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History of "HiFi" (and related areas like: Measurements of Audio, Acoustics, Etc.)

Travis

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I wasn't really sure where to post this thread, have been meaning to do it for a while now, figured the start of a new year is as good a time as any.

A place for anyone to post articles, ads, video, etc. showing the evolution of the science of sound as it related to audio, the history of "high-fidelity" audio, whether it be advertisements, measurements, academic articles, audio "press" clippings, or whatever.

Starting with ancient history of sound, Frederick Hunt’s Origins in Acoustics, which traces the development of acoustical science from its earliest premises up until about the time of Isaac Newton. For those interested in the ancient history of the study of sound, there is no better source or treatment of that subject.

Hunt, Frederick Vinton, Origins in Acoustics, Yale University, 1978 and the Acoustical Society of America, 1992 (ISBN 0-300-02220-4)

Fast forward to John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh)

"Directly or indirectly, all questions connected with this subject must
come for decision to the ear, as the organ of hearing; and from it there
can be no appeal. But we are not therefore to infer that all acoustical
investigations are conducted with the unassisted ear. When once we
have discovered the physical phenomena which constitute the foundation
of sound, our explorations are in great measure transferred to
another field lying within the dominion of the principles of Mechanics.
Important laws are in this way arrived at, to which the sensations of

the ear cannot but conform."

Lord Rayleigh in The Theory of Sound,
First Edition 1877.
(Also in first American edition, 1945,
Dover Publications Inc.)



An excellent article covering the book by Hunt and the accomplishments of Lord Rayleigh points out that Hunt noted the following about Lord Rayleigh:

"Hunt barely concealed his amusement as he described how the loudspeaker designers of the 1920s strove to reinvent the wheel. He wrote, 'The surprise with which one worker in this field (loudspeaker development) after another tardily discovered Rayleigh’s analysis of the baffle problem may possibly have been related to the fact that by 1920 the second (1894) edition of Rayleigh’s Theory of Sound had been out of print for a long time. The reprinted edition of 1926 appeared in time to become better known to the following generation, but not in time to help the various experimentalists who discovered baffles before they discovered Rayleigh.'”

One of Lord Rayleigh's greatest accomplishments was the "design of the first instrument that could accurately measure the true intensity of sound."


Industry Pioneers: Lord Rayleigh and the Theory of Sound

Next time, something on the lighter side, a video about the history of stereo sound ("true high fidelity") in the home.
 

"Hi-Fi" sound in the home

At about 8:05 is a section of the new RCA tape module (I don't know if this ever made it into the marketplace), which was the precursor to the cassette tape.

EDIT: I found the answer at, where else,:

 
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RCA 1957 FILM introducting High Fidelity, Stereo Sound, and their new 1957 Hi-Fi's​


Another RCA promo video which shows the history of "hfi" in the home.

4:10 "Once you've heard high fidelity reproduction, you'll be hard to satisfy with anything less."

 
This is a very, very early paper on audio perspective that Dr. Toole references frequently and describes as a "classic paper."

The best part is it is FREE both members and non-members of AES: https://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/bell.labs/auditoryperspective.pdf

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The part that is significant to Dr. Toole (and I believe Dr. Olive has commented about this also) is this section: J. C. Steinberg and W. B. Snow, “Auditory Perspective – Physical Factors”, Electrical Engineering, 1934 January, pp 12...17.

Dr. Toole in his book, has this to say about the paper:

The debate over a center channel started a very long time ago. In a classic paper, Steinberg and Snow (1934) explained, “The three-channel system proved
definitely superior to the two-channel by eliminating the recession of the centerstage positions and in reducing the differences in localization for various observing
positions.” They add, “Although bridged systems [deriving the center signal from a combination of left and right] did not duplicate the performance of the
physical third channel [a discrete center channel feed], it is believed that with suitably developed technique [author’s italics], their use will improve two-channel
reproduction in many cases.” Their wise words, which predate commercialized stereo by about 20 years, appear to have been lost until much later, when a few people took another look at center channel configurations. For example, Eargle (1960) explored the effects of different amounts of center-bridged signal, and Torick (1983) proposed a three-channel
system for television. None of the options caught on as an embellishment to stereo which has lumbered on in an elephantine manner for over 50 years. [Emphsis mine]


Toole, Floyd, "Sound Reproduction: Loudspeakers and Rooms" (Focal Press)

There was a significant amount of disagreement about what "stereo" should be in the 1950s, with several of the audio pioneers saying that stereo should be 3 Chanel for the most realism. Dr. Toole, in the quote above, points out how the history of audio reveals that the audio industry can sometimes work in an "elephantine manner."
 
From another giant in the field of acoustics, including developing standards, Dr. Leo Beranack who wote the classic textbook in the field.

Beranek's Law​

It has been remarked that if one selects his own components, builds his own enclosure, and is convinced he has made a wise choice of design, then his own loudspeaker sounds better to him than does anyone else's loudspeaker. In this case, the frequency response of the loudspeaker seems to play only a minor part in forming a person's opinion.

L.L. Beranek, Acoustics (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1954), p.208.

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