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February 1960 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Audiophiles were a big
part of the electronics scene in the 1960's when this Tape Recorder Word Puzzle
appeared in Radio-Electronics magazine. Many people were building
and/or modifying their own stereo systems, made possible by the point-to-point
wiring in the chassis. Unlike with modern multilayer PC boards and tiny surface
mount components, 1/4 W carbon and wirewound resistors, and large paper,
tantalum, and ceramic capacitors, and finger-size coils were easily serviced.
Practitioners of the art/science were well versed in terms like wow, flutter,
tone arm and tape head tracking and pressure, bias, hum, woofer, tweeter,
crossover network, etc., and the most religious of them were sure to proselytize
you with their knowledge at every opportunity. I had a roommate in my barracks
at Robins AFB, back in the late 1970's/early 1980's who have a very expensive
rack of stereo equipment. A lot of what I know today about reel-to-reel and
cassette decks, turntables, audio amplifiers, speakers, and other such
components I learned from him - and not from a single, short lesson :-). To his
dismay, those kilobuck, kilowatt speakers never had an opportunity to kick out
more than a handful of watts, because the sergeant in charge of the barracks
made it abundantly clear early on that his prized system would be locked in a
storeroom if it was ever heard outside the building walls.
Tape Recorder Word Puzzle
By John A. Comstock
Here is a sound-on-tape puzzle for you to work that is made up entirely of tape-recording
words and terminology. If tape recording is your hobby or interest, you will find
this puzzle fun to do, and a challenge, too! (Answer on page 132)
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Across
1. Iron-oxide-coated plastic or paper ribbon.
3. The metallic oxide on recording tape.
4. A playback head with a narrow ____ provides better high-frequency response
than a head with a wide one.
5. A tape recorder with fast ____ saves one's patience in waiting to hear
the playback.
6. Material which serves as a base for most recording tapes.
9. A type of plastic which serves as a base for some recording tapes.
11. Many recorders have two speeds. They are called ____ speed units.
12. The tape recorder part that places magnetic variations on tape.
14. A recorder which is capable of giving a three-dimensional sound effect.
15. A microphone (slang).
17. The spools on which tape is wound.
19 A slow unsteadiness of sound volume and pitch caused by variations in the
tape's speed as it travels by the record or playback head.
21. Type of tape added at the beginning of a reel. Often used for indexing.
22. To put intelligence on tape.
23. When the stop button is depressed, the ____ stop both reels simultaneously.
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Down
1. In selecting a tape recorder, one should choose a recorder that is easy
to ____.
2. To cut out portions of tape and eliminate unwanted material.
3. Some recorders have a VU meter as a record level - ____ while others
have a tuning eye or neon lamp that serves the same function.
4. Some recorders have a tape ____ or roller around which the tape passes
to keep it correctly positioned.
6. Jumper cord used to record from radio, TV or record player.
7. If music is to be recorded, it is advisable to select a faster tape speed
to improve frequency ____.
8. The reel on which tape is wound during playback and recording.
10. Most recorders are dual ____.
13. When recording, you must watch the record ____ indicator to prevent
distortion due to overmodulation.
14. Join two pieces of recording material.
15. A ____ passed over a tape will remove the recorded intelligence.
16. Tape may be used almost indefinitely because it is possible to ____ the tape and use it over again almost any number of times.
18. The electromechanical device which provides power to turn the reels and move
the recording tape.
20. The current which flows through the recording head and sets up a varying
magnetic field.
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Audiophile
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Societal Influences
- See Full List of AI Topics -
An audiophile is a person who
is passionate about high-quality audio reproduction and is deeply interested in
achieving the best possible audio experience. Audiophiles are known for their dedication
to high-fidelity sound and often invest a significant amount of time and money in
pursuit of audio perfection. Audiophiles often invest in premium audio equipment,
including amplifiers, speakers, headphones, turntables, and other components. They
believe that the quality of their equipment significantly impacts the overall sound
experience. Audiophiles pay attention to the acoustic properties of their listening
spaces. They may use acoustic treatments and room calibration to optimize the sound
quality. They are often may be meticulous about the cables and connectors used in
their audio setups, as they believe that these components can influence sound quality.
Audiophiles engage in critical listening sessions to evaluate the sound quality
of their audio systems. They focus on aspects such as clarity, imaging, soundstage,
tonal balance, and dynamics THD (total harmonic distortion), SNR (signal-to-noise
ratio), and frequency response, which they use to evaluate and compare audio equipment.
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Influences on Technology
 While working on an
update to my
RF Cafe Espresso Engineering Workbook project to add a couple calculators
about FM sidebands (available soon). The good news is that AI provided excellent
VBA code to generate a set of
Bessel function plots. The bad news is when I asked for a
table
showing at which modulation indices sidebands 0 (carrier) through 5 vanish,
none of the agents got it right. Some were really bad. The AI agents typically
explain their reason and method correctly, then go on to produces bad results.
Even after pointing out errors, subsequent results are still wrong. I do a
lot of AI work and see this often, even with subscribing to professional
versions. I ultimately generated the table myself. There is going to be a
lot of inaccurate information out there based on unverified AI queries, so
beware.
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Answer to Tape Recorder Puzzle
Posted February 16, 2023
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