Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-08-17


cylinder. Electric recording,
generally located one in the
cabinet with pickup and am
plifier, and the other in q
slave" cabinet. In at least
one set, both speakers are
built into a single cabinet.
1t can be seen that the
principle Of stereo owes little
to an attempt to achieve real
ism. The sound from the two
speakers is heard by both
ears, yet each sound is very
slightly different, like the two
images of a stereoptican. A
meretricious, entirely unmu-
steal, but rather striking
effect can be achieved by re-
cording with the two micro
phones a great distance apart
so that the sounds from the
two speakers in the living
room are not closely related.
This has nothing to do with
the sense of depth and pres
ence created by true binaural
recording.
Other Observations
Furthermore, it is difficult
to place two speakers in a
room in such a way that they
can be heard equally from
more than a very limited
area. When the listener is To-
Gated so that he is aware Of
both speakers, the fact that
what issues from each is from
a separate microphone en-
hances the music very little
If at all. This week I heard
stereophonic music repro
duced on what is probably
one of the most elaborate and
skilfully designed inStalla-
lions in Washington, and
found that when the music
to both loudspeakers came
from a single microphone the
result was practically indis-
tinguishable from stereo. Two
amplifiers and two speakers
will discover practically as
much music in the grooves of
your old standard LIPS as you
can achieve with stereo, and
you will not be put to the
expense of buying a new rec
ord library.
In fact, at the present time
standard LIP records provide
infinitely greater brilliance
of reproduction than stereo
records, by reason Of a factor
not yet discussed. There is
no stereo stylus and tone arm
now on the market in any
way comparable in reproduc-
ing ability to the best that
have been developed for
standard LIPS. The problem
of picking up two signals
from a single groove with a
single needle" has not yet
been solved satisfactorily. All
the experts and manufac-
turers' representatives I
have spoken to admit this
readily. They say, however,
that soon there will be a
really good stereo pickup de-
veloped which can be quickly
and cheaply substituted for
the present models.
Record Supply Limited
Washington stores inform
me that there are far fewer
stereo records available than
are listed in the catalogs, and
1t is evident that it will be
many years, if ever. until
there is anything like the wide
variety of music to be had in
stores that is now on LIP.
Record manufacturing and
retailers alike are fearful of
the expense involved in a
large repertoire of stereo rec
ordS until they can be re-
produced, if not cheaply, at
least satisfactorily in the
home.
Also, there is the very
great possibility that Stereo
is nothing more than a tenn
porary fad, a detour in the
remarkable progress of home
reproduced music. 1t is hard
to believe that stereo is a
fundamental improvement
like the high fidelity ampli-
fer, the light pickup and
the long-playing record. The
next logical development
seems to be the general use
of the magnetic tape play
back, the advent of which
is delayed only by the ex-
pense and slowness Of dupli-
eating tapes.