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THE WAY I SEE IT By NEVILLE WILLIAMS The quest for the ultimate in hifi sound is half the fun! As I hung up the phone recently, after a lengthy conversation with an old-time hifi enthusiast, I was more than ever convinced by the obvious: that, for such a person, hifi would be nowhere near as interesting, fascinating, or challenging if there wasn't the possibility of improving the sound even slightly! Back in the 78rpm era, there was virtually unlimited scope for improvement. The discs themselves carried a substantial content of distortion and noise, such that a prime objective was to suppress both in some way, without unacceptably compromising the wanted signal. With the appearance of microgroove recordings in the fifties, the search was on for styli, cartridges and pickup arms that combined suitably low mass with user-ruggedness. It was a combination that didn't come easily - any more than did affordable wow-free, rumble-free playback turntables. As the signal source gradually improved, attention was diverted to amplifiers and loudspeaker systems, leading to a boom in the British hifi industry, with famous brand names like Acos, BAKER, Goodmans, Leak, QUAD, Rogers, Wharfedale, &c. I doubt that there ever could be another batch of enthusiasts more varied, more interesting or more dedicated than the founders of that particular group of companies. By the sixties, tape emerged as a rival for disc and stereo had ap72 SILICON CHIP peared, so the entire evolutionary process had to be updated and repeated: groove geometry, styli, pickups, turntables, amplifiers, loudspeakers and even the layout of the listening room itself. To use the old cliche, there never was a dull moment; never a period when enthusiasts could relax, secure in the knowledge that they could settle back and enjoy the ultimate. There was always some other aspect to explore, some new challenge appearing on the horizon. Running out of challenge? It's certainly been that way for as long as I can remember, but what of the future? Surely, as hifi sound equipment gets better and better, there must come a time when technology has overtaken our needs and, more specifically, our own physical limitations. Will the fascination of hifi sound diminish by half when equipment can be installed, used and largely forgotten, except when it malfunctions; like power, water, refrigeration and plumbing systems? The now-retired enthusiast, who triggered off this whole line of thought with his phone call, has been collecting cherished recordings for as long as I can remember and fussing over them like a mother hen. From constant listening, he knows their every last quiver and quaver. A few years back, unsettled by the prospect of the compact disc revolution, he sought my assurance that it made sense for him to stay with his present collection and equipment, rather than trade it for a fraction of its original worth and re-invest in CDs. Knowing his age and background, I agreed with his proposition. This time around, after the opening pleasantries, he hit me with the question: "How good is the top-ofthe line Shure cartridge?" The purchase price mentioned was around $600. I answered in a general way, based on my recollection of a very favourable review of the V-15 type V-MR which had been published some time ago. It seemed to me that anyone who had acquired and carefully set up a Shure cartridge at that price level should have little to worry about, bearing in mind the performance parameters applicable to phono players. But there was more to come: "How good are the Australian Garrott replacement styli? The makers claim a much better contour and polish than the standard commercial equivalent". My answer was along the lines that the Garrott brothers had been working with styli for many years and, by now, they ought to be pretty good at it! But whether a new Gar- rott stylus would actually sound better or last longer than a new Shure stylus in a Shure cartridge, I was not in a position to say. His next question was a doublebarrelled effort: "Having in mind the cost of a new stylus, what do you think of the idea of putting the money towards the purchase of a new Garrott cartridge? And, if the Garrott was really as good as the makers claimed, would the difference justify the hassle of having to set up the arm to suit it?" I could offer no definitive answer because I had never been through the particular exercise. "Well, who can I ask?", he said. "It's not sufficient simply to talk to the companies concerned, because they have a vested interest. Hifi dealers have their own pet lines. Magazines review cartridges from time to time but they rarely do a comparative anlysis. Who would know the answer to my questions?" It was about then that I realised that I hadn't been witness to an argument about phono cartridges for quite a long time. Vinyl disc enthusiasts still have their preferences and strongly held opinions but they make the headlines much less frequently than once they did; and they certainly feature less in conversation where audio engineers gather. Even in the strongholds of conservatism, compact disc is now plainly winning acceptance as the best way to store and reproduce sound, with the vinyl disc system being relegated to a lesser role - by its very nature technically inferior, no matter how good the particular stylus and cartridge. What about a listening test? When I talked along these lines, my enthusiast friend suddenly had another bright idea. What if he bought a new Garrott cartridge complete and, if it could be arranged, have me over to share in a comparative listening test to decide which offered the best sound? I declined, on the basis that at my age, I did not consider myself able to offer a definitive subjective opinion on ultimate sound quality. Yes, I was well able to appreciate the difference between good and not-so-good sound, and I had been active in the game long enough to know whether other people's statements and opinions made good technical sense. But, in this situation, I would not be comparing good and not-so-good sound but trying to pick possible subtle differences between two very good cartridges, involving the portion of the spectrum which I could no longer hear to advantage, if at all. "But I'm the same age as you and I reckon my hearing's still pretty good", he said. To which I could only reply: "For your sake, I hope it is, but it would make you very much an exception to the rule". "On the other hand, if your hearing is merely average for your age, you may well be worrying about subtleties to no good purpose, and at considerable cost". And that's about where we left it - in practical terms, a rather futile conversation. A few days later, he rang to say that he had checked his hearing with a frequency disc in his collection and could still hear lOkHz. "Good", I said, "but did you leave the volume control set for the complete run?" No he hadn't, he'd "cheated a fair bit!" With a normal level response, he would probably be lucky to hear anything above about BkHz. He went on to say that another retired friend had insisted that a trained listener could hear more than the average person, despite what a frequency check might show - an idea that I, for one, would be delighted to see proven. But my own experience and observation would suggest that, while such a person may indeed be very perceptive with what faculty he has, he would still be missing out on the top end of the audio spectrum. He would be in much the same position as a short-sighted projectionist, trying to adjust to critical focus - without his spectacles! Back to the introduction Having equipped himself with a wow-free, hum-free, vibration-free turntable, a good arm and either one of two top-line cartridges, my enthusiast friend may well have reached the stage where there is no real point in doing anything beyond maintaining what he already has. Problems? ... and you don't have our 112 page catalogue ... you've got real problems! ARISTA ... your one-stop problem solver. Audio leads ... Batteries ... Chargers ... Battery holders ... Cables ... Car accessories ... CD accessories ... Converters ... "Cutec" ... Earphones .. . Fuses ... Headphones .. . Intercoms ... Knobs .. . Microphones and accessories ... Mixers ... Multimeters ... Plugs/Sockets, etc ... Plug adaptors ... Power packs and leads ... PA ... Disc and Tape care ... Security equipment ... Signal modifiers ... Solderless terminals ... Storage boxes ... Switches ... Telephone and TV accessories .. . Tools and Technical aids .. . Video accessories ... Wiring accessories ... You name it and we're bound to have it ...Try us ... NOW! Get your catalogue ... it'll solve a whole lot of your problems! Just send $2 + 50c p&h and your return address to: ARIST~ ELECTRONICS PTY LTD PO BOX 191, LIDCOMBE, NSW 2141 MARCH 1988 73 An apparent lack of intestinal fortitude! Dear Mr Williams, I read with interest your comments regarding the repair of electronic equipment, the delays and the lack of service and spares encountered. I wonder, however, why you bother to write about it when you are obviously supporting this policy. Yes, you . You claim to be fair by not naming the companies who are not prepared to supply service or spares, thus denying consumers answers to the questions they ask before buying equipment. Certainly you do not know all the companies that are not supplying service but you certainly know at least some of them and should have the intestinal fortitude to , name those against whom you have evidence, rather than making sweeping generalisations against all. Having been in the industry, you know that no managing director will provide adequate fund alloca, tions to the service department unless he perceives that lack of service is costing his company sales. Ask any salesperson about service and you will be assured that service is perfect, regardless of the actual situation, so to whom can the customer turn for unbiased information? If you want to see what effect exposure of company shortcomings has, I suggest you subscribe to the ACA magazine, " Choice". There you will find (to the best of their ability) a reasonable report on many consumer items. It is noticeable that appliances that don't perform well are named, and often disappear from the retailers' shelves. The same concept, of course, applies to service and spares. The other thought that occurs to me is that the companies you have not named could be advertisers or possible suppliers to the magazine for, after all, how fair is it to name Tandy or Hills as being good organisations, whilst refusing to name the bad ones? D.T., (Traralgon, Vic). Keep the records spotless (as he does), check the arm and turntable regularly, check and replace the stylus as necessary and that's about the end of it. If he did decide to change over to compact disc, he could just about forget about maintenance, as well! Again, assuming that his amplifier is to full modern specifications, it is difficult to see why he would need another one, advertising claims notwithstanding. That leaves his loudspeakers as the one area where he might find reason to invest in something different, because loudspeakers do vary a lot in the their subjective impact. Imagine it: one more step to take and most of the fascination, speculation and challenge of hifi would have vanished. Or would it? • With compact disc, we had a storage and playback medium with a vanishingly small amount of noise and distortion. • With digital audio tape in immediate view, we would be able to record and play back a nearperfect signal. • We had practical, affordable amplifiers to match. • We had drift-free, lowdistortion FM-stereo tuners, some with AM-stereo as a bonus. • We'd never had a wider or better choice of loudspeakers. Maybe, I said, as people realised that they had access to nearperfect equipment, some of the fascination, speculation and challenge that had characterised hifi for 60 years (since the term was first used) would begin to taper off. As you might expect, Leo did not agree at all. He stated that while compact disc players were pretty good they were still being refined and improved by the manufacturers. And there were presently 1 " The search continues Talking over this theme with Leo Simpson, I suggested as a try-on that, for all practical purposes, hifi " perfection" may well be in sight. 74 SILICON CHIP very few amplifiers which truly matched the standards offered by CD players. Nor were speakers anywhere close to the standards offered by even mediocre amplifiers of twenty years ago. When loudspeakers commonly offered a frequency response flat to within ± 2dB, we might be getting somewhere. Nor were most tuners all that marvellous. With a few exceptions most FM tuners would be hard put to deliver a stereo signal-to-noise ratio of much better than 70dB. Most would be hard put to reproduce a stereo signal with less than 0.5% harmonic distortion. And even if they could do these things, the FM transmitters couldn't! And that was without mentioning the enormous differences between the acoustics of the concert hall and those of the average listening room. Really, we've only just started on this problem. In fact, Leo disagreed totally with my proposition. He says that hifi may be good but anyone who thinks that "things have gone just about as far as they can go" is no longer really interested in hifi. Pretty strong words indeed! When pressed, I'd have to agree. Now matter how good the specifications of present equipment, or by how much they appear to surpass our aural capability, there'll still be plenty of room for improvements. That's what hifi is all about! Back to electronic servicing On reading the letter in the accompanying panel from D.T. in Traralgon, Vic, my immediate impression was that he would make an excellent mob orator, his message replete with sweeping statements, and uninterrupted by pauses for reflection. How my criticism of present-day servicing attitudes and standards, with its emphasis on unacceptable delays, can be construed as "supporting the policy" escapes me. I "bothered" to raise the subject in the November issue for reasons quite specifically stated at the beginning of the article and, in so doing, I just happened to be telling the truth! Faced with a number of unsatisfactory servicing situations, as detailed, I made a number of inquiries (also detailed) in an effort to establish whether my disturbing experience was unusual or typical. Unfortunately, the indicators pointed strongly to the latter, with the problem being industry wide, rather than confined to a few offending manufacturers. Sorry D.T. but, on that basis, I stand by my statement in the December issue that it would have been unfair to single out for criticism typical companies which had come to my attention, either directly, or in casual conversation. There is a considerable difference between disturbing observations and the sort of evidence necessary to justify black-listing in a magazine. In that same November article, the editor inserted a panel (p.17) suggesting that "there must be another side" to this "rather uncomplimentary" picture and inviting contrary opinion from companies and readers. To date, no-one has complained of injustice, the overwhelming response being support for the original article, as presented. D.T. makes an issue of a managerial link between back-up service, customer goodwill, and Did you sales. He seems not to have noticed that, under the heading "Spare parts problem" (Nov. p.16), I assume the existence of such a link and go on to suggest important economic reasons why the traditional relationship has been distorted to the disadvantage of back-up service. Since making that observation, the Australian dollar has slipped yet further from 100 to around 90 yen. Perhaps D.T. should also re-read the last couple of columns on page 17 of the same issue. Far from abandoning readers to · the glib assurance of "any salesperson" about "perfect service", the article seeks to alert them to that very possibility. I quote: "Don't assume that your friendly emporium will take over your service worries, because they have been so nice to you in other ways. Check out the warranty, read the fine print, and discover exactly what's involved. What is the warranty period and what does it cover ... " D.T. then suggests that I/we should investigate and report on products and services in the manner of Choice magazine. He has completely missed the point that Choice is a special kind of • miss I.so Simpson and Greg 5waln Pffl!S!IIII••• magazine, supplied only to people who, by virtue of their subscription, become members of the Australian Consumers Association. In effect, they constitute a private group funding research reports, which they alone receive in the form of a monthly journal. It exists purely for that purpose and relies on membership fees to cover the cost of administration, research and publication. In short, Choice operates on a completely different legal basis to publications like SILICON CHIP, which is available to anyone who cares to buy a copy from the newsagent. For all such magazines and newspapers, comment on products and services is an optional small segment of the editorial content, commanding an equally small segment of the budget and subject to the normal legal constraints relating to "publication". The "logic " of D.T's final paragraph intrigues me: If you have reason to commend someone, it is only fair to balance it with a condemnation of somebody else. If you fail to do so, you probably have an ulterior motive - like needing their support as an advertiser. Thanks for the vote of confidence! ~ these issues? Issue Highlights November 1 98 7: Car Stereo in V our Home; 1 GHz Frequency Meter; Capacitance · Adaptor for DMMs; Off-hook Indicator for Phones. December 1 98 7: 1 00W PmNer Amplifier Module; Passive lnfrared Sensor for Burglar Alarms; Universal Speed Please send me a back issue for □ December 1987 D January 1988 Enclosed is my cheque or money order for $ ........ or please debit my D November 1987 Control and Lamp Dimmer; 24 V to 12 V DC Converter. D Bankcard Ja~uary 1988: 4-bay BmNtie UHF Antenna; Dual Tracking PmNer Supply; Custom Phone D Visa Name ....... .. .... ...... ..... .... ........ ... .. ... ...... ...... ......... ... ........ ... ..... ........ Address ... .. .. .... ..... ......... ........ .... ... .... ..... .... ............... ... ...... .. ... ..... . Suburb/town ..... ........... ... ..... ........ .. .. .. .... ..... ..... Postcode.. ... .. ... .. ... . Card No............ ... ..... ...... .. ........... ...... ..... .................. .... ........... .. .. . Signature ... .. .... ... .. .. ... ..... .... ............. Card expiry date .. ... . ./ ....... / ...... . L ________________________ Ringer; Subcarrier Adapator for FM tuners. Price: $5.00 each (incl. p&p). Fill out the coupon at left (or a photostat copy) and send it to: S1ucoN CHIP, PO Box 139, i_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Beach, ___ _ __ Collaroy 2097. MARCH 1988 75