Save yourself time and trouble by ordering your books directly from us. Just fill in the coupon below. audíophiles boolksb.elir Q 0 O 0 How to Make GOOD TAPE RECORDINGS Whether your budget is small or by C. J. LEBEL large, whether you are a beginner Vice President, Audio Devices, Inc. or a devotee from way back, this This completely new handbook on tape recording, by one of the foremost authorities on the subject, contains up- complete and definitive guide can to-the-minute practical help for both the experienced tape recordist and the help you get the most enjoyment out novice. Written in concise nontechni- cal language, it can be read and easily understood by the most inexperienced. of your high-fidelity system.. At the same time, the professional will find a wealth of useful information which could be supplied only by a person of Mr. LeBel's knowledge and experience. All aspects of tape record- HIGH FIDELITY: A Practical Guide ing are covered. Cloth-bound Edition, $2.50 227 by CHARLES FOWLER Paper -bound Edition, $1.5o 229 As publisher of HIGH FIDELITY and AUDIOCRAFT Magazines, and author of many articles on high fidelity, there is little need to introduce Charles Fowler to readers of this magazine, nor to assure them of his ability to tell in clear, nontechnical language just how to evaluate, buy, and operate RECORD RATINGS - Compiled by Kurte hi-fi equipment for the optimum in lifelike reproduction. Myers, Chief, Music and Drama Department, Detroit Public Library. Edited by Richard S. Hill, Head, Reference Section, Music Division, Library of Congress. Gives clear, complete Here is the practical, expert advice needed by everyone who has, or expects to have, a high- This book is, without any question, the essen- information on: fidelity system. Starting with an introduction to tial reference for the discriminating buyer of sound, the author then describes the various links records. It indexes practically all serious music Loudspeakers, control units in the hi-fi system, explaining their features and ever recorded on LPs, listing the date and and preamplifiers, amplifiers, specifications so as to provide the most helpful issue of the most important American and speaker enclosures, pickups, criteria for evaluating, and for selecting and match- European periodicals in which reviews ap- record changers and turn- ing components. 234 peared. Symbols indicate what the reviewer tables, tuners, room acoustics. 310 pages, 100 illustrations, $4.95 thought of that particular release. Full bib- liographical information is given for each record. $5.95. 224 Maintaining HI-FI EQUIPMENT - AUDIO HANDBOOKS by Norman H. Crowhurst - AMPLIFIERS, $1.00 213 PUBLIC by JOSEPH MARSHALL ADDRESS, $1.25 216 THE USE OF FEEDBACK, $1.00 214 A much needed book on the specialized approach necessary A.F. TRANSFORMERS, $1.00 215 QUEST FOR QUALITY, $1.50 217 to service high-fidelity equipment. The author discusses not only electronic faults, but the mechanical and acoustical defects Book Department which cause a hi-fi system to function less than perfectly. AUDIOCRAFT Magazine Hard cover, $ 5.00 232 Great Barrington, Mass. Soft cover, $2.90 233 I enclose $ for which please send me, postpaid, the books indicated by the circled numbers below. (No C.O.D.'s or charge orders, please.) Foreign orders sent at buyers' "For electronics technicians, repairmen, and audio enthusiasts risk. Add 55¢ for postage on foreign orders. Binder: $3.5o ea. 223 in general, this volume is a veritable audio bible ... (and) it 213 227 is truly up-to-date ... There is so much valuable practical in- NAME 214 229 215 formation in this well -indexed work that it should be at the 232 ADDRESS 216 finger tips of everyone who enjoys building or improving home 217 233 sound systems."-Richard D. Keller in AUDIOCRAFT Magazine. 223 234 DECEMBER 1956 I 6,ffid ffid erg* 2lZj Jensen TRIAXIAL e be ,9-ie beeider Six years ago Jensen introduced the TRIAXIAL which combined into one unitary assembly a special "woofer" and two horn -loaded compression -drive "tweeters" to span the audio frequency range with an entirely new smooth- ness and realism unmatched by any other loudspeaker for listening quality. It is a fact that only Jensen makes a unitary true three-way loudspeaker with three electrically and acoustically independent speaker systems. Today the TRIAXIAL is still the unchallenged peer of "all -in -one" loudspeakers. *TRIAXIAL is a registered trademark of Jensen Manufacturing Company MANefenäen UFACTURING COMPANY Division of The Muter Company, 6601 So. Laramie Ave., Chicago 38,111, In Canada: Copper Wire Products Ltd., Licensee WORLD'S QUALITY STANDARD FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER CENTURY 2 AUDIOCRAFT MAGAZINE December 1956 Volume 1 Number 14 THE HOW -TO -DO - IT MAGAZINE OF HOME SOUND REPRODUCTION John D. Seagrave, whose name appears The Grounded Ear, by Joseph Marshall in the list of AUDIOCRAFT authors for the first time this issue, is an experimental What's new and significant in sound reproduction nuclear physicist at the Los Alamos Scien- tific Laboratory. He is a graduate of Cal Audionews 6 Tech with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Physics. Among his spare - Tips for the Woodcrafter, by George Bowe . .... Io time activities are several forms of "recrea- This tional" physics; one of them resulted in his issue: Sharpening power tools. two-part article on pickup -arm tracking, which begins this month. Tape News and Views, by J. Gordon Holt 14 Although a newcomer to technical audio - This issue: Choosing the best tape for your recorder. craft, Dr. Seagrave is an amateur musician of distinction. He is both Director of Readers' Forum 15 Music for the United Church of Los Alamos and Director of the Los Alamos Editorial Choral Society. 15 In "Minimizing Pickup Tracking Error", Build an AM Crystal the nature of tracking distortion is dis- Tuner, by John J. Stern, M. D. i6 cussed and its dependence on pickup -arm Details on two AM diode -detector tuner circuits, with an design and mounting is developed quan- AUDIOCRAFT kit report on the Miller 565 kit. titatively. Practical graphs and formulas are given both for optimum design of arms Minimizing Pickup Tracking Error, by Dr. John D. Seagrave 19 and for placement of commercial arms to Part 1: Nature of the distortion; development of a distortion produce minimum distortion. index; the tracking equation; interpreting distortion index. The conclusions reached in this paper will cause some furor, because they are Recording at MIT not identical with those made in previous 22 studies of the subject. Dr. Seagrave has The fabulous acoustic properties of Kresge Auditorium and used more accurate simplifications in de- MIT Chapel are now being exploited for music recording. riving design formulas than were applied before, and he has assumed more realistic Loudspeakers and Enclosures, by George L. Augspurger ....... 24 groove diameter limits - particularly for Part 4: Horn drivers and enclosures. LP's. His article is a major addition to design literature. pickup -arm Transistors in Audio Circuits, by Paul Penfield, Jr. CHARLES FOWLER, Publisher Part 3a: Junction transistor characteristics. ROY F. ALLISON, Editor Sound Fanciers' Guide, D. FRANK R. WRIGHT, Managing Editor by R. Darrell 28 ELEANORE B. WRIGHT, Reviews of exceptional disc and tape records Editorial Assistant Book ROY LINDSTROM, Art Director Reviews, by Richard D. Keller 29 ELEANOR GILCHRIST, Art Assistant Audio Aids FRANCES A. NEWBURY, Manager, 3° Book Division Sound Sales Directory Contributing Editors 42 R. D. DARRELL J. GORDON HOLT Advertising Index JOSEPH MARSHALL 45 B. SYER, Business Manager WARREN Index to Volume I ARTHUR J. GRIFFIN, Circulation 46 Manager Article and author index for AUDIOCRAFT, Nov. 1955 through Dec. 1956. Advertising Main Office - Claire Eddings, The Publish- ing House, Great Barrington, Mass. Telephone: Audiurraft Magazine is published monthly by Audiocom, Inc., at Great Barrington, Mass. Telephone: Great Barrington 1300. Great Barrington 1300. Editorial, publication, and circulation offices at: The Publishing Eastern- Lee P. Adams, AUDIOCRAFT, 353 Barrington, Mass. Subscriptions: House, Great $4.00 per year in the United States and Canada. Single copies: Fourth Avenue, New York 10, N. Y. Telephone: 35 cents each. Editorial contributions will be welcomed by the editor. Payment for Murray Hill 5-5400. will be arranged prior to articles accepted publication. Unsolicited manuscripts should be accompanied by return Midwestern- John R. Rutherford & Associates, postage. Entered as second-class matter October 1, 1955, at the post office, Inc., 230 East Ohio St. Telephone: Great Barrington, Mass.. Whitehall under the act of March 3, 1879. Additional entry at the post office, Pittsfield, Mass. 4-6715. the U. S. A. by the Ben Franklin Printed in Press, Pittsfield, Mass. Copyright -1956 by Audiocom, Inc. The Western-Brand & Brand, Inc., 6314 San cover design and contents of Audiocraft Magazine are fully protected by copyrights Vicente Blvd. Telephone: Webster 8-3971. reproduced in any manner. and must not be DECEMBER 1956 3 The by Joseph Marshall Tape Quality frequency response both in the tapes mean we should have trick demon- themselves and in playback equipment stration records with snatches of tri- J. In a recent issue of AUDIOCRAFT, will be solved to a degree which will angle, drums, and organ. I mean com- col- Gordon Holt devoted his monthly give listeners an opportunity to realize plete recordings of music worth hear- umn to answering the question, "Why the theoretical advantages of tape re- ing as music, in brilliant performances want aren't tape records better?" I don't cording, at a price comparable with and with brilliant sound quality. There to shoe -horn myself into his field, but that for disc equipment. But it does are hundreds of discs that may be used my own his remarks have stimulated explain why the market for tape repro- for such purposes.