[NJARC] LPs Never Went Out of Style

[Magoun, Alexander]

Thanks for the compliments, gang,

Now let me add some additional thoughts on vinyl sound:

RCA's engineers, chemists, and one mathematical physicist designed the 45 to offer aurally undetectable sound distortion between 100 and 15,000 Hz, but the frequency response starts rolling off before 10 kHz while the different types of electronic, mechanical, and thermal distortions increase.  As for dynamic range, there's no comparison, and who really wants to get up from the Barca Lounger every three minutes to change the 45s on your $10,000 sound system?

Your 180gm vinyl LPs sound great and will continue to do so for about ten plays.  Beyond that, as scanning electron microscope photos at the David Sarnoff Research Center showed in the late 1960s, the physical interaction of the stylus, groove walls, and dust will noticeably damage the analog sound track.  Yes, engineers and physicists have improved styluses and tracking since then but the reality is friction.  The thickness of the record is not essential but it's a nice marketing technique because more is better, especially when you're paying substantial premiums for a hydrocarbon product that costs little more in material than a can of soda.  RCA's chief record engineer, Warren Rex Isom, oversaw the innovation of RCA's thin Dynaflex records, which he showed in a peer-reviewed article in Journal of the Audio Engineering Society reduced oil imports while retaining the same sound quality-if RCA's record plant operators maintained quality control over the vinyl, which they didn't.

But that's okay because, with any recording you're already familiar with over since high school, your mind compensates for missing or distorted information.  This is more important as your hearing begins to degrade in high-frequency response and who knows what else around 35-40 years of age, while accumulating those extra-thick hairs and chunks of wax.  Has any audiophile ever submitted himself to a serious hearing test at the age of 50?  And what is high-fidelity when you grew up listening to mono AM car radios with the ragtop down?  After all, fidelity is rooted in loyalty, and in the case of pop music, loyalty is all, whether it be low- or high-resolution recording and playback that you remember so fondly.

Cheers,

Alex

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