greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (01/19/84)
The article which posed the argument as to how the audiophile community would react if CD's were the standard and LP's the new product was quite thought-provoking. I find that I tend to complain about the CD's so bitterly not because they are really that godawful, but because of the way the general audio press has proclaimed them as paragons of sound reproduction and labelled anyone who hears the faults as "cranks". I feel that digital recording and CD's as a sound-reproduction medium have tremendous potential. However there are problems (which Denon, a manufacturer of CD players, admitted with remarkable frankness in a letter to Absolute Sound that came out in Spring of '83). I also have, from my own experience, a good idea of how real-life marketing and product planning work. If the general audio press proclaim the current product as perfect, and if enough consumers swallow this rather than using their own ears, there will be absolutely no incentive to spend the money to do the necessary R&D to fix the problems. This is, in my view, reason enough to raise a stink about what I and others have heard as serious deficiencies. Flame me for saying this if you like, but I seriously believe that the general public believes what it is told by the media (particularly the printed page) even when what it is told conflicts with its own perceptions. I've seen this over and over again in musical performance as well as sound reproduction. If a tenor with a rasping voice and strident, constricted high notes is publicized as being the "Greatest in the World", the public will believe it and find anything that deviates from this to be lacking. Similarly, if Stereo Review judges sound reproduction in terms of sizzling highs and thunderous lows with no mention of such "details" as natural balance and perspective and a realistic representation of hall ambience, then this will set the industry standard. Greg Paley Olivetti ATC, Cupertino, Ca.
pmr@drufl.UUCP (01/20/84)
Greg, I support you in your stand on the media blitz. I agree that CDs do not sound "Godawful" and that they sound better in some respects than analog (they are quieter and they do go louder). But just for these two reasons they shouldn't be accepted as "the best" available. They don't capture echos and hall ambience that analog does, they have a piercing sonic texture when re-producing brass and higher harmonic instruments that does not sound like the original where analog will sound more accurate. I hope that some day the CD will be superior to analog. I enjoy the convenience of the format like size, maintenance, etc., but I just can't jump on the bandwagon at this time and totally endorse it. I'll just have to put up with my "nail in the groove" until the this day comes. Yours for higher fidelity, Phil Rastocny AT&T-ISL ..!drufl!pmr