[GreenKeys] Solder

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry Block" <gblock at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Rokumon Cat" <rokumoncat at yahoo.com>; 
<greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>; <nagle at animats.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Solder


It all started with patchcords. Old fashion recording 
consoles had patchbays.
There was a real issue with dirt and dielectric issues with 
the patch cords,
which could add distortion in the audio path because the 
plug and socket would
be mated poorly. It was easy to hear this phenomenon on low 
level signals.
Exactly like a dirty wafer switch. Then somebody discovered 
that they could
hear the difference between patch cords made of different 
metals. I think it
was Doug Sax, and I have seen the blindfold demonstration. 
It had more to do
with the cleanliness of the surface. This of course had 
nothing to do with
solder. But it went from there...

Then it was discovered that capacitors weren't neutral 
either - this was before
the technique of biasing electrolytic coupling caps in audio 
circuits (and
before most designers got rid of them).

So like a lot of things there was some truth behind the 
mysticism and insanity
took over.

The preoccupation with class-A amplifiers (hence the 
preoccupation with Western
Electric, the purveyor of such things) is real too. Bob Fine 
was a big
proponent of Class-A amplifiers - in the 1960's. He and his 
wife did what are
recognized to this day as the finest classical recordings 
ever made (Mercury
Living Presence). Guess what equipment was used? Western 
Electric.... In his
studios he removed all the class-B preamplifiers in the 
recording chain...

Good luck!

Gerry AD6MC

    I generally agree with your comments. I have a theory 
that the "audiophool" phenomenon began with early 
high-fidelity audio following WW-2. There was a period where 
there were genuine and substantial improvements in recording 
and reproduction but after a time the differences became 
very slight. There was another spate of improvements after 
the introduction of stereo and when solid state appeared.  I 
think people still want to have something to make them feel 
superior, both by possession of material and what they think 
is knowledge.  Audio isn't the only place:-)
    I don't think Bob Fine used much Western Electric stuff 
in the production of the Living Presence series.  While the 
first really good record cutter for lateral recording was 
the Western Electric 2A, which came with its own amplifier, 
it was followed by several others.  The 2A used feedback 
from the driving coil derived from a secondary voice coil 
coupled to the driver.  The amplifier was especially 
designed and built for it although the amplifier from the 
older 1A vertical cutter could be used. The control of phase 
through the system was critical.  The main competitor to the 
2A was a cutter made by Fairchild Instruments. This was a 
balanced armature cutter but also employed feedback and had 
a dedicated amplifier.  It had better control of response 
above 10Khz than the WE cutter did.  Mercury Records also 
introduced the use of variable pitch in cutting, hand done 
at first, and also was one of the first to use a stylus 
heater. The records were and remain remarkable.  Bob Fine 
and Mercury also used Fairchild tap recorders to make the 
original recordings.  I have heard stories of modifications 
made to these machines but have no authentic information. I 
never liked the Fairchild design which I think had some tape 
path problems.  One of the major contributors to the quality 
of the early Mercury records was the use of a Telefunken 
microphone.  While many think this was a Neumann mic it was 
actually made by Schoeps, a model 201-M.  Telefunken was the 
marketing company who distributed many German-made products 
in the US. Neumann made a practice later of removing the 
Telefunken trade-mark from its microphones when they came in 
for service and replacing it with their own.  A "Telefunken" 
microphone might be a Neumann, or AKG, or Schoeps, and maybe 
others.
    The Living Presence recordings were mostly made with a 
single microphone rather than the numerous ones used for 
many other recordings.
     BTW, Fine was supposed to have used McIntosh amps for 
monitoring.  Back in the old days, when I had excellent 
hearing, I made tests of the better amplifiers available and 
found the McIntosh ones were notably superior to any others. 
While McIntosh began by making a Class-B amp most of them 
were Class AB.  Class-A has the advantage of being affected 
least by the load so has an advantage when used to drive 
loudspeakers but much of the beliefs about them is bunk.
     A final note regarding old solder: there was a 
discussion on some list I am on about solder having an 
expiration date. In fact, I have rolls of solder with such a 
date.  I think it may have to do with the flux. Its possible 
the flux changes over time and becomes less effective after 
some period. It would be interesting if the Nassau solder is 
dated and how far out of date it is.


     None of this has anything to do with Teletype so I will 
shut up now.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com

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