"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


" wrote:

Most people don't realize that sound reproduction was the equivalent
of the "space race" during the 1920's and 30's.

Complete and utter ******** ! Back then it was merely 'industrial
engineering' and circuits were made only as good as needed to be to get
paid for them. They were pretty crap too.

As long as you are talking about the run of the mill domestic audio of the
era I'd agree with you. But there *were* people in the 1930s designing
high-quality pick-ups, amplifiers and speakers. Generally speaking there
were too expensive for the mass market though.

And it's interesting to note just how good many of the 78 rpm recordings of
the 30s and 40s actually were, as can be heard in modern transcriptions.

It was only really in the 60s and on that audio started to get special
treatment for fidelity. It's still going on right now.

Hi-Fi took off in the 50s with LPs and FM radio, but it wasn't until the
1970s that it really caught on with a wider public, fuelled by stereo
records, stereo FM broadcasts and reasonably decent cassette machines, all
at affordable prices. I'd argue, though, that the days of Hi-Fi as a mass
interest are over. We have the handful of "audiophiles" with their obsession
with everything retro, we have the wealthy posers with their "high end
audio", but most of the rest of the public is happy to use the perfectly
decent products that can be bought in the electrical warehouses at
unprecedently low prices. With Flat-screen TVs and computers and games
consoles and all the rest of that stuff to buy the mass interest in Hi-Fi
has disappeared.

David.