Past meetings of the Society
Sept 2002

September 2002 Meeting
DATE: Sunday, Sept.22
TIME: 6:00 PM

Place: Room 120
National Transportation Systems Center
55 Broadway, Cambridge MA

Subject: Live-vs-Demo - Why or Why Not Successful

Featured Guest: Victor Campos, AR Engineer Responsible for the Demo in May, 1976

Victor Campos is currently a consultant with Lenbrook America, NAD Int'l and many other corporations. In 1976, however, Victor was in charge of creating one of AR's most ambitious live vs. recorded demonstrations. AR's mission then was to convince people that their AR-10Pi loudspeaker, $395.00 each, was practically indistinguishable form the 'real' thing. What better way to prove this than to play it next to a real musical event?

In May of 1976, the BAS meeting was held at the AR facility in Norwood, MA, to witness Neil Grover, an accomplished drummer, face off against a pair of AR-10Pi speakers. Neil Grover's drum set consisted of a snare, two bongos, three toms of different pitches, a bass drum and four different cymbals. According to Victor, drums were chosen to test power handling and reproduction of very high peak levels, which turned out to be around 130 dB SPL.

Victor's talk Sunday will be about what it takes to organize a demonstration intended to reproduce a live event with loudspeakers, a feat today that is too awesome for most hi-fi systems. The current BAS Journal has some of the demo information, but it is missing the hands-on or 'your are there' contribution of its creator. In the course of the evening, Victor will reveal the realistic standards that a amplifier, tape recorder, and loudspeaker must achieve before any semblance of sonic reality can enter your listening room.