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September / October 2003
Ramblings
by Karl W. Nehring
Welcome to Issue 97, which features an in-depth review of a fascinating new piece of equipment from the old master himself, James Bongiorno. Just when you were debating whether to go from two channels to 5.1, 7.1, or beyond, our technical guru David Rich looks at Bongiomo's new baby and lays out the case for the original stereophonic setup — yep, three channels, just like Harvey Fletcher first set it up in his pioneering efforts. In his later years, Dr. Fletcher married my wife’s grandmother, and when we lived in Utah in the mid-70s, we spent many a Sunday afternoon visiting with Uncle Harvey, who was still fascinated by acoustics and showed us many pictures of his early work at Bell Labs, including his work with Leopold Stokowski in trying to capture the sound of the magnificent Philadelphia Orchestra to replay it through loudspeakers — three of them. Everything old is new again...
In that same vein, in both this and our next issue, we will feature reviews of equipment with ties to the LP era, as Kevin East, our resident carouselier, gives us his spin on phono preamps, cartridges, and the like — plus some thoughts on using some of the newest digital technology to try and preserve those fading records of the past (bringing to mind the recent application of the latest digital technologies to both preserve and illuminate ancient texts such as the Dead Sea scrolls). And to complete the theme of the old becoming new again, we present an addendum to one of Howard Ferstler's reviews from our previous issue, bringing it up to date with a vital piece of previously missing information.
The days are getting shorter. Rage, rage, against the dying of the light!
How to Communicate with Us: To order a new subscription, change an address on an existing subscription, order back issues, or take care of other subscription-related matters, our business telephone is (800) 695-8439, our business fax is (716) 833-0929, our business address is 403 Darwin Drive, Snyder, NY 14226, our business e-mail address is SensiSound@aol.com, and our website is www.sensiblesound.com. To correspond about any editorial matters, pass along hot audio gossip, put us on your mailing list, or just blow off steam, please write KWN directly at 9775 Mills Road, Ostrander, OH 43061. To submit a classified ad or inquire about display advertising, please give Don Nowak a call at (800) 695-8439 or send him email at TSSAdv@aol.com.
Previews of Coming Attractions: Among the equipment we have in or have been promised for review are components and loudspeakers from Legacy Audio, Rane, Shure, Sound Lab, and VPT; and, of course, much more, including plenty of music reviews, loudspeaker recommendations, and some diddy-wah-diddy.
-KWN
One Last Thought: “Music, according to Eastern traditions, is what most contributes to the perfection of man. And the perfect being is one who basically communicates humility, one who is the servant of life itself” —Guttorm Fløistad
