Early examples, like the Harman Kardon "Stereo Festival" TA-230 from 1958 (said by modern-day Harman/ Samsung to be the first stereo receiver¹), featured separate FM and AM monophonic tuners that could assign a speaker to each if you wanted to listen to what was then a fad: stereo broadcasts over two stations (left channel over FM, right over AM, for instance). Standardized FM stereo broadcasting began in 1961, and by then, receivers had evolved into large, complex, nearly complete stereo systems; an example of that was the Fisher 800.2
By the 1970s, the focus of receiver development and manufacturing had shifted to Japan. The era of features-laden "Silverface" receivers peaked with the massive Technics SA-1000.3 That behemoth was just over 2' wide, nearly 2' deep, about 7.5" tall, and weighed 87lb. It was capable of 330Wpc into either 4 or 8 ohms, and its linear power supply sported four specially made 18,000μF filter capacitors. Among its many innovative features were LED level meters (the newest thing in 1977) and a parametric midrange control. Technics claimed a frequency range of 5Hz to 91kHz and a signal/noise ratio of 115dB, A-weighted. In short, the SA-1000 was the king of the Silverface mountain.
The point of a receiver has always been to combine as many music-listening sources in a single chassis as possible-with preamp functions and amplification. Back in analog days, that meant on-board FM and usually AM; a phono preamp (sometimes two); occasionally a tape-head preamp; full input switching, volume control, and tone controls, akin to what you'd find in a standalone preamplifier; and a power amplifier, often with outputs for two sets of speakers. Back then, buyers brought a "record player" (turntable, tonearm, and cartridge-sometimes a record-wrecking changer) and maybe a tape machine to the party, plus speakers. All other sources and functions were in the receiver.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 2024 من Stereophile.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 2024 من Stereophile.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Michael Des Barres and the Art of Aural Obsession
Listening to music inspires us to take action. Upon hearing an I.E.-Instant Earworm-we must then determine the best way we can go about listening to it again (and again) at our convenience.
PLANET OF SOUND
BLACK FRANCIS ON HARNESSING THAT MAGIC PIXIES DUST
T+A R 2500 R STREAMING RECEIVER PHONO MODULE
In my review of the T+A R 2500 R receiver (August 2024 issue), I covered many of its features and took as deep a dive as time and column inches allowed.
Audia Flight FLS10
The dogma of separates has long reigned supreme among audiophiles: If you're serious about sound quality, you're supposed to need a dedicated preamp and power amp.
Totem Acoustic Element Fire V2
Totem Acoustic was founded in 1987, in Montreal, Canada, by a former high school math teacher named Vince Bruzzese. The company's first product, the Model 1 loudspeaker,' impressed me so much I bought a pair.
MoFi Electronics MasterDeck
Get two mouthy jazz drummers in a room and watch the sparks fly. Talented turntable designer Allen Perkins, the brain behind Spiral Groove,2 Immedia's RPM turntables,³ and various SOTA models, is first and foremost a jazz drummer.
Soulution 727
AImost 14 years have passed since a review of a Soulution product appeared in the pages of Stereophile.\"
The Spin Doctor checks out the Kuzma Safir 9, a superarm from Slovenia.
The British audio scene from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s was pretty strange. Audio as a hobby was a big deal, with widespread appeal to a much younger crowd than today. Audiophiles were guided by a flurry of what my friends called \"hi-fi pornos,\" audio magazines that filled the racks at the newsagents.
Alex goes to Japan
Arriving in Japan from the United States is like being turned upside down. This condition lasts for much of the first week. When I visited in November, the time difference between Tokyo and New York was 14 hours. \"The floating world\" is a term for the pleasure-addled urban culture of Edo-period Japan, but it's also an apt description for the twilit and not-entirely-unpleasant weirdness of first arriving in Tokyo. Everything seems slightly unreal.
Wilson Audio Specialties The WATT/Puppy
Since the original WATT/Puppy concept kicked off in the late 1980s,' there has been a 40-year evolution leading to the latest version reviewed here.
