Posted on 12/12/2018 9:31:34 AM PST by ETL
When we hear the word "stereo" today, we might simply think of a sound system, as in "turn on the stereo."
But stereo actually is a specific technology, like video streaming or the latest expresso maker.
Sixty years ago, it was introduced for the first time.
Whenever a new technology comes along – whether it's Bluetooth, high-definition TV or Wi-Fi – it needs to be explained, packaged and promoted to customers who are happy with their current products.
Stereo was no different. As we explore in our recent book, "Designed for Hi-Fi Living: The Vinyl LP in Midcentury America," stereo needed to be sold to skeptical consumers. This process involved capturing the attention of a public fascinated by space-age technology using cutting-edge graphic design, in-store sound trials and special stereo demonstration records.
The rise of 'hi-fi' sound
In 1877, Thomas Edison introduced the phonograph, the first machine that could reproduce recorded sound. Edison used wax cylinders to capture sound and recorded discs became popular in the early 20th century.
By the 1950s, record players, as they came to be called, had become a mainstay of many American living rooms. These were "mono," or one-channel, music systems. With mono, all sounds and instruments were mixed together. Everything was delivered through one speaker.
A graphic detail, from an RCA inner sleeve, shows listeners how new stereo technology operates.
Credit: From the collection of Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder, Author provided
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Stereophonic sound, or stereo, was an important advance in sound reproduction. Stereo introduced two-channel sound, which separated out elements of the total sound landscape and changed the experience of listening.
Audio engineers had sought to improve the quality of recorded sound in their quest for "high fidelity" recordings that more faithfully reproduced live sound. Stereo technology recorded sound and played it back in a way that more closely mimicked how humans actually hear the world around them.
British engineer Alan Dower Blumlein paved the way for two channel recording in the 1930s. But it wasn't until the 1950s that stereo technology was incorporated into movie theaters, radios and television sets.
With stereo, the sound of some instruments could come from the left speaker, the sound of others from the right, imitating the setup of a concert orchestra. It also was possible to shift a particular sound from left to right or right to left, creating a sense of movement.
Although Audio-Fidelity Records offered a limited edition stereo record for industry use in 1957, consumers needed to wait until 1958 for recordings with stereo sound to become widely available for the home.
A sonic 'arms race' to sell the sound
When stereo records were introduced to the mass market, a "sonic arms race" was on. Stereo was aggressively promoted as the latest technological advancement that brought sophisticated sound reproduction to everyone.
Each of the era's major record labels started pushing stereo sound. Companies like Columbia, Mercury and RCA, which sold both stereo equipment and stereo records, moved to convince consumers that stereo's superior qualities were worth further investment.
A key challenge for selling stereo was consumers' satisfaction with the mono music systems they already owned. After all, adopting stereo meant you needed to buy a new record player, speakers and a stereo amplifier.
Something was needed to show people that this new technology was worth the investment. The "stereo demonstration" was born – a mix of videos, print ads and records designed to showcase the new technology and its vibrant sound.
Stereo demonstration records showed off the innovative qualities of a new stereo system, with tracks for "balancing signals" or doing "speaker-response checks." They often included compelling, detailed instructional notes to explain the new stereo sound experience.
Stereo's potential and potency stormed retail showrooms and living rooms.
Curious shoppers could hear trains chugging from left to right, wow at the roar of passing war planes, and catch children's energetic voices as they dashed across playgrounds. Capitol Records released "The Stereo Disc," which featured "day in the life" ambient sounds such as "Bowling Alley" and "New Year's Eve at Times Square" to transport the listener out of the home and into the action.
A particularly entertaining example of the stereo demonstration record is RCA Victor's "Sounds in Space." Appearing a year after the successful launch of the Soviet's Sputnik satellite in 1957, this classic album played into Americans' growing interest in the space race raging between the two superpowers.
"The age of space is here," the record begins, "and now RCA Victor brings you 'Sounds in Space.'" Narrator Ken Nordine's charismatic commentary explains stereophonic sound as his voice "travels" from one speaker channel to another, by the "the miracle of RCA stereophonic sound."
Record companies also released spectacular stereo recordings of classical music.
Listening at home began to reproduce the feeling of hearing music live in the concert hall, with stereo enhancing the soaring arias of Wagner's operas and the explosive thundering cannons of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture."
Today, rousing orchestral works from the early stereo era, such as RCA Victor's "Living Stereo" albums from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, are considered some of the finest achievements of recorded sound.
Visualizing stereo
Stereo demonstration records, in particular, featured attractive, modern graphic design. Striking, often colorful, lettering boasted titles such as "Stereorama," "360 Sound" and "Sound in the Round."
Some stereo demonstration records focused on the listening experience. The ecstatic blond woman on the cover of Warner Bros. Records' "How to Get the Most Out of Your Stereo" sports a stethoscope and seems thrilled to hear the new stereo sound. World Pacific Records "Something for Both Ears!" offers a glamorous model with an ear horn in each ear, mimicking the stereo effect.
These eye-catching design elements became an important part of the record companies' visual branding. All were deployed to grab the attention of customers and help them visualize how stereo worked. Now they've become celebrated examples of midcentury album cover art.
By the late 1960s, stereo dominated sound reproduction, and album covers no longer needed to indicate "stereo" or "360 Sound." Consumers simply assumed that they were buying a stereo record.
Today, listeners can enjoy multiple channels with surround sound by purchasing several speakers for their music and home theater systems. But stereo remains a basic element of sound reproduction.
As vinyl has enjoyed a surprising comeback lately, midcentury stereo demonstration records are enjoying new life as retro icons – appreciated as both a window into a golden age of emerging sound technology and an icon of modern graphic design.
Explore further: The Beatles Return to Mono
OK for a car stereo, wouldn’t want it in my house.
I remember how badly I coveted an Ampex stand-up tape recorder...
My first overwhelming appreciation of stereo was listening to What is and What Should Never Be from Led Zep II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnMiXsRtsfc
My Pioneer TX-9100 Tuner still works!..............
> Good stuff !
Most definitely.
Carver AL-3 speakers powered by Carver Silver 9-t monoblocks.
25 or so years old or so & still sounding fantastic.
Wonderful stuff !
What you described is the only way at that time to get true Discrete 4 CHANNEL audio. I have the same type of gear now and yes there are a lot more than 18 reel to reel titles on tape. Quad 8 track is also discreet but the quality is nowhere near open reel and the channel separation is not as good either.
Oh and As for the two Ears argument against Quad that’s ridiculous...your ears can discern the front & rear channel location just like Left or Right.
Some but not all Quad mixes are fantastic, Moody Blues in Quad come to mind, breathtakingly beautiful on open reel.
Those days were great to be alive. Thinking back I can’t recall the last time I was in a room with other people specifically for the purpose of listening to and discussing recorded music.
Your first pic [above],,,I sold ours at a tag sale, for cheap, just to get rid of it; but I forgot to take out my Sinatra collection, stacked in it.
Wish I still had those records. IIRC, I had every album he ever made. Good memories. :(
A cousin of mine had a 1960’s Fisher tube tuner/amp that was mono. Tubes in both pre-amp and power sections. It produced the best sound for the blues and jazz we used to listen to and play. Back then, you could buy them cheap because they weren’t stereo and they took a minute or two to power up because the tube filaments needed to get up to temp and the transistor stuff came on like right now. The cork-sniff audiophiles criticized them because they claimed that the tubes colored the sound. Of course they did. That’s why our stuff sounded so good.
“Thinking back I can’t recall the last time I was in a room with other people specifically for the purpose of listening to and discussing recorded music.”
Sad story.
When I sold my large house back in the late 90s I threw out all of our LPs in the trash for the city to pick up.
They went back to the early 60s.
.
Funny stuff & spot on.
Quad is NOT dead, check out Ambisonics.
I believe one of it’s derivatives is part of the 8k video spec.
That means 22.2 channels.
Think of Ambisonics as computational audio. It allows such magic as the synthesis of virtual volumetric soundfields and microphone types and placements.
All done with lots and lots of math.
Back around 1968 my drum teacher demo'd his stereo setup with 'Omaha', by Moby Grape. Listening to the opening sounds shift back and forth was amazing.
You have to re-cap all that equipment, especially the crossovers in the speakers. It’s on my to-do list.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php
EXpresso?! Seriously?!
Supposably, they like drinking expresso at the nuke-ular power plant...
And for those of you in Rio Linda, the correct words in that last sentence are:
supposEDly
ESpresso
nuCLear
You know, if you're going to publish your writing, at least make an effort to know the language.
And by the way, I am aware that sources like Merriam-Webster often accept "alternate" spellings and pronunciations simply because they are "widely used". Personally, I think that's nonsense. Prior to about 2001, I had never heard ANYONE use "supposably", now I hear it all the time. Doesn't make people who misuse it right, it just makes them ignorant. Same goes for "expresso", which Merriam-Webster has this to say about: "Espresso remains the original borrowed word for the beverage, but expresso shows enough use in English to be entered in the dictionary and is not disqualified by the lack of an x in its Italian etymon. Just think of expresso as a quirky, jittery variant."
No, it isn't a "quirky, jittery variant", it is a MISTAKE.
</rant>
I have a pair of L-50’s that I refoamed but alas, I think one of the woofers was blown.
The Beatles were pioneers in this technology. Listen to some of their early recordings on the EMI label with either left or right turned off. You will here only some of the instruments playing. True separation with no bleed over.
When I switch on the 1947 Westinghouse, it takes.....maybe twenty seconds to power up seventeen vacuum tubes from the rectifier to the tuning eye. As noted, amazing sound. I added a stereo preamp then Y-corded the output into the receiver.
Heck, the radio face has pushbuttons with station letters that don’t exist anymore (WKBN and KDKA do, still).
But I’ve gotten lazy since I connected my laptop to the den stereo; almost anything in LP or 78 I can find on youtube and then turn the clock back some more, vids of Victrolas playing WWI tunes such as “Sister Susie’s Sewing Shirts for Soldiers” like my grandmother used to sing.
Right now listening to El Rushbo on my Dad’s 1955 Zenith Trans-Oceanic radio. Been a radio & hi-fi buff for quite a few decades now.
>Those days were great to be alive. Thinking back I can’t recall the last time I was in a room with other people specifically for the purpose of listening to and discussing recorded music.
Total 100% dittos. But, if you think about it, while we on this thread are not listening to music, other than by sharing links, we are having a nice discussion. Too bad there isn’t an audiophile ping list.
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