HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sjc28473@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steven Joseph Chmura)
Subject: New Sony A/V 1090STR-D???
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 22:58:46 GMT

Any opinions on this newest Sony receiver?  It looks nice and promises
70mm souround decoding.

-- 
  "Given enought time the impossible becomes possible, the possible probable,
	and the probable inevitable..." - George Wald - "The Origin of Life"
	Steven Chmura /////////  University of Chicago School of Medicine (M1)

Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: kaplan@unamas.esd.sgi.com (Larry Kaplan)
Subject: For Sale -- Martin Logan Speakers
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 01:53:15 GMT

For Sale - One pair Martin Logan Sequel II Speakers.

Perfect Condition. $1700 firm. Call Mike at (510) 820-8503

-- 
  Larry Kaplan  (415)390-1584 Silicon Graphics, Mtn View, CA 94039 USA
From: myers@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Bob Myers)
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 02:29:59 GMT
Subject: Re: Very expensive cables
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: rec.audio

> Do expensive cables really make a difference?

No. After you have installed good, heavy (low gauge number) conductors
for your speakers, and quality interconnects (and by "quality," I simply mean
something well-constructed of a decent but quite ordinary cable and similar
connectors), there is nothing more to be gained here.  Claims of magical
qualities of various cables are simply so many snake-oil sales pitches.

> Do I need to upgrade my speaker cable as well to hear any difference?

Nope.  See above.

> Are these expensive cables just a way for manufacturers to make more money
> out of their gullible customers?

Absolutely.  If you want to hear something badly enough - and believe me,
after you've spent $300/meter for a hunk of fairly ordinary copper, you
*want* to hear - you *will* hear it.  But the oft-maligned (at least, 'round
these hyar parts) double-blind tests have so far failed to show any
significant difference, nor has there been any theoretical reasoning
presented to show why there *should* be a difference.

> Or are my ears not very good?

Your ears are fine.  Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew!

> When I was getting demos for my hifi, I could definitely tell the difference
> between different speakers and different amps. For example, the Delta 60 amp
> did sound better than the Alpha amp.

Yup.  There is a vast difference in amp designs, and while I'm not the
local speaker expert (Dick Pierce fills that job more than adequately, but
I'm sure he'll agree with the following), there's a similar vast range of
speakers available.  But cabling and connectors are so damned simple that,
beyond getting the basics of construction, shielding, and grounding done
correctly, there's very little to go wrong here.

Contrary opinions will no doubt be posted.  If so, folks, at least please
bring some new reasons.


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.
Xref: sparky rec.audio:12402 rec.music.cd:6447
From: larry@cs.com (Larry Spence)
Newsgroups: rec.audio,rec.music.cd
Subject: Re: Cleaning CDs
Date: 12 Sep 92 02:31:36 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.cd
Organization: Computer Support Corporation,  Dallas,Texas

(crossposted from rec.audio; followups to rec.music.cd)

In article <92253.205937LLH111@psuvm.psu.edu> LLH111@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>This is probably in the FAQ file, but I'm feeling kinda lazy...
>What's the best way/materials for CD cleaning?  Thanks.

The usual advice is use a clean, soft cloth and rub gently using
radial (center <-> edge) strokes.  Use a bit of water or one of the
CD cleaning solutions if necessary.  Don't use solvents.

My question is this: what about cleaning the label side of a CD?  Yes,
I know the data is read from the bottom (clear) side, and that dirt on
the label side can't directly affect the laser beam.  But I often buy
used discs that have fingerprints and smudges on both sides.  I'm
concerned that the acids and oils in the fingerprints could eventually
eat into the lacquer on the label side.  But since the data is covered
only with a thin coat of lacquer on the label side, would light pres-
sure on the label side possibly deform the aluminum layer slightly?  I
know that in the extreme, running your fingernail across the lacquer
can cause visible creases in the aluminum layer.  So is it safe to
gently clean the label side?  What about using cleaning devices on the
label side (Allsop, Discwasher, etc.)?  Do they exert too much pressure?

-- 
Larry Spence
larry@cs.com
uunet!csccat!larry or sun!texsun!csccat!larry
From: sbradley@scic.intel.com (Seth Bradley)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Very expensive cables
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:32:12 GMT
Organization: Intel SCIC, Beaverton, OR

In article <19197kINNh6@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> scott@psy.uwa.oz.au (Scott Fisher) writes:
>Add to this a set of trials where you ask the subject to make 
>subjective comments like "better, worse, same" to the manipulations
>and then we can not only start to see if there is any detectable
>difference but if the change is "better" and on what proportion of
>trials it was judged better.

Sorry, but you don't do subjective measurements in double blind tests,
it makes the methodology _a lot_ harder to get right, with much more
room for error.  The way to do it is to randomly make A B assignments
in pairs (like AA, AB, BA, BB) with a single selection played through
each pairing.  Then your panel simply needs to say "same or different".
Very simple, little margin for error.  Better or worse comments can be
done informally (with the subjects still not knowing what the identification
is of A and B) later.  This is how I've seen all audio double-blind tests
conducted, and that is how I'll be doing my double-blind interconnect
test.
-- 
Seth J. Bradley, Senior System Administrator, Intel SCIC
Internet: sbradley@scic.intel.com   UUCP: uunet!scic.intel.com!sbradley
----------------------------------------
"A system admin's life is a sorry one.  The only advantage he has over
Emergency Room doctors is that malpractice suits are rare.  On the other
hand, ER doctors never have to deal with patients installing new versions
of their own innards!"  -Michael O'Brien
From: hoffman@cs.pitt.edu (Bob Hoffman)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Identify 3M tape, please
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:59:39 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh Computer Science

In article <16354@pitt.UUCP> I wrote:
>I recently came across some 3M recording tape that I can't identify.
>Would someone with a 3M catalog please look this part number up and
>tell me what application this tape is designed for?  The part number
>is "8206-1/4-3600 RL".

Thanks for all the responses, both news and mail.  I'm glad to learn
that 8206 is just a new formulation of the old 206 tape.  I was
concerned that this was some specialized tape for analog data recording
or some logging application.

Just in case people think I'm _really_ dense, I did know what the "1/4"
and "3600" meant.  It was the "8206" and "RL" that I wanted confirmation
on.  Years ago when I worked at Pitt's student radio station, I used
to reload NAB carts with a special lubricated tape and I thought RL
might mean "Rear Lubricated".

	Thanks again,

	---Bob.
-- 
Bob Hoffman, N3CVL       pitt!hoffman
Pitt Computer Science    hoffman@cs.pitt.edu    FAX: +1 412 624 8854
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: goyal@utdallas.edu (Mohit K. Goyal)
Subject: Re: Sony's CD advertising
Organization: Univ. of Texas at Dallas
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 03:56:37 GMT

While everyone continues to debate whether MD will survive or not, I will
offer my opinion.

I will buy a MD player as soon as I feel they are at a decent price, which
hopefully won't take to long.

I own a CD player in my house and have invested my money in about 200 CD's.

Why do I want a MD player?

Because I love the convience of CD's.  They are quiet, the sound quality
is good enough that I don't hear any "hiss" in the background, you can
have instant access, you can program, repeat, delete, etc...

To me that is very convienent.

I won my CD player in 1989 and before than had no plans to enter the world
of CD's, since then I have not bought one single tape.

I desperately want to be able to record songs from various CD's, from
the radio(along with talk shows and other radio offerings).

I am an average music listener, in my opinion, and to me, perfect sound
is simply sound in which their is no noise on the recording that wasn't 
intended to be their.
CD's offer this, and I'm sure MD's and DCC's will to.

The reason I am going to get a MD, as I said before, is because of 
convienence.  I am one of the many "enamored" by CD's, and I don't
want to go back to tapes of any kind.

Anyways, I just thought I would let y'all know how I, and a lot of
others, feel about the upcoming format war.

I should mention that, at the moment, I do not see myself purchasing
any prerecorded MD's, just blank ones to do with as I wish.

Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: znpt01@trc.amoco.com (Norman P. Tracy)
Subject: Re: Sony's CD advertising
Originator: znpt01@gpss43
Organization: Amoco Production Company, Tulsa Research
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 22:28:24 GMT


In article <1992Sep9.151145.25486@bilver.uucp>, bill@bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion) writes:
> In article <1992Sep8.153152@trc.amoco.com> znpt01@trc.amoco.com (Norman P. Tracy) writes:
> 
> >  They seem to have lost sight of the fact that one
> >of the reasons compact cassette became the worlds most popular music media is
> >that its CHEAP.
> 
> Norman - I'm old enough to remember when the cassette first came on the
> scene.  It was touted as portable recorder, and it was never thought of
> as a serious music device.
> 
   (Most of Bill's excellent history of music media and record company
     greed from '60s on deleted.)
> 
> But CHEAP wasn't the operative word.  Convenience was.
> 
> 
> It was only after the cassette took over 1/2 the market, and the rising
> price of the LP that cassettes became cheaper than disks.
> 
> It wasn't cheap that made cassettes popular, it was that the popularity
> of cassettes made them cheap.   
> -- 
> Bill Vermillion - bill@bilver.oau.org  bill.vermillion@oau.org
>                 - bill@bilver.uucp 
>                 - ..!{peora|ge-dab|tous|tarpit}!bilver!bill
> 

  Bill - I also remember 4-tracks & 8-tracks. I bought the first car cassette
  player Sony made back about `73. I got it while all my buddies had 8-tracks
  because I recognized how much easier it is to record your own cassettes
  vs. the no-rewind 8-tracks.  Convenience is a good thing much lusted after
  by the public. I'll agree with you and amend my history of the compact
  cassette to show it was convenience and a reasonable price that made it
  popular. But with portable CD players shrunk down to the size of three
  stacked jewel boxes do MD/DCC really offer added convenience to offset the
  inconvenience of buying new hardware & software at premium prices?  I don't
  see it unless the public is so enchanted with 'digital' that they are drawn
  into the stores in a trance like state to flip down their overburdened charge
  card for this latest new gee-whiz.  Rather I think the public also remembers
  4-tracks & 8-tracks, and Beta vs. VHS, and RCA's failed video disks and will
  thus be a hard sell for Sony and Philips in the middle of yet another format
  war.

  I close out my thoughts on this subject with a story that makes the point for
  me.

  The day I wrote my first post on this subject one of the network 'morning
  shows' was doing a piece on the greatest new technologies for 1992. The
  guy doing the piece got to consumer electronics and the award goes to ta-da
  the Sony MD! He holds up a walkplayer and sez its great and its digital just
  like CD (no mention of data compression) and its recordable and its just plain
  wonderful. The newsperson host lady asks in a somewhat pained voice "does
  this mean you would have to replace all your CDs?" "Well ahh, yes." replies the
  guy doing the piece, and he hurries on to the next technological wonder.

         Norman Tracy (znpt01@trc.amoco.com)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: jacob@max.cc.brandeis.edu ( )
Subject: Focal Press books overpriced (Re: AES/EBU)
Organization: Brandeis University Math Department
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 06:58:50 GMT

In article <23632@alice.att.com> andrew@alice.att.com (Andrew Hume) writes:
>Well, you really need to buy The Art of Digital Audio by Watkinson
>(Focal Press, 1988) as a starting point.

Why is it that (some?) Focal Press books are so wildly overpriced?

I don't know about this one, but there's 400 p. paperback on recording
("Introduction to Recording" or something like that) that's 60$ !!!!

If the same goes for Watkinson's book, I'd suggest looking into one
of Ken Pohlman's books.

I don't care how good their books are, publishers who shamelessly
set prices like Focal Press need to be taught a lesson.

In a related vein. If you've ever ordered books from Mix Bookshelf,
don't in the future before you check the list price of that book.

The one time I checked, Mix Bookshelf's price was 10$ above the
publishers list price (as quoted in Books in Print) for a book of 35$
(_not_ counting postage).

Of course I was able to order it directly from the publisher for the
list price (thru a friendly bookstore in the Boston area) and save 10$
_as well as_  postage.
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: yoda@deathstar.Stanford.EDU (Terry Lee)
Subject: Re: *** SPEAKER WIRES ***
Organization: Residential Computing, Stanford University
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 22:08:59 GMT

Just pick up any high quality speaker cable.  Something like monster cable
will do.  Don't be fooled by the thickness though.  It's the same gauge as
any other cable, but it has a patented clear casing that makes the wire
appear to look thicker.  But it's decent stuff in any case.

It's more important to keep your cables as short as possible.  Ideally,
you want to have you power amp in between the speakers so the cables
can be as short as possible.  The problem with cables is they have a 
certain amount of inductance that makes them a low pass filter.
Thus, some people will argue that a poor cable will round off the high
ends near 20,000 Hz.  Most of us can't hear much beyond 15,000 Hz, so
this may or may not be valid.  But shortening the cable is the best
way to reduce inductance.

Xref: sparky rec.audio:12324 sci.electronics:15455
From: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington)
Newsgroups: rec.audio,sci.electronics
Subject: What is rubber cleaner? was: Re: Thanks for Antique pinch-roller and Teac cleaner advice
Keywords: Pinch, Roller, Teac
Date: 10 Sep 92 18:25:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: athena.1992Sep10.182515.2888
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

In article <15376@umd5.umd.edu> cgs@snoopy.umd.edu (Chris G. Sylvain) writes:

>   The rubber cleaner is available as Tascam Rubber Cleaner RC-2 (made by
>Teac professional division) and is available from The Soundd Investment Co.
>aka Tape Warehouse in Chamblee, GA phone 1-404-458-1679.
>The cost is $4.50 for 6 fluid ounces.

What is its chemical composition? 
-- 
+ Michael Covington - Artificial Intelligence Programs - U of Georgia - USA 
+ Unless otherwise noted, these are private opinions, not official statements.
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: kjt001@dunix.drake.edu (Kevin Tieskoetter)
Subject: Re: Will mono VCRs copy HiFi soundtracks?
Organization: Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 13:58:27 GMT

>> I have been told that the HiFi soundtrack on a VCR is encoded into
>> the video track of the tape, not the audio track. Does this mean
>> that you can copy a HiFi video from one mono VCR to another, then
>> play the copied tape on a HiFi VCR and still get the stereo
>> soundtrack coming out?


No, you will not.  A mono VCR totally ignores the HiFi track and
transmits just the video image.  I've borrowed tapes from friends who
have made copies of hi-fi tapes with mono VCRs - my vcr can't even
find a HiFi track existing.


-kevin
From: rlk@underprize.think.com (Robert Krawitz)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Jacked up CD prices again
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:44:10
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge Mass., USA
	<1992Sep14.192301.25585@wdl.loral.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: underprize.think.com
In-reply-to: trw@spl1.spl.loral.com's message of 14 Sep 92 19:23:01 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.192301.25585@wdl.loral.com> trw@spl1.spl.loral.com (Tim R Witort) writes:

   In article <lb9jj7INNf95@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, checksix@flyboy.EBay.Sun.COM (Al Conte) writes:
   |> 
   |> I read somewhere yesterday that the DC mougels have decided to, "take CDs to
   |> the next price plateu".
   |> They will start with, "Garth Brooks", gag me big time becasuse he is the biggest
   |> sales producer currently.
   |> We have got to stop these greedy scumsuckers from raping society with these
   |> ridiculous price increases.
   |> It is well known that CDs are far more cheaply produced than LPs were.
   |> The price they were quoting seemed to be about $18.00.
   |> What can we do?

      Don't buy them. Supply & Demand %\)

I refuse to pay over $10 per CD (normally), on principle.  I either buy
a different recording, look for it used, buy an LP, or whatever.
Considering that I can often find classical CD's for $5 or less, and
that these are often quite good recordings (by eastern European
performers), it doesn't cause too much in the way of a problem.

The rare exceptions to that are usually very specialized CD's (e. g. my
Denon Audio Technical CD, which I consider to be a tone generator rather
than a CD), and (hypothetically) CD's of very limited interest that are
probably very expensive to produce (e. g. if I ever buy Havergal Brian's
symphony #1, which used about 1000 musicians and singers).
--
ames >>>>>>>>>  |	Robert Krawitz <rlk@think.com>	245 First St.
bloom-beacon >  |think!rlk				Cambridge, MA  02142
harvard >>>>>>  .	Thinking Machines Corp.		(617)234-2116

Member of the League for Programming Freedom -- write league@prep.ai.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: trw@spl1.spl.loral.com (Tim R Witort)
Subject: Re: Question on where to plug in TVon amp.
Organization: Loral Software Productivity Laboratory
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 23:06:22 GMT

In article <6258@transfer.stratus.com>, scol@scottsdale.az.stratus.com (Scott Colbath) writes:
|> I have a heathkit 140 watt amp (don't laugh) and currently just my CD player  
|> hooked to it via the only auxiliary input jack there is. I have a tuner jack  
|> and two phono jacks left unused. Can I use one of there for the stereo TV  
|> inputs?

   Sure. The tuner input should work. Don't use the phono inputs, they
are for a lower level input from a turntable.

|> Scott Colbath

-- Tim
From: chrisc@gold.gvg.tek.com (Chris Christensen)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Bi-Amp vs. Bridged Bi-Wire
Date: 5 Sep 92 00:26:31 GMT
Organization: Grass Valley Group, Grass Valley, CA

In article <1992Sep3.235010.4087@tvnews.tv.tek.com> alexmi@soul.tv.tek.com
(Alex Mitaru) writes:
>In article <5141@gold.gvg.tek.com> chrisc@gold.gvg.tek.com (Chris Christensen) writes:
>>>What is a "Zobel" or response compensation network?  I'd guess its
>>>an E.Q. type device to compensate for speaker non-linearities??

>>A Zobel is a simple network that helps to compensate for the imprdance
>>bump of a driver at resonance.  It's selection is somewhat iterative
>>based roughly on the frequency of the bump and it's Q.

>  I'm sorry Chris, but that is wrong. A Zobel is a RC network to compensate
> for the increase in impedance at higher frequencies. A uncompensated woofer
> can present an impedance of 20 to 40 ohms to the low pass filter at 2 - 3 KHz;
> hardly what you have computed your filter. Using a RC network in paralel with
> the woofer you can maintain a stable impedance and therefore your low pass
> will behave as expected.

I have seen L's used in conjunction with an RC to control the Zobels
characteristics.  This is a nit to pic but Zobels are more than a
simple RC,  that's why I refer to them as networks.  It also serves to
make me sound smarter than I am  :-)

As I have viewed speaker system design I have seen  designers use a
Zobel for LF impedance compensation and cross over tha driver before
the rising response becomes an important term in the equation.

I am looking at a swept impedance chart of an 18" LF driver that I am using.
The impedance peak at resonance (50 Hz) is at about 12 ohms. The chart runs
out to 20 kHz.  The impedance is flat from 100 Hz to just above 1100Hz.  
It then rises to about 15 ohms at 20 kHz.  

I will put in a Zobel to flatten out the bump at resonance and cross
it over about 200 Hz and I think it will be just fine thank you.  What
do you think?

I still contend that the Zobel is used, most of the time, to
compensate for the higher Q bump at resonance and not the rising
impedance that occurs above resonance. 

I may be wrong here and I will be the first one to admit it after I
have checked my reference books.  

Oh and I also believe that whatever works for you and sounds good so
rules and ideas are mmeant to be broken and changed "-)
-- 
Chris Christensen                  The opinions I express are my own,
chrisc@gold.gvg.tek.com            and sometimes they are wrong!
916-478-3419 FAX 916-478-3887      After all, I *AM* only human.
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: jeff@dsp.sps.mot.com (Jeff Enderwick)
Subject: BA's phone #?
Organization: Motorola DSP Compilers
Distribution: rec
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:39:22


Does anyone hove boston acoustic's phone number?

	Jeff Enderwick
	jeff@dsp.sps.mot.com
From: damian+@pitt.edu (Liquid Cooled Spherical Imaging)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: SONY CDP-507ESD CD PLAYER FOR SALE
Date: 6 Sep 92 21:42:42 GMT
Organization: RaveReaction CandyLoop Clothing

Hello,

	At the beginning of the summer I purchased a SONY CDP-507ESD cd player
from a guy here in Pittsburgh (used).  I found that the cd drawer wouldn't 
stay shut after you pushed open/close.  I have been unable to get my money
back from him.  Soooo, I am hoping someone out there with some electronic know
how may want this for use (after repair) or parts.

FOR SALE
--------

SONY CDP-507ESD cd player

Condition : good  
Problem : Door/Drawer refuses to stay shut after you push open/close 
Original List Price : $600
Comes With : Remote

I am selling this for $140 + S&H.  It is apparently a good player, but I don't
have time to fix the drawer error on it.  Besides, I already bought another
cd player instead.  Please respond through e-mail.

Damian Higgins
damian@unix.cis.pitt.edu          
Newsgroups: rec.audio
From: ay@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Alec Yin)
Subject: Re: Big CD changer
Followup-To: rec.audio
Reply-To: alec@congruent.com
Organization: Columbia University, NYC.
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 07:06:28 GMT

In article <lb21vjINN95i@male.EBay.Sun.COM> checksix@flyboy.EBay.Sun.COM writes:
>
>>	Stereo Review had a recent review on a 100-CD changer that can be connected >to a PC through a serial cable.  The changer can be bought separately or along with >a single CD player that works in tandem with the changer.  If I remember correctly, >the changer list for something like $4000! and is manufactured by NSM(?).  The >review was a recent one (1992).
>
>If your refering to the 100 disk CD changer reviewed 2 months ago, the tag
>on that monster was more like $13,000.00 buckeroos !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>PS. It chewed up disks during the review too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>
>Al

The 100 disc changer  which cost  $13,000 should be the one made by Proceed,
Madrigal.  The NSM featured in Stereo review few months ago, I believe, is a
Phillip based CD player which costs around $4,000.    

Newsgroups: rec.audio