Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Bob Latham
wrote:
In article , Jim Lesurf
wrote:

However maybe they decided to start at the 'outside' to minimise
distortion at the start of the music and give the best possible
initial impression of the sound quality.

Not for a second disputing that distortion is higher on the inner
most tracks but can you hear it?

Depends on the disc. But yes, on some classical works it can be quite
noticable at end-of-side. As Iain has said, some works have a loud
climax near the end and it then can be quite noticable.

The "pinch effect" is audible on most vinyl,
unless the sides are short. Cutting engineers
had multiple tricks up their sleeves
whereby this could be made less noticeable.
As the velocity decreased, level was also attenuated
gradually to reduce groove lateral excursion. Just
2dB helps considerably.

On some lathes it is posible
to attenutate linearily lf and raise hf, or this
could be done manually.


That's why when doing tape to disc A/B's, the
prudent disc cutting engineer compared outer tracks.

The deterioration is very gradual, so that without
reference to the original, it may be different to detect.
There have been instances in which the running order
of albums have been changed after the first test pressings
have been evaluated for this very reason..

Peter Gabriel's 'So' is one. The track order on the CD is how he wanted it
but wasn't able to on vinyl due to an extremely bass-heavy final track.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).