Word: fi
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Even at this late date there remains some confusion between the terms "hi-fi" and "stereo." Although both words refer to acoustic conditions the first deals with quality of sound while the second is concerned with spatial characteristics...
...know a gentleman who owns about a thousand dollars worth of Marantz amplifiers and KLH loudspeakers in a monaural (non-stereo) hook-up. This system's faithfulness to the qualities of the original sounds played on it ranks it ranks it among the highest of "fi's". We also know people with $150 "stereos" which do a good job of reproducing stereo width and direction...
...first system is noted for the manner in which violins and bass drums played on it sound like real violins and bass drums (even though they both come from the same place). This is hi-fi without stereo...
...violins come from the listener's left, as they would in a concert hall, and the bass drums from the left-of-center rear. But with this system one notices that violins sound like flutes and bass drums are hardly audible. This stereo without hi-fi...
Stereo then is no "higher hi-fi". It is rather a whole new dimension completely unrelated to quality but intimately concerned with depth, width, and direction of sound...