Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83 based; site hou2f.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!harpo!whuxlm!whuxl!houxm!hou2f!9221mac
From: 9221mac@hou2f.UUCP (M.CARLETTA)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Can't See The Forest
Message-ID: <481@hou2f.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Jun-85 15:08:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: hou2f.481
Posted: Wed Jun  5 15:08:41 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Jun-85 00:19:21 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 30

It's really quite comical to see all of the verbiage in the
news group about whether CD's or $5000 turntables have better
imaging, whether we can hear the difference between digital
and analog filtering, whether an amp with .005 percent distortion
is better than one with .01 percent, etc. We are completely
ignoring effects which must be orders of magnitude larger.
	Has anyone come up with a way to capture the audio
"reality" of an event and recreate it faithfully? I think not.
Look at the confusion regarding miking techniques. How much
information is lost when we try to capture music in a couple
of mikes? Isn't it a little like trying to project a globe onto
a flat map? Are we taking snapshots when we could be taking
holograms? How much information is lost forever in the recording
process?
	How about speakers and listening environments. AR's new
"magic" speaker is highly directional (with some "ambience"
thrown in), DBX says you need a speaker that is omnidirectional,
Polk is giving us L, R, L-R, etc, and what about all of the more
standard speakers? What radiation pattern will allow us to best
approach reality? Some claim early reflections are vital for
a feeling of ambience, others claim early reflections are to be
avoided like the plague.
	We need some heavy duty PSYCHOACOUSTICS. Maybe someone
will make a real breakthrough, improving the quality of
reality reproduction by an order of magnitude, and then all
the little details we concern ourselves with will reallly make
a difference.

			Steve Johnson