Lee de Forest (L), the man who invented the voltage-amplifer tube, takes in the state-of-the-art in consumer audio reproduction c. 1953.
Download a two-page article on the subject of “What is High Fidelity” as-published right at the dawn of the hi-fi cultural phenomenon.
DOWNLOAD: IST-1953-09-Callen-What_Is_High_Fidelity
Audio. From children’s toy to naval communication device to home entertainment to art, all within one lifetime. What has changed significantly in our conception of the role of audio technology since 1953? As this article makes clear, in 1953 ‘fidelity,’ or verisimilitude to some supposed acoustic event, was the ‘state of the art’ in audio, and contemporary technology such as the U47 mic and the Ampex tape machine was finally making this verisimilitude possible. We now no longer have the expectation that a piece of audio ‘represents’ or ‘stand-in-for’ any actual acoustic event that ever happened in the physical world (Katy Perry track? Or Sgt Peppers?), but what have we gained? What new expectations/demands do we have?
One reply on “1953: What is High Fidelity?”
There are still representational recordings being made, at no time has this ever stopped. This is the only tool we can use to ultimately determine what is _high fidelity_, although a great many tests have been devised to characterize or calibrate equipment to do their job in the chain to do so.
The problem is that not only has the overwhelming majority of the recording business ceased to produce representational recordings, but the majority of “the’hi-fi’ nuts”, or High End Audio buyers and vendors, have also largely abandoned this ideal.
Now, they want what they feel sounds best to them at any given time and under any given circumstance. The problem is, ears lie.
Our sense of hearing is the most subjective sense we have and varies more than any other with every imaginable variable. When ABX testing revealed this, ABX testing was declared Blasphemy.
Both the recording and playback of audio have become Established Religions, with creeds, statements of belief, and ecclesiastical courts to suppress Heresy, Blasphemy and acts of anathema.
Considering all that, it’s still a fun hobby to drill holes in metal chassis, solder wires and stuff up in odd ways, put on odd parts and when it actually makes a sound feel the same thrill people felt in 1953, isn’t it?