Recording Formats &
Advertising
Note: Music examples are from the finale to
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture; historical recordings
courtesy of The British Library
1877
1887
1926
1948
1958
1972
1983
Wax Cylinder: 100 rpm
78 rpm
7", 10", 12"
33.3, 45 rpm
7", 10", 12"
200-500 rpm
5"
and stereo cartridge
four loudspeakers
Royal Albert Hall Orch, 1916
Philadelphia, Stokowski, 1930
Spectrogram of excerpts of the six audio examples, click to
enlarge
(note: #1 was low-pass filtered to remove some of the
surface noise;
#5, the spectacular version by the New York Philharmonic,
was a standard for demonstrating your hi-fi system in the
1960s)
Advertising
The Phonograph (1900-1930)
Emile
Berliner and the first
Phonograph, n.d.
The Acoustic Era
all ads taken from Busy Man's & Macleans magazine by Lisa Czembor
Neophone
Disc Phonograph, Sept. 1906 B.M.
Johnston's Talking Machine, Oct. 1906 Columbia
Graphophone, June 1909 Pollock
Phonola,
Feb. 1911 Victor
& Berliner Gram-o-phone "When the Family Gather
'round the Hearth", Feb. 1911 Victor
& Berliner Gram-o-phone "An Educational Influence in
the Home", March 1911 The
Phonola "Is Your Talking Machine in
Style", April 1911 Columbia
Grafonola, "The ONE Supreme Gift for a
Woman", Dec. 1912 Columbia
Records
"All the Music of all the World", Feb.
1914 Thomas
A. Edison Inc. Phonograph "More than 70 Quartettes,
too", Dec. 1914 Aeolian-Vocalion "The Music of Childhood",
Jan. 1918 The
New Edison "Testing the New Edison's
RE-CREATION of Lazzari's Glorious Voice,
Oct. 1918
"The most sensitive ear could not detect the slightest difference between the tone of the singer and the tone of the mechanical device" said a critic after hearing a 1916 demonstration where a tenor performed with an Edison Diamond Disk acoustic phonograph.
"Everybody, including myself, was astonished to find that it was impossible to distinguish between my own voice, and Mr. Edison's re-creation of it", Metropolitan Opera soprano Anna Case (both quotes from Read & Welch, From Tin Foil to Stereo, 1976)
The Era of High Fidelity (1950s, 1960s)all ads taken from Hi-Fidelity magazine by Lisa Czembor
Phonographs & Turntables
The Metzner Starlight, July 1956
Thorens, Jan. 1960
Pickering, July 1960
Sonograf, July 1960
Bogen-Presto, July 1960
Garrard, July 1960
Garrard, August 1960
Empire, Jan. 1962
Electro-Sonic, Jan. 1962
Empire, Jan. 1964
Amplifiers
Bogen, "famous lake" October 1956
Fisher, Jan. 1958
Harman-Kardon, July 1958
Fisher, Jan. 1960
Madison Fielding "tuned for silence", Jan. 1960
H.H.Scott, Jan. 1960
Marantz, Jan. 1962
McIntosh, July 1962
Harman-Kardon, Jan. 1964
Harman-Kardon, "component people" July 1964
Speakers
Electro-Voice, Fall 1951
Pickering "isophase sound", July 1956
Stephens, July 1956
Weathers "Live Sound", Jan. 1958
Acoustic Research AR-2a, Jan. 1960
Jensen "Blindfold Test" Jan. 1960
Electro-Voice "the fashion of the season", Jan. 1960 ->
Electro-Voice facing page
Audax "Speaker of the house", Jan. 1960
Acoustic Research, Jan. 1962
Bozak "Symphony No. 1", Jan. 1964
University Loudspeakers, Jan. 1964
Electro-Voice, Jan. 1966
Altec-Lansing "The look ...", July 1966
"Despite the inferior quality of many digital sampling systems [in 1986], proponents of the technology are fond of quoting three specifications in which digital systems outperform analog systems: frequency response, harmonic distortion, and dynamic range. These measurements are well understood by audio technicians, are easy to perform with the test equipment that was available in the 1930s, and are considered important by many consumers. They have the disadvantage of being poorly correlated with perceived sound quality."
"All other things being equal, the system with the flattest frequency response will sound the best. But not if accuracy in the frequency domain has been achieved at the expense of accuracy in the time domain. ... Readers of mass-market audio magazines will be amused by a 1949 talk to be given by Louis A. DeRosa of the Federal Communications Laboratory. 'For years "high fidelity" has been a controversial subject among radio enginners. At first many believed that a flat frequency response would represent the ultimate in recreating the original sound ... Mr. DeRosa will discuss a type of distortion called "phase distortion" that has been known to exist but was thought to be undetectable by ear. Mr. DeRosa will show that it is detectable and deteriorates the quality of reproduction.'"
from P. Greenspun "Audio Analysis V: Time- and Frequency-Domain Distortions in Digital Signal Processing Systems", Computer Music Journal, 10(4), 1986.Record Changers
Webcor, Jan. 1953
Audiogersh, Nov. 1954
Rockbar, Jan. 1958
Glaser-Steers "ready for stereophonic records", July 1958
Garrard, Jan. 1960
Thorens, Jan. 1964
Tuners
Harmon-Kardon "Bach is my best friend", Jan. 1960
based on Karsh's portrait of Pablo Casals
Tape Recorders
Magnecord, Fall 1951
Revere, Jan. 1953
Ampex, Oct. 1956
American Electronics "Globematic", Jan. 1958
Audiotape, Aug. 1960
Roberts, Jan. 1962
Integrated Units
Stromberg-Carlson "I'm no whiz", Oct. 1956
AMI, Jan. 1958
The Introduction of Digital (1980s) all ads taken from Hi-Fidelity magazine by Lisa Czembor
Audio Disc / Compact Disc
Sony "Sony creates seventh row, center. Forever", April 1983
Hitachi Audio Disc Player, June 1983
Mitsubishi "You Don't Become A Digital Audio Expert Overnight", May 1983 ->
Mitsubishi, facing page
Fisher "The State of the Art has just been elevated", Oct. 1983
Sony "Enter the World of Digital Audio ...", Dec. 1983
Technics "The Science of Sound", Feb. 1984
Kyocera "Why put two filters into one great Compact Disc player?" March 1984
Denon "Design Integrity", April 1984
Yamaha "Yamaha introduces the second-generation gap", April 1984
TEAC "Fanatics reveal the ultimate truth", July 1984
Pioneer "Who would have thought it could trigger a revolution in sound?" Oct. 1984
Sherwood ".. the latest thing in second generation CD audio technology: Affordability", Sept. 1984
Harmon-Kardon "The perfect balance ...", Dec. 1985
Sony "A few words for those who haven't experienced ...", March 1985 ->
Sony, following page
NEC "NEC's digital experience ...", Jan. 1986
Sony "Stevie Wonder", Jan. 1986
Technics "lets you create an audio empire ...", Nov. 1986
Radio Shack "The Ultimate Performers", Nov. 1986
Magnavox "...but can he remember 785 of your favorite songs?". Dec. 1986
Onkyo, "Beyond conventional audio", Dec. 1986
Akai, Jan. 1987
Pioneer, "Not Evolutionary, Revolutionary", Feb. 1987
Carver, "Digital Discrimination", Feb. 1987
Yamaha, "has just redefined the compact disc", Oct. 1987
"Between the FTC and the mass-market Japanese audio companies' advertising campaigns of the late 1970s [which claimed that THD was the only important measure of audio component sound quality], consumers were ripe for compact disk advertisements quoting low THD figures. ... Digital tape recorders actually introduce more harmonic distortion than analog tape recorders over most of the range of audio signal levels."
"It is puzzling that people without any engineering knowledge, who would not question the sonic virtues of a $500,000 Stradivarius, will vociferously assert that their $200 CD player, 7-kg Japanese receiver and cheap box speakers will produce a sound that is free of distortion and indistinguishable from live music."
"Edward Rothstein, The New Republic's experienced music critic, wrote an article on high-fidelity audio equipment in which he noted the superiority of analog LPs. This article generated considerable controversy which prompted a followup in which Rothstein stated that he 'could write vituperatively about music for decades without once generating the wattage of protestation and the limited frequency response that greeted this essay about mere equipment'."
from P. Greenspun, "Audio Analysis V: Time- and Frequency-Domain Distortions in Digital Signal Processing Systems", Computer Music Journal, 10(4), 1986.
