APRIL 2021 ONLINE MEETING NOTICE

Date: Sunday, April 18, 2021, 7:00 pm

Place: ZOOM ONLINE

Featured Guests: John Atkinson, Past Editor of Stereophile & Current Technical Editor

Topic: Audio After 55 Years as an Audiophile & Measuring Audio Equipment

John Atkinson was born in England in 1948. At the age of 15, was faced with a difficult decision. Academically, his grades in science subjects were excellent but his passion was for music. He played violin in school and county youth orchestras and bass guitar with a local pop group. But for his final 3 years at grammar school, he had to choose between the sciences and the arts. The sciences it had to be, and he ended up getting his B.Sc in physics and chemistry from the University of London, followed by a post-graduate qualification as a high-school science teacher.

He is probably the only audio journalist who has made his own transistors, using a vapor-epitaxy oven and gallium-phosphide substrates.

His passion for music was kept alive by playing bass guitar in rock bands and getting involved in making recordings. John, a bassist, joined a band led by a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who had just signed a record contract with Warner Bros. After joining, not a surprise, he abandoned his scientific career without hesitation.

JA had been what we now call an “audiophile” since the end of the 1960s and was an avid reader of the British magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review. In September 1976 he joined that magazine as an editorial assistant. Six years later, at the age of 34, he became Hi-Fi News’s editor in chief. By the end of 1985, he'd almost doubled its circulation when then-Stereophile owner and publisher Larry Archibald invited him to take over from the magazine’s founder, J. Gordon Holt, as the American magazine’s editor.

JA joined Stereophile in May 1986 and increased its circulation from around 20,000 to a peak of 92,000 15 years later. He remained editor until April 2019, when approaching his 71st birthday and having published 390 issues, he handed over Stereophile’s editorial reins to Jim Austin. John took up the new position of Technical Editor and continues to provide the measurements to accompany the magazine’s reviews. To date, he has measured 900 loudspeakers, 600 amplification components, and 400 digital products, all with a standardized test regime for each category.

John Atkinson is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and until recently was an associate member of the IEEE and a member of NARAS, Producers & Engineers Wing. In 2011 he was invited by the Technical Council of the AES to present the Richard C. Heyser Memorial lecture at its 131st Convention in New York

Join Zoom Meeting    VALID FOR THIS MEETING ONLY !

If you are using a computer and this is your first time with Zoom, give yourself at least 15-20 minutes prior to the meeting to set things up: you click on the link in the Zoom instructions below and will be guided to download the Zoom software, HERE:
https://zoom.us/download

You can use your computer’s audio if you have a headset attached, or you can dial-in for audio. If you have a smart phone or tablet and a good internet connection, then you should install the Zoom app for your device and connect using it.

See below for dial-in instructions for the Zoom meeting.

If you do not have a computer or smart phone/tablet, you can just dial one of the numbers and join for audio only; use your touch tone dialer to enter the meeting number and password when prompted.

Dial by your location

+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

+1 253 215 8782 US

+1 301 715 8592 US

+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

or find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcgU8tvYvR
(scroll all the way down to 'United States of America')

Meanwhile... here are lists of available items for sale:

For sale: Scott Kent’s equipment (items grouped for convenience — another of same item might be in another group; most items are individually available):

Contact Marcia Kent
Home:978-658-7014
Cell: 978-806-5645
email KMarcia89@Yahoo.com

5 tall mic stands (Photo Instrument Corp and Manfrotto)

Bag 1
2 Revox G36 manuals
1 mixer book
1 Casio label printer
1 HH Scott model 450 sound level meter
1 vintage Neumann short stereo bar
1 AKG multipin microphone cable (looks like an extension cable that will work with an AKG C34 or C422)
5 XLR microphone cables
3 misc. cables

Bag 2
1 Marantz model CDR420 CD recorder sn# MZ000551001967
1 Scott Kent two-channel phantom power supply unit (PSU)
misc electrical adaptors

Bag 3
M-Audio two-channel Microtrack II chip recorder
Midiman Flying Calf two-channel AD converter
two-channel microphone phantom-power supply
Beyer small stereo bar
small set of hand tools

Bag 4
3 misc. Scott Kent boxes
Dell power supply
Toshiba power supply
microphone cables and XLR connectors
misc. power cords and extension cords

Bag 5A
4 Scott Kent boxes
misc. cables
2 wallwarts

Bag5B
Panasonic PV2201 VHS recorder
Sony SL2000 betamax recorder
two-station Microboards CD copier (external, likely can be used alone to copy CDs — one player and one recorder) or with a computer to make two copies simultaneously)
1 old Sony headphone
2 copper ribbon speaker cables
misc. microphone hang and mounting hardware

Studio:
AMC stereo DA convertor
AR turntable
Audio Technology level meter
Ballentine AC voltmeter
dbx model 124 level matching unit
dbx model 157 compressor
dbx Model 162 stereo compressor
Heathkit oscilloscope
2 Lexicon Model 300 reverberators
Loftech TS1 generator
Magnavox CDB624 CD player
Midiman Flying Calf AD converter
Revox A77 quarter-track, 3¾/7½ips analogue recorder
Sony PCM-F1 digital processor
Sony Model 601 digital processor
Tascam DA-30 DAT recorder

Closet:
Revox A77 half-track, 7½/15ips analogue recorder
Revox A77 half-track, 7½/15ips analogue recorder
Revox A77 half-track, 7½/15ips analogue recorder
Basement:
DMC model 8156 flutter meter
General Radio Model 1396A tone burst generator
Panasonic model 3500 DAT recorder
Sony model CDPXE 500 CD player
Sony PCM R-500 DAT recorder
Sony model DTC 690 DAT recorder
Sony DTC DAT recorder
Rockwell table drill press
Sears 1hp air compressor

Attic:
Marantz model CDR 420 CD recorder
Otari model MX5050 analogue tape recorder
Sears Craftsman 10" table saw
Sears Craftsman lathe
South Bend Precision Lathe Model A

Miscellaneous: (of COURSE there is always a category called "miscellaneous")
>300 BKM/AFKA LPs (multiple copies of many), plus cassettes and CDs.
2 Klipschorns Model C, mfr’d ~1963, plus center-channel speaker with same drivers/crossover; John F. Allen midrange drivers,
Scott Kent customized crossovers.
White (mfr, not color) piano (upright; will need refurbishment)
Estey Reed pipe organ with full pedalboard (was the practice organ at Emmanuel Church, Boston, MA

For the listings BELOW, contact Mark Wadnizak; (Ventura, CA)
Office  805-677-7333
Cell   805-218-5349
email: MarkW@i-Nett.com

1.  I recently watched a DVD “Analog: The Art & History of Reel to Reel Recording” by Vision Laboratories. It refers to the “magical sound of the quality of analog recording.”

It covers from the earliest days with Valdemar Poulsen to modern multitrack recording.

Unfortunately it is amateurish in presentation with shaky and blurry graphics. Still the likelihood of a major studio doing the subject is nil so we have to take it as it is.

Comments:

It bills itself as “Analog The Art & History of Reel-To-Reel Tape Recordings.”

It mentions 1-7/8, 3-3/4 and 7-1/2 ips tape speeds but no other. Reel sizes of 3”, 5”, 7” and 10”. Actually 10-1/2”

It says Fritz Fluemer invented magnetic tape. That’s Pfleumer.

It says that noise from tape comes from the friction of the tape rubbing against the record head. Actually it’s the irregular magnetic domains on the tape.

It says that harmonic distortion in tape recording causes bass increase. (?)

It refers to the dbx "compounding" technique. That’s companding.

It mentions Studer and Stellavox and Nagra, but no mention of the Revox recorders which were very popular among audiophiles.

It is a DVDR but this is not mentioned anywhere. They have limited life expectancy. It is 50 minutes long (billed as 60).

The image on the cover is of Ampex 456 Grandmaster tape. However there is no mention of the fact that many of those tapes became unplayable due to “Sticky Shed Syndrome.”

Some multitrack digital tapes from the early days have become unplayable.

I was interested to learn that the first pre-recorded tapes came out in 1949.

It concludes with an amusing ad for the 3M Wollensack recorder featuring “solid state transistors.”

The company has 3 other similar videos.

www.360soundandvision.com/Movies.html

email me here

Some earlier BASS issues, previously available only directly by mail, are now available online, on the BAS SPEAKER page, HERE

Show your appreciation for the immense amount of dedicated work that went into both the original writing, gathering, editing and printing, PLUS the more recent scanning and conversion to PDF format, by joining the Society, HERE !