Word: stereos
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Stereophonic sound, in its taped infancy the plaything of audiophiles with a yen for hearing a realistic pingpong ball, seems ready to make itself heard in the mass record market. Last week Columbia Records removed the only obstacle to industry agreement on standards for new stereo records by announcing that it had set aside its own, different, version of a sound-in-the-round disk...
...majors have been recording stereophonically (i.e., channeling the sound into two tracks) as well as monaurally for several years to build a repertory backlog for eventually selling the average home listener on stereo's extra depth and clarity. A small fraction of the recordings is on the market as stereo tapes, but the high cost of tape equipment and of the tape itself ($14.95 and up for the amount of music that goes for $3.98 or $4.98 on LPs) limits its sale. As an alternative, the industry concentrated its research on the development of a stereo disk that would...
...research problem was complicated by a marketing problem: how to convert the public to stereo gradually so as not to endanger the fortune the industry already has invested in monaural LPs. There were two possible ways. One was to develop a cartridge and stylus that would play both straight monaural records and stereo records. The other way-Columbia's-was to develop a stereo record that would sound good with the standard monaural pickup and could also be used when the owner got around to buying stereo sound gear...
...that it might go the way of the compatible disk a month ago, the industry, flinching at the memory of the "Battle of the Speeds" in the late '40s, set up a protest. Columbia's compatible disk, other recordmakers argued, produced neither good monaural sound nor genuine stereo sound. Protesting its faith in its system, Columbia nonetheless fell into line. Chances are that the majors will be out by midsummer with a limited number of noncompatible stereo disks selected for their inherent sound qualities...
...play the stereo recordings monaurally over his present equipment, the listener will need only a stereo cartridge, which he can now buy in the $4-to-$10 price range. But if he wants true stereo sound he will need a second amplifier and speaker. The whole setup could easily cost him less than some hi-fi rigs, since stereo achieves impressive sound even with small speakers and low-powered amplifiers...