Aug - AmericanRadioHistory.Com

No one's going to emancipate ME
by CHRISTOPHER FAYE
The hardy pioneers of high fidelity lived dangerously, and gloried
in the hazards that beset them. Audiophiles were he -men, in those
days. Now, however, a sinister threat imperils a Great Tradition.
THERE is a theory that high fidelity is simply technology's
latest and most picturesque attempt to achieve
mankind's subjugation. Which may be true, but remember
that technology is not a self -willed metal monster, newspaper
cartoons to the contrary. Technology is something we
do to ourselves, and this explains why it is sometimes a
little zany. Eventually, of course, any aspect of technology
is taken over by business. After that it is governed by
round commercial principles, applied hard -headedly and
embodying good, horse or common sense.
Now if there is anything I abominate . . . no, I had
better put th'.t some other way. Common sense is very
helpful inder_d in reading detergent advertisements. I favor
it, too, in labor- management disputes. And I think it is a
great thing for the governors of the New York Stock Exchange.
But I don't want it in high fidelity, and I don't
think you do either. Nobody does, except a crew of oafish
parvenus or come -lately's, who have nothing on their side
but numbers. It is time to draw the line, and it is to this
end that I have compiled the following list of do's and
dons s for manufacturers, dealers, and aficionadi, or should
that be aficionados? In either case, it means you. Let us
begin with ...
Manufacturers ....
r. Put a few more knobs on your equipment. Iis getting
so that it is possible to compensate everything correctly
before the selection is half over.
This indicates very poor planning.
With just a little more attention
to detail, correct compensation
could be rendered impossible until
the logical moment - the closing
measure.
2. Whenever possible, publish
manuals bearing the title "High Fidelity
for the Layman" or "What
Every Grade School Child Knows
About High Fidelity" or some other
such enticing title. Needless to say.
manual writers are to be informed
that their remuneration will be directly
proportional to the number
of technical obscurities therein con-
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rained. Of course, this booklet is to be distributed to people
who think an ohm is what there is no place like.
3. On the other hand, insure that all technical literature
on your equipment is phrased in hi -glo advertising idiom,
not colorless engireering terminology. This will brighten
the lives of people who write asking what your equipment's
technical specifications are.
4. Great strides in varying record speeds were made after
the war. What has happened in recent years? The manufacturers
have lethargically rested on their mere four speed
laurels. Certainly American ingenuity and inventiveness
a.e not to be confounded by crass, practical limitations!
Now that sundry turntables and changers have been developed
to handle four speeds, now that record libraries
have again been built up, what about revolutionizing the
record industry once again by declaring all of the old speeds
obsolete? Is the time not ripe for the .0000r -inch groove,
on the counterclockwise record, to be played from the inside
out? Get with it, diskeries!
5. It appeared until lately that tape recording was to become
the main standard -bearer of high fidelity's Great
Tradition. There was truly great promise in the early introduction
of four recording speeds, coupled with each company's
prompt acceptance of its duty to invent a highly
individual system of equalization. Unfortunately these
initial gains have been squandered. Soulless radicals have
seized control of the industry, and
through a series of sinister machinations
have standardized the prerecorded
tape playback speed. Even
now they are viciously striking at
what is generally considered the
conservatives' last stronghold - the
equitable principle that it should be
impossible for tape recorded on one
make of machine to be played back
on any other make. It is indeed
difficult not to view developments
such as these with extreme consternation.
The paramount issue now is
clear. Will the conservative element,
now sadly reduced to the
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AUGUST 1955
37