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G0TEZ > STEREO 04.01.03 22:10l 95 Lines 4133 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 37_G0TEZ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: ratio detectors etc ..
Path: ON0AR<ON0AR<GB7FCR<GB7BOB<GB7HVU
Sent: 030104/2002Z @:GB7HVU.#16.GBR.EU #:53569 [Great Harwood] FBB7.00i $:37_G0
From: G0TEZ@GB7HVU.#16.GBR.EU
To : STEREO@WW
G0TEZ/TPK 1.83c Num 37 04-01-03T19:53:55 GMT: COLNE,Lancs:
DICK in South Africa said:
>Someone keeps on about ratio detectors and Foster Seeley Discriminators etc
>and so far no one is 'biting' ..
>
>How about you Sir, start the ball rolling - You seem to have something you
>wish to get off your chest HI ..
>
>Maybe by starting this thread, others will then 'retaliate' (I've been
>reading too many of the other debates !!) .. Someone says something and
>another shoots them down <sigh> ..
>
>Go fer it !!!!!!
>
>
>73. Dick, ZS6RO
==================
And HI to you, Dick, whatever that means. No, I've nothing to get off my
chest as you so quaintly put it.
I started the whole topic as STEREO@GBR just for a laugh. You see, for 25
years, I had to repair 'Hi Fi' equipment and put up with the customers all
telling me what experts they were and couldn't contradict them.
Oh yes, I did mention PLL stereo decoding but you probably wanted to keep
your bull short, pithy and insulting so you omitted that one.
I have had a few laughs and I freely admit that I didn't understand some of
the initials and acronyms which were flying around.
I'm not going to walk into the trap of explaining what a Ratio Detector and
a Foster Seeley Phase discriminator are. I have a certificate which says I
know, and it wasn't a tick test either, I had to write several pages with
diagrams. The same went for T.V. BTW.
What matters is that no one came back with any comment on the various FM
decoders. Most of them showed their ignorance of where to position speakers,
what a graphic equalizer is for etc. Most didn't even seem to grasp what a
balance control is really for.
My comments are not aimed at the real engineers out there, as usual, they
just didn't join in,Hi!
Three little tales:
There was the man who complained that his expensive stereo system wasn't
really "Hi Fi". I asked him for a test record. He gave me a scratched copy
of 'Viva Espana.'
Then the woman with the huge stereo radiogram which had a small orange
light to indicate when a broadcast was in stereo. The tiny bulb had gone
and it needed a workshop to get at it to replace it. I booked the big van
for the job. In the meantime, I tuned around and found a couple of stereo
radio programmes and said "there, it's in stereo, it's just the bulb."
"How do I know it's stereo if the little light doesn't come on?" She
screeched. There's no answer to that.
The was the son of a customer who had seen a sound system in one of our
shops and bought it, then complained it "wasn't Hi Fi like the one in the
shop." It was our policy to send a brand new, boxed system rather than the
display unit. We replaced his system several times, still no good.
Eventually, with my men refusing to go, I went to see what was happening.
There was nothing wrong with the unit in the house, so I took the father to
the shop and made sure he watched while the display version was loaded into
a van and installed at his house. "Perfect!" said the 15 year old son, the
resident audio expert. We left it where it was and flagged the address to
the effect that, under no circumstances was anybody to replace the o/c
capacitor which was causing it to lose top and mid range, leaving only
bass.
In one of the replies to this topic, I read the one by the man who said
that he preferred to have his stereo coming from the rear speakers only in
his car. He also said he kept it to a mere 20W per channel.
I have ridden in the back of cars like that, struggling to hear any remarks
by the front seat passengers. I once made a driver stop, then got out and
caught a bus because of that. I don't suffer from auditory hyperacuity,
just normal hearing, where 500mW is adequate for home listening.
I think the topic is just about dead by now. I was intendng to make a final
comment and Dick's snide bulletin was tempting.
I will now go and put ;stereo' on my reject list, so don't bother flaming
me. Your opinion of me just couldn't be any lower tha my opinion of you.
33. Ian.
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