eBay discovery: acoustic stereo

[Operafan]

They'll have to rewrite the books:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Victor-Victrola-Ort ... 286.c0.m14

I think the radio is what he means by stereo. Why he thinks this orthophonic I don't know, the reproducer is just a Victrola #2.

Jeff

[Nat]

Well, if you had two of them, you might get stereo...

Change of topic: has anyone heard the "accidental stereo" in Elgar's own 1933 recording of the "Cockaigne Overture"? It seems they had two recording machines going with two microphones, and Mark Oberrt-Thorn was able to synchronize them and produce what really is real stereo. It's pretty amazingly good. Naxos 8.111022.

Nat

[Odeon]

A acoustic stereo phonograph is funny !

Change of topic: has anyone heard the "accidental stereo" in Elgar's own 1933 recording of the "Cockaigne Overture"? It seems they had two recording machines going with two microphones, and Mark Oberrt-Thorn was able to synchronize them and produce what really is real stereo.

..... no, but the 1932 Duke Ellington stereo recordings - they sound amazing !

Listen here to parts of the stereo medley (Hot & Bothered and Creole Love Call) :


http://www.box.net/shared/iremzvkesl

Ellington recorded in February 1932 two medleys for the Victor Long Play Programm Transcriptions, 33 rpm.
Victor used two micros and two recording turntables.
The stereo effect was known since 1881 ! There had been stereo
"broadcasts" via two telephone micros and wires from the opera house in paris.
There even was a patent for this stereo "broadcasts" in August 1881.

The 1932 Ellington stereos had been recorded on masters 71812-2 (left channel) and 71812-3 (right channel).
In the early 1990´s these two masters had been synchronized - The Ellington Band in stereo !

I think these stereos weren´t that "accidental". The stereo effect with two channels was known for almost 50 years in 1932, Blumlein at EMI came up with a method of cutting stereo into a single groove in 1934.....

Maybe these stereo recordings on two separate discs was part of stereo recording experiments at Victor ?

[bbphonoguy]

I thought this description was one of the most entertaining ebay sites I've read in a while. It's pretty funny how the seller displays his lack of knowledge (can't find a cord for the "stereo", doesn't know if the "stereo" is complete, describing it as an orthophonic), then goes on to say how it's in "good shape for its age" (i.e., pretty beat up), and how it's not "scratched up like most of these" (as if he would know). I wanted to write back and say "No, it's scratched up much worse than most".

On the up side, I would be very happy to get this at this price, if I had a way to get to it, and if I wanted another console.

As an opportunity to display my own lack of knowledge, am I dreaming, or is the jack on the radio actually labelled "telephones"? I figure it must say "headphones", which I could understand, but it truly looks like it says "telephones". Can someone explain this for me?

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I've got the Elgar and it really is good...EMI I understand, has more than just the final side in a two cutter version and has contemplated issuing their own...more complete... stereo version. I hope they do so. My only complaint with the Naxos version is that it has been transferred just a tad fast. And Odeon..thanks for the Ellington!
Not only was Blumlein working on stereo but the Bell labs were into it in the early thirties as well as adjunct to their work on high fidelity recording about 1932. The results, by the way really are high fidelity...they sound like 50's lp's.
I uploaded on the former board a picture of "Oscar" a tailor's dummy that had two mics where his ears should be . Bell used him in their stereo experiments.
I'll hunt for it again.

Jim.

[Silvertone]

I don't mean to be a smart-alec (well, maybe I do), but I have a 100% acoustic STEREO phonograph. It was made by Pioneer in 1962, and uses listening tubes much like the early airline headphones. There is an acoustic stereo soundbox, a pair of tubes with a volume control and earpieces. The tone arm attaches to your turntable with a suction cup. This is the same Pioneer that today makes plasma TVs and other electronics. It originally sold for a pocketbook-friendly $9.95.

[gregbogantz]

Silvertone, that Pioneer is a pretty neat artifact. I think I vaguely remember seeing these advertised, maybe in the Lafayette Radio catalog. Never heard one, though.

Regarding the seller of the "acoustic stereo": This is just another example of younger folks who don't know what to call a console radio/phono. Since they didn't grow up with them, they just adopt the name that their parents called these things when they were kids back in the 1960s and 70s - most consoles back then were indeed stereos. There is no knowledge about what "stereo" actually means, just as they have no clue about the technology of how their music gets to them. It just a matter of pointy-clickey, mousey, mousey, and suddenly there is sound. All the kids know is that "real" music, the kind that they actually listen to, comes from iPods. They are barely cognizant of the fact that their two ears usually hear somewhat different signals. There isn't any particular name for it, just "what've ya got on yer iPod?". Anything that looks like a piece of wooden furniture must then be a "stereo", regardless of how the sound is made.

[Operafan]

Yeah, I guess it's hopeless. Here's another one today:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1918-Cheney-Phonogr ... 286.c0.m14

All disc players are stereos, all discs are LPs, eBay is the final leveler of all discourse.

Jeff

[Valecnik]

Silvertone, that Pioneer is a pretty neat artifact. I think I vaguely remember seeing these advertised, maybe in the Lafayette Radio catalog. Never heard one, though.

Regarding the seller of the "acoustic stereo": This is just another example of younger folks who don't know what to call a console radio/phono. Since they didn't grow up with them, they just adopt the name that their parents called these things when they were kids back in the 1960s and 70s - most consoles back then were indeed stereos. There is no knowledge about what "stereo" actually means, just as they have no clue about the technology of how their music gets to them. It just a matter of pointy-clickey, mousey, mousey, and suddenly there is sound. All the kids know is that "real" music, the kind that they actually listen to, comes from iPods. They are barely cognizant of the fact that their two ears usually hear somewhat different signals. There isn't any particular name for it, just "what've ya got on yer iPod?". Anything that looks like a piece of wooden furniture must then be a "stereo", regardless of how the sound is made.

Yea probably in another 20 years if eBAY is still around you will see ads like;

"EDISON TRIUMPH Model early iPOD. Made from metal and extinct trees. Audio works if you put your ear to the cone. Video does not function. If you look into the no.11 Cygnet viewer it stays black. could probably be easily fixed with firmware upgrade. Does not fit easily in your pocket due to early design. Buy it now price $25,000,000,000,000,000

[JohnM]

Link to wikipedia article on binaural recording: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_recording.

Binaural recording is to listening as a stereo viewcard is to seeing: stereo 'induced' through pan pots on a mixing board is not natural stereo; binaural is.

Silvertone, I'm fascinated by your Pioneer headphone set. If you ever see another for sale, please let me know. I wouldn't require one as pristine as yours . . . I'd like to be able to try it!