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Category Archives Article

The Receiver Wars – 1974-1979

March 10, 2015 · admin

RECEIVERWARSOnce upon a time a long long time ago in a Galaxy far far away from the Empire and Darth Vader, there was a Golden Age of Audio. And for a time within this Age a war raged on Planet Earth for over half a decade, the likes of which had never been seen before or since, and for a short time powerful High Fidelity sound was available to the average consumer.

The Receiver Wars occurred during the ‘Golden Era’ of Audio (1971-1981) when the major HiFi manufacturers developed audio products that really were aimed at producing the finest musical reproduction as possible and multi-billion dollar corporations invested massive amounts into R&D to achieve this end.

Commencing in 1974 and ending in 1979 the major manufacturers of retail HiFi components competed against each other in a ruthless all-out war to dominate the market and offer the most powerful, best sounding and most aesthetically stunning Receiver. 

They were selling to a wealthier and more intelligent market than today (it was before “Diet, injections and injunctions” had reduced the average IQ) and the general pubic were expected to be capable of interpreting things like Nyquist Charts and be familiar with terms like ‘harmonic distortion’, ‘slew rates’ & ‘frequency response’ which today are only reserved for that bizarre and tiny segment of the human population known as audiophiles.

The World's First Receiver: The Harmon Kardon Festival TA230

The World’s First Receiver: The Harmon Kardon Festival TA230

Receivers are an audio component that combine a tuner, pre-amplifier and power amplifier into one unit, so that everything you need to listen to the radio or other music sources in High Fidelity is contained in the one box – sans speakers of course. The company that invented the Receiver was Harman Kardon, however other manufacturers were quick to introduce their own Receivers to market. By the end of the 1960s, Receivers had become a highly popular audio component genre.

whatisitExcerpt from a 1972 Marantz Catalog Explaining the Concept of a Receiver

PioneerQuadsPerhaps one reason for their popularity was their stunning looks, with their mixture of multi-coloured back-lit tuning dials, signal strength and alignment meters, VU meters and a multitude controls that all combined to produce something that looked remarkable.

Next to these most separate components would just look, well bland in comparison. Receivers became a feature in the home, standing out without taking up a huge amount of space as the furniture based systems that had been so popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Traditionally audio purists will tell you that for the ‘best’ sound separate components are the only way to go, and normally this is the case. However as the popularity for Receivers gained – R&D funding soon followed. Receivers began to see refinements and performance that out-paced what even the best ‘high-end’ reference components could offer. Receivers had become the flagship products of audio manufacturers.

The Receiver Wars Commence

It was 1974 and two events would occur that would forever change the landscape of HiFi and trigger the ‘Receiver War’.

The first event of 1974 was when the United States Federal Trade Commission moved to introduce a new and rigorous standard for rating the performance of Hi-Fi gear. While not perfect, and some argue it is not even measuring the correct thing, it was at least a step in the right direction.

Prior to 1974 the audio market had suffered from confusion caused by a myriad of different power ratings making it very difficult to compare one brand to another in terms of performance. Often a manufacturer would pick a method that would give them the most impressive figure that they could quote in their marketing material, and there was very little control over how these measurements were made. The outcome of this meant that it was entirely possible you could purchase a 50 Watt amplifier only to find that your neighbours 10 Watt amplifier would drown yours out!

scope2The new FTC standard was directly aimed at combating the unrealistic claims being made by some manufacturers, and to arm the consumer with a rating system with which to compare one HiFi product to another.

The new metric was known as RMS or Root-Means-Squared and was a punishing test for amplifiers using sine-wave signal voltage to measure the maximum output that an amplifier could output into a resistive load before ‘clipping’ or distorting.

The RMS measurement was quoted as the maximum output in Watts an amplifier could produce with a corresponding measurement of  harmonic distortion produced at that rating. This measurement was taken over a given frequency range, typically 20-20000Hz.

GroovyPioneer70s

The second event to change the course of Hi-Fidelity History was when Pioneer – true to their brand name – released to market the first 100 Watts RMS per-channel Receiver as rated by the new FTC standard.

And thus the first salvo in the Receiver War was fired.

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Why does analog still feel good in a digital world?

February 16, 2015 · admin

 

analog-still-good

Is analogue better than digital? Is digital better than dialogue? Though the source of much heated debate, it would seem digital is now virtually unstoppable.

There’s not going to be any 35mm film at the Sydney Film Festival this year. It looks like the film industry is catching up to the other creative industries and discarding analogue media technologies. [READ MORE]

Francesca DiMattio’s Eclectic Media Room

February 6, 2014 · admin

Francesca DiMattio's Eclectic Media Room

 

Francesca DiMattio is an artist living in New York City. She and her husband share a beautiful apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan. Their space is filled with vintage finds, including a Sansui sound system from the ’70s and some very large wooden speakers flanking their flat screen TV.  [READ MORE]

Future Retro

January 1, 2014 · admin

new future retro2

RetroiPad2Do you love retro analogue HiFi’s but crave the convenience and cool factor of the modern gadgets? Then fear not! For you can add Bluetooth, iPods, iPhones and Media Centers to any of the vintage beauties on this site! Digital sources of music such as CD’s and iPod sound so much better through quality vintage audio gear, here is how to connect them.

 

 

rca cable and socket

RCA Connectors are the most common input source for amplifiers even to this day.

RCA Cables and Sockets have been the primary means of connecting audio gear to amplifiers for more than 50 years. And the good news is most modern gear still supports these connectors. iPhones, iPods, iPad, Media Centres, MP3 Players and others all have docks and adapters that can connect into most vintage amps using RCA connectors. 

Most vintage amplifiers have ‘AUX’ or auxiliary inputs, the manufacturers provided some future proofing on their amplifiers to allow new music sources to be added to their gear and these are the perfect choice for adding iPods and Bluetooth music receivers. Other than the amplified PHONO ports, virtually any other RCA input can be used such as ‘TAPE’ or ‘TUNER’. Just be aware that some amplifiers select their TAPE sources differently and may have an individual button or switch independent of the usual source selector.

Running out of Inputs? 

An A/V Switcher Box Can be Used to extend the number of audio sources to an amplifier.If you have run out of RCA inputs you can always add a input port multiplier. Similar in function to a power-board the port multiplier allows you to add multiple sources to a single input. The box plugs into an available RCA input on your amplifier and then use the input box to select from the sources you have added to it. Some boxes are available with remote controls.

 

 

iPad&RetroiPhone, iPod & iPad Docks
A huge range of iPod and iPad docks are available, but not all support audio line-out, especially for the newer phones and tablets, ensure that the dock you purchase has an audio line-output. These docs make it easy to connect your iPod, iPhone or iPad to your HiFi so can enjoy your digital tunes.

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bluetooth

bluetooth logo 2Bluetooth
Bluetooth music receivers can also be added to your HiFi and allows you to beam your music to your vintage equipment. Enjoy your music from your phone or tablet as you walk around your home!

 

Other Phones & MP3 Players
If you own another brand of phone or mp3 player please check with your manufacturer. In almost all cases a docking station or cable that allows music playback on a HiFi will be supported.

 

Micromax_LEDLED Televisions, Blu-Ray, Computers & DVD
Yes you can! All of the above can be connected to your vintage amplifier. However please note that when you connect to a Stereo amplifier you will only be getting 2-channel sound, so it is important to setup your device to DOWNMIX to 2-channels.

You CAN get 5.1 or more channel surround sound with vintage gear, but you will need multiple amplifiers to achieve this. This is completely over the top, but hey some of us are willing to go there! Perhaps one day you will see me post on such a setup 🙂

Digital to Analogue
Some devices may only have digital outputs such as HDMI or Optical. In these cases you will need a converter!

Please be wary of some dodgy sellers on eBay and elsewhere selling cables that purport to do this. They are an absolute SCAM and will not work. These devices need to convert and decode a digital signal into analogue, and as such need power and circuitry to achieve this.

OPTICAL-RCA HMDI-to-RCA

 

ABOVE: REAL Digital-to-Analogue Converters

badCable

ABOVE: SCAM – FAKE CABLE

Pioneer’s Fluoroscan Components – 1979-1982

January 31, 2013 · admin

 

  • 0001
  • HK703-2
  • HK703-3
  • HK703-4
  • SA510-1
  • SA510-5
  • SA510-6
00011 HK703-22 HK703-33 HK703-44 SA510-15 SA510-56 SA510-67

1980f1980 was a turning point for Pioneer in terms of aesthetic design, electronics and control interfaces. Digital was just revolutionising the radio tuner, LaserDiscs were a reality and CD’s were only one or two years away from hitting HiFi in a big way.

A component system featuring the SA-510 amplifier (note: this system is not available for illustration only)

A component system featuring the SA-510 amplifier (note: this system is not available for illustration only)

If Darth Vader had a HiFi I’m betting it would have been one of these babies! These units are a fusion of the vintage silver era of shining brushed aluminum fascias and futuristic design with their glowing blue Fluoroscan displays.

These designs promised a bright future but in actuality this was the last summit peak for Pioneer in terms of aesthetic design and audio quality, for in only a few short years :0 “the event” :0 would happen and Pioneer and the rest of the major HiFi manufacturers would forevermore only produce units that at best could be described as homogenous (the bland black fascias that are churned out to this day) and at worst cheap and ugly.

The beauty of these models is that while the displays represented the beginning of the digital micro-processor controlled era, behind the scenes the amplifiers and components were still all high quality discreet analog technology.

Fluoroscan was only featured over a few short years lasting from 1979 until the very early eighties. We know that there are a lot of vintage audio fans out there, in fact we know that there are a lot of vintage Pioneer enthusiasts out there too, well within this niche within a niche is another niche –  the vintage Pioneer Fluoroscan fanatics!

Some just can’t get enough of these rare beauties..take a look at some of these freaks…um I mean collectors!

Source: audiokarma.org

Source: audiokarma.org

In the above slider you are seeing some of the low-profile components offered by Pioneer around 1980. Designed with the now standard component width of 420mm and a unique low height profile, these units became very popular and the format was adopted by many other manufactures such as Onkyo, Teac and Akai. Inheriting much of the technology from the Receiver Wars the sound of these units is crisp, precise and well balanced. The amplifier is teamed up with the top-of-the-range tuner for this lineup the TX-710. These two units are in remarkable good condition with clean fascias.

Here is one of the Pioneer’s Fluoroscan components that I have renewed…

The very rare and superb top-of-the-line Pioneer SX-D7000. This Receiver was the top-of-the-range model released post Receiver Wars and as such possessed less than half the RMS power of it’s predecessor the infamous SX-1980. This version of the model is exceedingly rare because it featured beautiful walnut side panels, most of these came as the bare metal variety. 

SX-D7000

 

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