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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cwruecmp!glassner
From: glassner@cwruecmp.UUCP (Andrew Glassner)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Dealer story
Message-ID: <660@cwruecmp.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 18-Sep-83 18:18:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: cwruecmp.660
Posted: Sun Sep 18 18:18:15 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Sep-83 00:48:16 EDT
Organization: CWRU Computer Engr. Cleveland, Ohio
Lines: 42

I am currently in the market for a new casette deck (see a
related article in net.audio).  As I was writing up the
other article I remembered an incident that occurred when
I was originally shopping for my system about three years
ago.

I was travelling on Route 18, which is highway in New Jersey
where a whole slew of stereo chains have stores, as well as
many local/independent outfits.  I was just driving down the
road, stopping, looking and listening in these various places,
to get an idea of what was around, what features were available,
and to get a handle on the state of the art of medium-priced
stereo gear.

At one point I engaged in a discussion with a salesman (I
think this was at Tech HiFi) about the various merits of
some of the different decks he was selling.  One deck had two
heads, another had three, one had mechanical meters, another
had LEDs, and so forth. 

I told him I didn't really care about whether I had mechanical
meters or LED, as long as I could detect strong peaks (say with
a seperate +5dB light).  He put on his "aghast look at the naive
stereo buyer-I'll do you a favor because I like you" face and told
me that I MUST buy a deck with digital metering.  

"No," I said, "that's not important to me."
"But you HAVE to have digital meters!" he insisted.  I wasn't
reaching for my checkbook so he went on, and this was his big
selling point (as well as the punchline to the story): "You
don't understand," he told me.  "Music travels in a stereo system
as electrical signals, not as musical signals.  Electricity travels
at the speed of light, which is lots faster than the speed of sound.
You need meters which are lights, because only they can respond
to the signals inside the stereo which are travelling at the speed
of light!"

	I wonder if we would need faster-than-light meters
	if I operated the casette deck inside a moving car...

	-Andrew           Andrew Glassner   decvax/cwruecmp/glassner