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Controversies
<fill
in> An ELS influenced
deluge into a declaration of values. It's a fill-in
because, lets face it, values and Audion-ishness
don't go well together , as values are things to
hide behind, while Audions are miraculous things
to behold. To say that the absolute sound is found
at the interstice of miraculous quality minus sanity
and miracu-less values, is to reject the
proposal that there is a solid-state miracle. The
opposite case is argued.
Quo
Vadis Tas? A change in
ownership is brought about by Editorial #1 (see
above). Convinced that The Audion was trashy, and
doubtless low rent enough to give glowing reviews
to Russian audions, should any land on its doorstep,
the Russians fly Audion's senior editorial staff
into Moscow to give us a refresher course on the
importance of a factory sealed audion in case there's
a tank test, and also, of the importance of quality
in cameras, and other optical instruments.
Time
Wasting... Controversies ABX and tar barrels
may be found in the offal, or offal and ABX tests
can be shoved into a tar barrel, empty or not. Same
price, take what you like. In other words, 'I don't
trust you to be objective, so I'm going to turn
the lights off and 'makea you guess, hey!' Linaeum
under scrutiny places itself in a class of its own.
Three cheers for Radio Shack!
Quel
Drag-ola Joseph Q Rosen has found himself
shamed and humiliated yet again by the goons and
Mervs that hang out in the sweaty underarm of audio
where fear is measured by subduction of olfactory
menace. Joe has flung his share and is loathed for
the usual reason(s): He has the grip of one who
truly understands the flow of electrons over those
who tend instead to offer expertise in Tice Clocks
and pH balanced audio cables. Such a waste.
The
Audion Society Meeting group convened to puzzle
over how an ostensibly high-end tuner could prove
to be such a disappointment when compared to a truly
terrible Jiffy tuner on the one hand, and a 1964
built receiver with an impeccable pedigree on the
other.
Only a controversy for the sake
of organization, this gallery takes a pragmatic
look at Joe Rosen, audionphile and electronics designer
extraordinaire, a good chap who lacks any flair
for pretty cosmetics. Other designers laugh at his
products for that reason. If you pardon the pun,
this article flings poo at
Wu and introduces you, dear reader, to the world
of Radiant Thermionics. It ain't pretty. The wife
acceptance factor isn't even on the scale in this
instance, so those in search of radiance had better
install these products in a closet somewhere, away
from wifey's duster and the pooch's muzzle. Regrettably,
sometimes the sound ain't pretty, either.
Finding ourselves under pressure
to do a tank test to please our Russian buddies
who still have a gun to our spinal cord (mobility
in question, ears intact, typing skills unimpaired):
how they know how to intimidate us. Or is it so?
Perhaps, like some Ukrainian expatriate organised
crime support staffers, we take pleasure in subjecting
some piece of Japanese junk to a tank
test.
Audions
and Non-Audions Under Scrutiny
The diminutive Scottie
receiver is a must-have. Typical of Scott, it is
an economy box stuffed with brilliant parts, like
the i.c. phono stage. Generally useful, the Scottie
is an ideal Summer amp.
Companies often produce one-off's
or 'think pieces.' Scott produced at least two such
devices, both receivers, during the 1970's. The
first of this type, the 3900, is described in sufficient
detail in Scott's 1970 brochure to allow me to offer
the 388B as its older sibling. The R44S is
another story.
The H.H. Scott Type
260 was Scott's first transformerless amplifier.
It entered manufacture in 1964, but stayed current
until 1971, being available as a kit (LK 60B). It
utilised a symmetrical quasi-complementary circuit.
The Scott
310 series of tuners may be the single greatest
contribution that the company made to audio. Primarily
made to broadcast requirements, the tuner was also
popular with FM enthusiasts and DXers.
The Scott Type
312 was H.H. Scott's next generation broadcast
monitor. It was intended as a replacement for the
310 series. The 312 was, alongside the 4312, the
only completely hard wired Scott solid state tuner.
The Scott Type
312D is examined and compared as a first and
final production tuner. The penultimate was the
first Scott tuner to use dual 6 pole IF transformers,
and as such, it is less alignable than the first
generation 312D.
Scott's 342C
Stereomaster FM Receiver has a brilliant tuner
for a receiver of such modest lineage. This 50 watter
will easily keep pace with the 477, which dwarfs
it watt-wise.
The Type
348 is the last Scott tuner to feature an audion
front end, although the heavily silvered front end
was a feature that was retained until the end of
1975, when Scott moved its audio manufacturing to
the far East.
Firsts should be held on to. Regardless
of what we may think about the optical disk, it
has made certain things possible that were simply
not imagined by futurists other than John
Brunner who may have owned a Magnavox
FD 1000...
Some friends of mine who crave
the vernier experience but are afraid of audions
in general and rf audions in specific should pay
some heavy consideration to the FM tuner (vernier
and all) within the Advent
300 receiver box, but to nothing else inside
the box. Sorry about the latter. Complementary
and all is all there is to say.
It is with some pleasure that I
report on Audion's Champ Amp. Initially, I intended
to describe the performance of a computer speaker
amplifier, which is far superior to the Realistic
SA-102 that is under scrutiny here. But no matter,
the SA-102 is good enough! A complete amplifier,
the SA-102 is more accessible than the computer
speaker amplifier which needs some careful revisions
to make it work with loudspeakers other than the
truly hopeless ones that are supplied with it.
The Sony
ST80W AM/FM tuner turned heads when it was launched
back in the late 1960's. It continues to merit attention
today.
The editor of these words got tipped
to a stash of audio refuse and discovered an Akai
GXC75D auto-reverse cassette recorder lying among
other gems (a Teac 3300S open reel deck, a box of
tapes, a pair of Kahru telemarking skis, and so
on). It all works! Here's the story on the Akai.
Words
and Music
Artist
Transitions looks at the music of David Sylvian,
an artist whose open nature finds expression in
his music. Xena Starwoman examines Sylvian's music
as a template to his mood states at the time when
he wrote and recorded it.
Audion
Relistens falls upon a 1984 CD that defies the
notion that digital has improved at all during the
past twenty years. Composer Witold Lutoslawski is
declared to be a classical punk artist contemporary
in his time, and to, in a long winded kind of way,
Columba
Kos.
The
Review in Music examines the relevance of Throbbing
Gristle to the far north-eastern region of Sheffield,
near Goole. A shrine that was recently approved
for funding by a local council has some ratepayers
seeing red.
The
Revue in Music argues the necessity of eroting
via Merrill Nisker's flexible physical affairs in
administration. Now and then, such ministrations
were directed at this underpaid Audion journalist,
which was and so remaind' a just dessert. Lust lies
here, and if I had 'em, I'd show you. I doubt it,
and, yes, I might (have some).
The
Music in Review revisits a conflagration that
disturbed the peace during the recording of Samstag
Aus Licht with composer Stockhausen at the podium.
Pressing well beyond his allotted time, Stockhausen
caught the ire of his ensemble. Perfectionist Stockhausen
in this instance, or obsessive. You decide.
The
Platinum Perspective proposes that The Bangles
are a platinum band and that their Greatest Hits
offers fourteen reasons of why they deserve to be
considered one. Your editor gives you some resons
to find out for yourself.
The
Teen Scene rolls out MUCH2002DANCE, and takes
it out for a walkie. The scenery maintainers caught
but a note or two before the takeover entourage
absconded with it back in
April, the day we left St. Petersburg and lost the
disk. The Russian consortium wanted to study the
disk, perhaps distribute it to its shareholders.
We got it back just in time to do a review before
2002 drew to a close. Here's what the team thought
about the teen scene desired grooves for '02.
Discover hidden inner meanings in
what may be the only 'candid' analysis of the Preservation
series by Ray Monde Davies of The Kinks, or the
sun never sets on English quartets and what was
up with Peter Quaife, anyways? Learn, or not, the
answer. There is relevance, as Quaife did some work
on VGPS, alongside John Dalton. It was truly a fashion
thing with a bit of cement
thrown in.
Sarah Slean's music had to be reviewed.
Her voice is welcoming and perfect, her style, obvious
and appropriate, and she is gloriously lovely in
a time when the world needs as many beautiful chanteuses
as it can get. Sarah is complex but not overly so,
and she knows what she wants to do as an artist
and sticks to it. Xena Starwoman chooses a diva.
Audion
Gets Nailed
The Doctor who mocks you if you
are lead-eared gets the kind of open-ended question
that gets him going for hours on end. Caught in
a spin, Joe Rosen, or Dr. Flingpoo, or Johnny Torch,
or gone to the Bahamas depending on who you want
to be, is required to explain why audio systems
sound the way they do, why almost no amplifier on
the planet sounds right, and what factors go into
making an amplifier 'right on into the night.' Don't
pay a cent for no advice.
It's here, for free!
Audio
Designer's Stashes
Joseph
"Quincy" Rosen, a certified audionologist,
has the biggest collection of audions that I know
of, and I know of more than a handful of audion
stashes. Rosen also builds audions that I admit
sound better than any quasi-complementary amplifier
that I have come across, and obtain the desired
result by, if not conventional means (Joe is partial
to mu-followers), then certainly by means that are
recognizable as with only one
exception, all of his amplifiers are push-pull,
topologically.
Your own editor offers his point
of departure for super quiet sound: A single ended
amplifier with 2 watts of power, and with d.c. on
its filaments -
no noise.
Audion
Techne Fetishist Corner
Once again the Einstein of audions
shares his wisdom from on high, as it were. In this,
the first instalment of seven, Johnny Torch tells
us what speed is all about, and whether there is
such a thing in capacitors, or if it is just a matter
of fading memory. This one's a toughie, but well
worth the high admission
price.
Since audio is filled with pathetic
obsessive types, some of whom collect tuners,
it is incumbent upon Audion staff to reveal the
terrible truth about radio. In an award-winning
article, a well-known radio enthusiast shares his
pessimism over the future of radio, how the powerful
dangerous corporate executive-types plan to burn
the format and its users in a manner most similar
to those actions taken by el
generalé Sarnoff. Those with large investments
in radio tuners are advised to move their portfolios
out of that market, in favour of 7591 futures, which
many agree are a sure bet. The inside track is that
soon those treasured radios will be good for little
more than listening to the sound
of the universe.
Versatility that is engineered,
then ignored can be perplexing to the average budding
audion scientist. Sometimes there is a feature that
is built into a design only to be ignored or redesigned
in implementation. The Scott R74S was designed with
the potential to have preamp outputs and amp inputs,
but Scott chose to supply an appendix-like alternative.
Need more? Read the Dynaural
patent applications that made it all happen...
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