watchnerd
Grand Contributor
A complete issue of "High Fidelity" magazine from 1951:
https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/general-audio-discussions.2/create-thread
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-High-Fidelity/50s/High-Fidelity-1951-Summer.pdf
Amazing how different the hobby was then.
Heavy DIY aspect:
"PERHAPS the best summation of who are audio - philes, and why we are publishing HIGH -FIDELITY, is to be found not in our own words, nor even in the words of an audio -phile, but in a letter written by - who could do it better! - the wife of an audio -phile: Gentlemen: I am enclosing a check, $3.00, for a year's subscription to be sent to my husband, Col. Russell G. Barkalow. My husband is a very critical listener and very technically minded, period! He started as a youngster with a crystal set. Then, when he got to radios, he would sometimes have four of them in the house at once, making comparisons to determine which was the best. In Alaska, in 1947, he got completely fed up with radio reception, as it was very poor. He tried record players, big speakers, amplifiers, needles, etc., each time making an improvement. We came here to Virginia in July '48, and he started all over again. He has finally wound up with a 3 -way Web - ster changer, McIntosh amplifier and equalizer, Altec speaker, Pickering compensator, diamond -tip needle, and goodness knows what else (I do not have a technical mind so can not remember all the equipment!) This I do know, he gets wonderful reproduction - one can hear every instrument in a band or orchestra. He will not have a noisy record nor one that does not have full range. As you well know, the piano is the most difficult instrument to record, but it has now graduated from the "Silver Dollar Saloon" type to where it sounds as though it is right in the room and sounds - like a piano! This I think is a very good test. My husband has made everyone who hears his system very unhappy, because it is so much better than that with which they are familiar. I was disturbed at first, but he explained that people do not know what high -fidelity reproduction is, and therefore they have to be shown. I now see his point and agree one hundred percent. He has said that sooner or later someone would come out with a publication such as yours, so when he saw your advertisement, he was delighted. You are in on the ground floor and so can do much to help make people realize that they can get high fidelity in both radio and records. Of course, all people cannot afford the more expensive layouts, but there are some modest ones which are good. "
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-High-Fidelity/50s/High-Fidelity-1951-Summer.pdf
Amazing how different the hobby was then.
Heavy DIY aspect:
"PERHAPS the best summation of who are audio - philes, and why we are publishing HIGH -FIDELITY, is to be found not in our own words, nor even in the words of an audio -phile, but in a letter written by - who could do it better! - the wife of an audio -phile: Gentlemen: I am enclosing a check, $3.00, for a year's subscription to be sent to my husband, Col. Russell G. Barkalow. My husband is a very critical listener and very technically minded, period! He started as a youngster with a crystal set. Then, when he got to radios, he would sometimes have four of them in the house at once, making comparisons to determine which was the best. In Alaska, in 1947, he got completely fed up with radio reception, as it was very poor. He tried record players, big speakers, amplifiers, needles, etc., each time making an improvement. We came here to Virginia in July '48, and he started all over again. He has finally wound up with a 3 -way Web - ster changer, McIntosh amplifier and equalizer, Altec speaker, Pickering compensator, diamond -tip needle, and goodness knows what else (I do not have a technical mind so can not remember all the equipment!) This I do know, he gets wonderful reproduction - one can hear every instrument in a band or orchestra. He will not have a noisy record nor one that does not have full range. As you well know, the piano is the most difficult instrument to record, but it has now graduated from the "Silver Dollar Saloon" type to where it sounds as though it is right in the room and sounds - like a piano! This I think is a very good test. My husband has made everyone who hears his system very unhappy, because it is so much better than that with which they are familiar. I was disturbed at first, but he explained that people do not know what high -fidelity reproduction is, and therefore they have to be shown. I now see his point and agree one hundred percent. He has said that sooner or later someone would come out with a publication such as yours, so when he saw your advertisement, he was delighted. You are in on the ground floor and so can do much to help make people realize that they can get high fidelity in both radio and records. Of course, all people cannot afford the more expensive layouts, but there are some modest ones which are good. "
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