Word: decibel
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Before comparing two companies' products by their specifications, make sure the statistics have been measured in exactly the same manner. Often manufacturers attempt to make their models look better by publishing power and distortion ratings for inaudible decibel levels. The specifications for amplifiers that will make a difference to the ear as well as the oscilliscope are power in watts, continuous per channel at 8 ohms, and percentage total harmonic distortion (THD) at rated output. Ratings of 20 to 40 watts per channel and .5 per cent THD should be adequate for most Harvard rooms and listeners...
...dance floor couples are doing everything from the Lizard to the Jackdaw Strut in response to the band's high-decibel efforts. As respite to ears and feet, a mentalist is brought out. He memorizes and repeats backward a long list of items thrown at him by the spectators. The answers reflect the evening's mood: lips, left breast, vasectomy, sandbox, postnasal drip. A new arrival, watching from a wallflower's position, gets a friendly approach: "Hi, aren't you talking to anybody? I'm Lois. You shouldn't be shy around here...
Married. James Taylor, 24, minstrel of rock music who helped lead devotees of the high-decibel '60s toward gentler sounds in the '70s (Sweet Baby James, Fire and Rain, Mud Slide Slim); and Carly Simon, 27, leggy singer of the slick-folk, gutsy-ballad school (That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be, Anticipation) and offspring of the publishing Simon (& Schuster); both for the first time; in Manhattan...
...fined up to $1,000 a day, of which the complainant may be awarded a bounty of as much as 50%. More important, the city is spending $800,000 to hire and equip a noise-abatement staff. Starting next week, twelve inspectors will prowl the city with sensitive decibel counters, ready to slap violators with $500 fines on the spot...
...manager of a Lola team. "It's a social event, just like Le Mans. It's a bit of a mecca. It's got its own sort of flavor." In fact it sometimes seems that the race is a secondary event, little more than a 100-decibel background for the real thing: drinking, talking and gawking, or in the long stretches of the night, cooking steaks over flickering grills and cracking yet another sixpack...