goes away.
>Very strange.  I think I'll pass on this one.
>--scott

Please explain your opinion: I want to buy such a MD machine but now
I'm pretty different in my opinion. I really don't know much about MD but
1) The capacity of one MD is about 130MB (~) so
2) a compression algorithm is necessary to get about 74minutes on one MD.
   I believe that there are two different kinds of compression:
   a numeric compression (like packer for computer) and one
   compression, that cut informations which aren't hearable. How
   works this algorithm ?

Everyone who knows more about MD please follow up to this article,
because I think it isn't interesting only for me !

Thanks in advance

Frank
-- 
FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT242FRONT
    E-MAIL-ADDRESS:      ~       I am       ~      MAIL-ADRESS:
    Frank2.Simon@arbi.   ~       because    ~      Frank Simon
    informatik.uni-      ~       somebody   ~      Alexanderstr. 156
    oldenburg.de         ~       dreams me  ~      2900 Oldenburg
From: kirk@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Kirk Lindstrom)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: How can different digital cables sound different?
Date: 5 Jan 93 22:53:40 GMT
Organization: Shredding the water of SF Bay, HP-OCD

Remember the salesman I respected was trying to explain why I might want
to spend $200 to $1000 on a digital cable.  One had 3 weaved strands of
silver wire.  He said "one for left, one for right and the other is
shield!".   "Gee", I said, "I thought CD used a serial bit stream".   He
said, yes it does"....."Then aren't the L and R sides coded into the data
and thus only need a single cable?".   Oops........

"Well the wire was pretty and might make some nice art work" is all I have to
say now.

Kirk (give 'em long enough, and even the good salesman usually end up
eating crow) out
From: BARRON@RHQVM14.VNET.IBM.COM
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 08:14:14 EST
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Cable Lengths
Reply-To: barron@rhqvm14.VNET.IBM.COM

This comment/question applies to cable lenghts v. quality.

I have seen many reviews of interconnects, and although I understand the
technical reasons why there shouldn't be any difference, I also understand
that people have heard real differences.

The one comparison that I haven't seen is a comparison of quality v. length.

i.e. Will a 1 ft. toslink $10 cable sound as good as a $500 1m St cable.
     Will 1ft. of Radio shack interconnect (6 for $3) sound as good as
     a $350/m, 1m Vulcan Silver cable.

     How much difference does one hear in a 1m high quality cable v. 1/2m of
     the same cable.

Technically, the quality of a cable is determined by inductance and
capacitance.  These are primarily controlled by length.   In theory
we should be able to construct a table of equivalents.
(optical we talk of loss and other parameters)

Any thoughts?


Organization: Advantis Advanced Technology
Disclaimer: This reflects the poster's views, not those of Advantis
News-Software: Usenet 3.0
X-X-From: Dave Barron
From: marklc@umbc3.umbc.edu (Mr. Mark L. Cohen)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Upgrade suggestions?
Date: 9 Jan 1993 10:42:35 -0500
Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County Campus
NNTP-Posting-Host: umbc4.umbc.edu

Hello networld!  I was thinking about doing some upgrading to my current
stereo system and I wanted to get some ideas before I went out and did
anything...

This is my current setup:  My main receiver is a Denon AVR610 Pro-Logic 
surround system.  My front (left and right) speakers are Infinity Kappa 6's.
I have 2 center speakers -- both JBL62's (bookshelf speakers).  I have 2
rear speakers which are no-name speakers.  I currently have an Onkyo tape
deck, Onkyo CD player, and NEC VCR (hi-fi stereo).  Finally, I have an old
television which I don't plan on replacing until it dies.

I guess I have several options:
1) Move the JBL's to the rear channels and buy a real center speaker.
2) Get a subwoofer to add to the bass (the Infinities sound fantastic down
   to around 40 hz but that's their limit).
3) A combination of 1 and 2.
4) Any other wacky ideas.

My listening area is in a finished basement.  There is carpet on the floor,
panelled walls and a finished tile ceiling.  The stereo area is about 15x15.

Also, another question about multi-CD laserdisc players: Does the CD player
on the Laserdisc players sound as good as a conventional good quality CD
player?  What are the differences between "good" and "bad" laserdisc players?

I'm so full of questions today...  Please reply via e-mail and I'll post a
summary when I get a chance...


-----       
       Mark Cohen    marklc@umbc4.umbc.edu

       So how does this .sig thing work anyway?
       Hi mom!  This is a test...
From: wilson@dove.nist.gov.ncsl.nist.gov (Ron Wilson)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Wireless Headphones
Date: 4 Jan 93 20:53:28 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Hello, 

Could someone please recommend which brand of wireless headphones is 
pretty good.  I know that Sony makes two, Koss and Recotron both sell 
one.  

Also, which type is better as far as sound fidelity: infared or crystal?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.  You can email me at 
wilson@mml.ncsl.nist.gov or post to the net.

Thanx again,

Ron Wilson
From: creatch@carson.u.washington.edu (Lars Gilstrom)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: WANTED: older Magnavox CD player
Date: 8 Jan 1993 18:40:52 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: carson.u.washington.edu

Please, e-mail me back whoever e-mailed me that they had a CDB-465 that
they wanted to sell.  I lost your address

Thanks
Lars
From: kirk@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Kirk Lindstrom)
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 21:21:58 GMT
Subject: Re: How can different digital cables sound different?
Organization: Shredding the water of SF Bay, HP-OCD
Newsgroups: rec.audio

>Anyway, my point is that you should be sure to make your comparisons on
>as bigger system as you can lay your hands on.
>
>Cheers
>Gavin
----------
What do you mean by "bigger system"?  I've been told by some that sell
the cables as well as make the cables that my system should be "good
enough" to notice cable effects.
-SONY CD player (was told I don't need a ML#30 to hear the effects)
-Acurus L10 PA
-Acurus A250 Amp
-a/d/s/ M15 monitor speakers (told they were very revealing by the
 salesman and this to a guy on a budget that didn't want to hear about
 spending any more money!)

It all handles TimeWarp just fine, thank-you
Do I need to upgrade to Aragon to hear the difference?  8-)

I seem to remember some of our UK friends posting wonders for tweaks,
cables, etc. where the cables are worth more than their electronics!

Kirk (thanks, BTW) out